Johnston: Time Management

Time Management for the Organizationally Challenged

Reynolds Meeting 2010

Bree Johnston, MD MPH

UC San Francisco

1. Why Time Management: Setting priorities

2. Sources of wasted time and techniques for addressing the most common culprits

3. Creating efficient work patterns and organizing Information

4. Overcoming procrastination

5. Individual case studies and brainstorming

Resources and Suggested Reading

Caunt, John Organize Yourself, Third Edition. The Sunday Times Creating Success Series. London 2010.

Allen, David Getting Things Done

Zeller, Dirk. Successful Time Management for Dummies. Wiley Publishing 2009

Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager, Berkeley Books, 1981, ISBN 0-425-09847-8

Morgenstern, Julie. Time Management from the Inside Out. Henry Holdt and Company, 2004.

1. Why Time Management?

  • Reach your goals at work
  • Enjoy the time you have away from work more fully

First Steps in Time Management

  • Be clear about your goals and priorities
  • Should you be doing all of the things that you are currently doing?
  • Are you spending your time on the “right” things (given your priorities)?

Determine how you spend your time and whether it aligns with your overall goals

Important and urgent / Important, not urgent
Not important, urgent / Not important, not urgent

Consider doing a work diary for a few days to determine how you spend your time and then make necessary adjustments

If your time feels out of control, diagnose the problem

External Problems

  • Maybe there really is too much on your plate
  • Maybe you are in an interruption rich culture
  • Maybe other people in your environment create chaos (boss, AA?)

Your own psychological obstacles

  • Do you thrive on chaos?
  • Are your goals clear?

Technical problems

  • You don’t set aside time to complete tasks – every task needs a calendar home
  • You set aside the wrong time (match task to energy)
  • You miscalculate how long a task takes
  • You might be the wrong person for the job
  • You can’t remember what to do
  • Your space is disorganized
  • You haven’t broken the task down into do-able components

2. Sources of Wasted Time and dealing with the most common culprits

  • Email
  • Interruptions
  • Looking for things
  • Coming back to the same task over and over again, rather than dealing with it once
  • Not effectively utilizing “down time” (e.g., slow clinic, waiting for bus)
  • Doing things that don’t need to be done by you, reading things that don’t need to be read (or can be skimmed), saying yes when you should say no, not delegating properly
  • What are some of your most common sources of wasted time?

Some Suggested Techniques for Dealing with Wasted Time

  • Make some parts of day email, phone call, and visit free
  • Turn of email alerts
  • Consider creating office hours

Might create a norm in your division or department

  • Try to deal with each piece of email (or paper) only once OR the minimum number of times (we’ll come back to this later)
  • File efficiently to minimize time looking for things

This may change over time as your active tasks change

  • Always have backup tasks for down times

Journal articles

A paper that needs reviewing

  • Commuting

In car consider podcasts and books on tape, Journal Watch Audio, Audiodigest, Practical Reviews in Geriatrics

For bus, subway, catch up on reading

  • Match the time to your energy level

Low energy (after clinic) NOT the time to write a grant or paper

Use high energy/efficiency times for creative/demanding tasks

Use low energy/efficiency times for mundane tasks

If you don’t have the energy to work, take a break!

Take breaks and re-energize yourself

  • Your suggestions for the Group

3. Creating efficient work patterns and organizing information

The Five D’s for Dealing with (email and paper information)
Deal with
  • Some people say that if it takes less than 5 minutes, it should be done immediately.
  • Longer than 5 minutes, schedule another time to deal with it.
  • Try to determine how long your most common tasks take so that you can set aside realistic amount of time to do them (e.g. how long to create a powerpoint talk, write a chapter, review an article?)
  • Schedule tasks at a time of day where your energy level is matched to the task (for me, morning = creativity, late afternoon and evening for mundane tasks, Saturday morning = GOLDEN)

Delegate

Deposit (file)

  • Do you really need it? Probably 80% of filed documents aren’t used
  • Will you be able to find it?
  • Need a system for both electronic and paper documents

Discard

  • Don’t be scared to throw things away!

1

Johnston: Time Management

Determine Future Action for items that will take longer (schedule and create tickler)

  • Put item on to-do list or in appointment book or organizer
  • Everyone needs a foolproof tickler system

Example One:

  • Have 2 accordion files:
  • Months of year for future tasks
  • 31 day file for current month

Example Two:

  • Have a “deal with basket” (different than in basket) or files
  • Couple with electronic or paper calendar that tells you when tasks are due

Outlook

  • Tasks and to do lists
  • Use the email flag reminder system to remind you when something is due
  • Create reading pile (lean and mean)

Email Files

  • Create email file system
  • Set a manageable goal for inbox size
  • Everything else gets deleted or filed
  • Create rules (e.g., any email from Sarah Palin goes in the tea party file after reading)
  • Do your email at a “low energy” time of day, and reserve high energy time of day for creative tasks

File Hygiene: Bins and Purge

  • Have current project files closest to you
  • Consider having vertical file for active projects on desk and color code file folder for different projects

When Project done, purge and put in inactive file area

  • Some experts say file daily (both email and paper)

Once a week is more realistic for most of us

Example: I have Friday afternoon date with myself for filing and preparing for next week

  • Try to file the minimum amount of information

4. Overcoming Procrastination

Break Things Down into Their Smallest Component Tasks

  • Tackle tasks one by one
  • Consider doing hardest first
  • Consider “Swiss cheese” approach: tackle small pieces until the project feels manageable. The hard parts might be easier once small bits are tackled
  • Set deadlines for each component task

Example: giving time management talk (a dreaded task!)

What are the component parts?

Review the literature

Review time management talks that I have found useful

Figure out what advice from the literature that I want to include, and begin to write it down

Later, organize the material

Finally, determine how the format of the session will go

5. Case Studies/brainstorming

Thank you!

Notes:

1