Time Management Skills & Academe
Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham
Utah State University
USU Curriculum and Instruction Research Colloquium
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Salt Lake City, UT
Acknowledgement
Christine Hult
Professor of English and
Associate Dean of HASS
ADVANCE P.I.
The Expectations of Academe
RESEARCH
TEACHING
SERVICE
The Six Problems
1. Handling the paper load (including email)
2. Prioritizing your workload
3. Time management
4. Project management
5. Your personality
6. Your psychology
(Crouch, Getting Organized, 2005)
1. Handling the Paper Load
 Being constantly bombarded with sensory input
 Multitasking makes you stupid
 Have a place and put everything in its place
 Categorize the incoming items & decide right
away:





Discard or recycle
Delegate
Take immediate action
File for follow-up
Put in a reference file or on a task list
How the Clutter
Accumulates
 “If 10 new pieces of paper [or emails] come
into your life every day and you only discard
one you will have an additional 3,285 pieces of
paper [or emails] after one year.”
 “If 100 new pieces of paper come into your life
every day . . . You will have an additional
36,500 pieces of paper lying around at the end
of the year.”
(Crouch)
An example of a system
to handle the paper load.
Handle the Paper Load!
4 System Components
 Scheduling
Calendar
File folders /
filing cabinet
 Desktop TO DO
List (prepare at the
Desktop in box
with dated
paperwork
end of each day)
Organize
Prioritize – all items on your to do
list are not equal!
How do you handle the paper load?
2. Prioritizing Your Workload
 Do the right things in the right order




Gathering the materials you need
Filtering out those things that don’t matter
Prioritizing the order of importance for actions
Acting in the order outlined
 Establish habits of triage
 FOCUS on each task until it’s done
 Then tackle the next item of importance
How would you prioritize
this list of daily tasks?
 Buy laundry detergent.

Schedule an appointment
with a Professor.

Write a eight page essay for
English.

Complete a journal entry.

Prepare for a Biology quiz.


Dust the videos on the
bookcase.
Facebook a high school
friend on another campus.


Review for midterm test
that counts for 50% of
grade.
Shop for a new pair of
athletic shoes.
 “Armor-all” the dashboard
of the car.
Do you have C Fever?
A - LIST
Midterm test that counts for 50% of grade.
Write a eight page essay for English.
B - LIST
Prepare for a quiz in Biology.
Schedule an appointment with a Professor.
Complete a journal entry.
C - LIST
Buy laundry detergent.
Dust the videos on the bookcase.
Facebook a high school friend on another campus.
Shop for a new pair of athletic shoes.
“Armor-all” the dashboard of the car.
Prioritizing in Academia
 A personal example….
 8:30-11:00 am – work on the most important
thing I want to get done that day FIRST!
 11:00-11:55 am – check email
 12:00-12:30 pm – Lunch (or lunch meeting)
 12:30-3:00 pm – accomplish another important
task
 3:00-5:00 pm – schedule meetings; take care of
mindless tasks
What strategies help you to prioritize?
3. Time Management
Live in the present; do it now
Minimize distractions and
interruptions
The 80/20 rule (80% of your results
come from 20% of your efforts)
Let go of the busywork
One thing at a time
The Myth of “Free Time”
 There’s no such thing as “free time.”
 All time has value.
 We understand that cars and houses have value.
 But, Time is invisible and intangible, so it does
not get enough respect. Time has value!!
 If you see that your time has value, you will be
more selective about the projects and requests
that come to you.
How are you spending your time?
Write down 5-10 things you did yesterday.
The Time Management Matrix
URGENT
NOT URGENT
IMPORTANT
I. ACTIVITIES:
Crises
Pressing problems
Deadline-driven projects
II. ACTIVITIES:
Preparation, Prevention,
Planning activities
Relationship building
New opportunities
Recreation, relaxation
NOT IMPORTANT
III. ACTIVITIES:
Interruptions, some calls
Some mail, some reports
Some meetings
Pressing matters
IV. ACTIVITIES:
Trivia, busy work
Some mail, Some calls
Time wasters
 (Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Stephen
Covey,
The 7 Habits of Highly
People,
1990)
Effective People, 1990
Time is Valuable to Me!
 A personal example….
 Someone wants to meet with you on a matter that
is not urgent.
 Someone calls while you are in a meetings with
someone else.
 Someone shows up at the last minute and wants
you to help with their emergency.
 Immediate response: BUT, schedule a time to meet or
schedule a time to complete the task.
 When you value your time, others will too!
New gadgets aren’t the solution
and are often part of the problem
4. Project Management
 Use both a short-range and long-range calendar
 Use your task manager in Outlook
 Archive your tasks for future reference
 For longer projects, develop a separate project
calendar or bulletin board
 For immediate tasks that come up during the
day, use a notepad by your phone
A short quiz to see what you
have learned so far……
The point is this:
Put the Big Rocks in First
5. Your Personality
 The Beast of Disorganization feeds on your
bad habits
 Seriously address your bad habits
 Let go of the old ways of doing things that are
causing your problems
 Simplify, simplify, simplify
 Set boundaries and stick to them
Procrastination & Perfectionism
 Procrastination comes from:
overload, fear of failure, task
seems hard or boring, not sure
of what to do, distractions
 Perfectionism comes from: an
irrational desire to please
 Neither one is productive
 Chill out, lighten up, take a
chance, make a few mistakes,
don’t sweat the small stuff (and
it’s all small stuff)
Procrastination
 Set a goal to complete a
task/project
 Reward yourself after
completing the task
 Estimate the time needed
to complete a task
 Divide lengthy
tasks/assignments into
smaller, shorter parts
 Plan ahead to avoid 11th
hour efforts
 Every hour in class
requires two hours of
study/review
Nobody’s perfect!
6. Your Psychology
 Is your office cluttered?
 Are you always in a rush?
 Do you complain about never being
caught up?
 What image is this projecting to
others?
 Stop and think; slow down; don’t do
anything until you have decided how
to be more productive.
 Work-a-holism is dysfunctional.
Creating Balance
 Synthesize & process email and never leave email in your inbox.
 Focus on the task at hand vs. multitasking.
 Do the most important thing first.
 Check your email on a schedule.
 Keep your research organized.
 Determine when YOU work best.
 Develop boundaries
 Maximize your start time
 Organize your TO DO LIST
 Think deeply and devote the time to drill-down
Overloaded & Confused?
Slow down & think; Simplify; Eliminate;
Shut down everything else and make
organizing a priority
Why is this important to me?
 Less stress
 Calmness / Serenity
 Better health
 More time for a social life
 Academic success
 Land a better job
 Personal satisfaction
 Balance
Three Books I Recommend
 Crouch, Chris. Getting Organized: Learning
How to Focus, Organize and Prioritize
(Memphis: Dawson, 2005)
 Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People (New York: Fireside, 1990)
 Griessman, B. Eugene. Time Tactics of Very
Successful People (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1994)