Making the Most of Your Time
Merry Taylor, M.A.T.
Taylor and Associates
taylorandassoc@sc.rr.com
Time Quiz
Answer each statement with a True or False.

_____The longer you work, the more you get done.

_____ Productive people work harder than other people.

_____ In managing your priorities, 20 per cent of the activities on your list are going to
produce 80% of the results and payoff.

_____ Making major changes in your time management style are the best
ways to achieve good results.

_____ Do the easiest tasks first and then move on to the difficult ones.

_____If you want a job done well, do it yourself.

_____Time management is self-management.

_____Work expands to fill the time allowed for its completion.

_____To create an effective “to do” list,” overestimate the time allowed for your tasks.

_____Time management isn’t always a matter of time at all.
How Much Is Enough?
High achievement is a wonderful goal. However, many high achievers have only one
speed—fast. Also many high achievers don’t know the difference between striving for
excellence and striving for perfection. What’s wrong with striving for perfection? It is not
attainable. Those very traits and attributes that helped us become successful can backfire
and hurt us. Sometimes life has to slam us in the face to get our attention—a spouse walks
out, a child acts out or we burnout.
So the question is, how much is enough? It’s enough when:
 We reach some of our goals.
 We do some of the things that are important to us.
 We sleep soundly and escape nightmares.
 Food tastes good …because we take time to eat.
Those we love enjoy our companionship and we can have some fun.
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Three Ways to Improve Time Management
1. Stop doing things that are low priority or
that are not really necessary.
2. Delegate. Who is the best person to be
doing this work? .
3.Become more efficient at what you do. Is
there a better way?
“Dost thou love life? Then do not
squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
3. Become more efficient at what you do. Is
--Benjamin Franklin
there a better way?
Points to Remember



There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do.
One of the worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.
Effective time management is not about cramming more and more into less and
less amounts of time.
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Contemporary Overload
Accessibility Overload

The good news is, you’re always connected to the office. The bad news is, you’re always
connected to the office.
---THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FULL PAGE AD

Beepilepsy—NEW NAME GIVEN TO THE MOMENTARY SEIZURE OF PANIC SUFFERED WHEN
ONE’S PAGER GOES OFF.

What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you could do to help with this problem?
Activity and Commitment Overload


Some people can’t say no. They enroll in too many courses, hold down too many jobs, volunteer
for too many tasks, make too many appointments, serve on too many committees, have too
many friends. They are trying to be all things to all people all at once all by themselves.—DR. J.
GRANT HOWARD
When we do two things simultaneously, we take about thirty percent of our attention off the
primary task.---RICHARD THIEME
What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you could do to help with this problem?
Change and Stress Overload

The only trouble with success is that the formula for achieving it is the same as the formula for a
nervous breakdown.—CHUCK SWINDOL

Although people will pay to fix their stress, they are not about to change the lifestyle that is
causing it.—DAVID McCASLAND
What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you could do to help with this problem?
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Hurry and Fatigue Overload

Man is flying too fast for a world that is round. Soon he will catch up with himself in a great rear
end collision, and man will never know that what him from behind was man.—JAMES THURBER

I learned to tell time and now I’m always late.—LILY TOMLIN AS EDITH ANN
What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you can do to help with this problem?
Information Overload

We’re all overloaded. We’re sending E-mail to somebody fifty feet away.
--- DIANE SCHWARZ, FINANCIAL SYSTEMS MANAGER

Information overload is wild. It’s killing people. In my office, I have fifteen televisions. I can’t
handle it all.---TED TURNER, DESCRIBED AS THE NO. 1 NEWS JUNKIE
What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you can do to help with this problem?
Work Overload

All junior executives should know that is they work hard ten hours a day, every day, they could
be promoted to senior executives so that they can work hard for fourteen hours a day.---JOHN
CAPOZZI

We are frequently asked if it is possible to “have it all”---a full satisfying personal life and a full
and satisfying, hardworking professional one. Our answer is: NO…Excellence is a high cost item.
TOM PETERS
What is your biggest frustration in this area?
What is one thing you can do to help with this problem?
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Notes
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