Managing your time to make
the most out of your research
Pam Phillips
Personal & Business Coach
22 February 2011
New Directions
Definitions
• Success is moving from failure to failure with
no loss of enthusiasm – Sir Winston
Churchill
• Experience is the name everyone gives to
their mistakes – Oscar Wilde
• Even if you’re on the right track…..you’ll get
run over if you just sit there – Will Rogers
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Definitions
• The problem in my life and other people’s
lives is not the absence of knowing what to
do…..but the absence of doing it – Peter
Drucker
• The definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over
again………….expecting different results –
Rita Mae Brown
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Objectives of this session
• To help you to manage your time more
effectively in order to achieve both short and
long-term goals
• To assist you in recognising the areas you
deem important so you can prioritise them
• To make you aware of habits that aid or
deter you in achieving your goals
• To encourage you to achieve a greater
work-life balance
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Time Management Issues
•Do you feel guilty when you are not working?
•Do you give up or feel demotivated if you do not
keep to your planned schedule?
•Do you concentrate on the negatives – i.e.,
what you still have to do rather than what you
have done?
•Do you recognise or reward yourself when you
have completed a task or been productive?
•Have you tried to use any time management
techniques in planning your schedule? If so,
what were they?
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Time management: is it possible?
• The challenge is not to manage time but to
manage ourselves.
• The root of self-management lies in first
defining your values and goals.
• You need to be flexible. Life can be
unpredictable
• Think about being efficient with things and
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effective with people
The Wheel of life exercise
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Activity 1: Using the Wheel of Life to
assess your satisfaction levels
• What areas of your life do you deem to be ‘key’?
• Label the segments on the ‘Wheel of Life’ with what
you consider to be your 8 key areas
• Using the top wheel and spokes indicated, rate your
current satisfaction level (on a scale of 1 to 10) with
each area
• Now join the dots! How round/balanced is your
wheel?
• Now use the bottom wheel to plot what you
realistically would like your wheel to look like in one
year’s time
• Compare the two - what areas need attention?
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The Wheel of life exercise
Career
Finances
Partner/Relationship
Friends and Family
Health
Personal Growth
Hobbies and Interests
Environment
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Time Management matrix
HIERARCHY OF TASKS URGENT
NOT URGENT
1. Do now and do carefully
2. Spend bulk of your time here
ACTIVITIES:
Deadline-driven projects
Crises (personal or professional)
Pressing problems that are central
to your current or future plans
ACTIVITIES:
Key activities central to your current
or future plans
Main research and writing
Networking, publishing, teaching
Family, friends, exercise/recreation
Cleaning flat (to keep tidy mind)
3. Do quickly but not perfectly
4. Reject or downscale
ACTIVITIES:
Routine activities not essential to
your current or future plans
Teaching administration, essay
marking, etc
Some (e)mail, some phone calls
ACTIVITIES:
Time-wasting activities not important
to your current or future plans
Cleaning your flat (for the 4th time!)
Some (e)mail, some phone calls
Television, internet, Facebook
IMPORTANT
NOT IMPORTANT
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Quadrants in the TM matrix
• QUADRANT 1: Prioritise tasks that fall here
according to their relative urgency.
• QUADRANT 2: These tasks are most critical to
your success, and yet are commonly the most
neglected. You must plan time-slots for these.
• QUADRANT 3: Assess the real importance of
these tasks and, if they must be done, do them
quickly to a good-enough standard.
• QUADRANT 4: These activities are not central
to your success and are time-wasters. They can
be destructive to your future success. Check
yourself and resist the temptation to dwell here.
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Using the TM matrix successfully
• Spending the bulk of your time in Quadrant 2 will
ensure that Quadrants 1 and 3 don’t engulf you.
• Quadrant 1 tasks often result from neglecting
Quadrant 2 tasks – which then become crises.
• Perfecting Quadrant 3 tasks means less time is left
for Quadrant 2 tasks, which can cause problems.
• Time spent in Quadrant 4 usually results from an
inability to say ‘NO’ or is a displacement activity.
• Effective time management means stealing time
from Quadrants 3 and 4, and using it for Quadrant
2 tasks. This also results in a reduction of
Quadrant 1 tasks, due to fewer ‘spillover’ crises.
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Activity 2: Time management matrix and
reflection of your patterns/habits
• Using the Time Management matrix, map out
your previous week’s activities
• In which quadrant have you spent the most
time? And the least?
• Could you have stolen time from Quadrant 3 & 4
tasks to use on Quadrant 2 tasks?
• In table groups, decide the ideal proportions of
time one should spend in each quadrant. Let’s
compare views!
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Envisage your long term goals
• Where would you like to be this time next year?
• For example:
•
•
•
•
•
Career – ‘I’d like to get a book contract/finish my book’
Home – ‘I’d like to buy a house/flat’
Relationships – ‘I’d like to have a child with my partner’
Health – ‘I’d like to get fit/run a marathon’
Money – ‘I’d like to earn more money through
consultancy work’
• Hobbies – ‘I’d like to spend more time playing
guitar’
• You can have multiple scenarios (most people do)
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Using your goals to plan your time
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•
•
By being aware of your goals, you can
ensure that you do most of the things that
are important to you
Look at your wheel? Which areas need
most work/do you want to work on?
You can improve your life by devoting a bit
of time to each of these areas each week
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Time management tips 1
Keep your eye on the ball – what is your top
priority? Keep some kind of visual reminder near
your desk or in your wallet
Organise and execute around priorities. Decide
what is important to you and devote time in your
life to it
It is no good working all the time if your personal
relationships are in disarray. Consider how your
goals affect other people – are you being fair to
them?
Stop and smell the roses, at least sometimes! Give
yourself designated breaks, where you decide not
to work – at least one full day per week
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Time management tips 2
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•
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Taking regular breaks is essential to productivity
Bill Gates practices this principle - he works less
than 40 hours per week and takes one month off
per year – as a way of generating his best ideas
When and where do you get your best ideas?
Simply knowing this can make you more
effective. Do not think of time away from your
research as time wasted – but use those extra
hours to fulfil your other life goals
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Time management tips 3
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•
•
•
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Reward yourself when you have completed a difficult
task or spent time productively
Work somewhere different if your normal place cannot
provide you with a quiet situation and protection from
interruption
Inform other people of your planned time-slots and
schedules. Having a visible schedule is the key to being
able to protect these vital time-slots.
Allocate time for setbacks – life is not predictable
Realise what time management techniques work for you
and use them again. If something doesn’t work, try a
different approach
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Question
•
•
When you look back at what has taken up
your time over the past week, how much
has got you closer to your goal?
Write down at least 5 things that you will
do differently next week that will improve
your own time management?
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Final thought
We can easily keep ourselves busy all the time,
but at the end of the month what have you got
to show for it?
When you are managing your time effectively
your list of achievements will be endless
Good Luck!
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