Time Management and Prioritization

• This presentation is part of a curriculum and all content is the intellectual property of Umemba Health LLC.
• The learning objectives are to understand how to plan and prioritize daily activities more efficiently, identify ways to overcome procrastination, organize workspace and workflow, and to utilize rituals to make life run smoother.
• The agenda includes time management and prioritization, procrastination, workspace organization, rituals, a prioritized to-do list activity, and floor announcements.

Prioritizing Time

• What is important is rarely urgent, and what is urgent is rarely important, according to Dwight Eisenhower.
• The 80/20 rule (Pareto's Principle) states that 80% of results come from 20% of actions.
• Eisenhower Matrix is a matrix using the parameters Urgent / Not Urgent and Important / Not Important to prioritise tasks
  • If the task is marked as Urgent and Important you DO it straight away
  • If the task is marked as Not Urgent and Important you PLAN when to do it
  • If the task is marked as Urgent and Not Important, you DELEGATE it to someone else
  • If the task is marked as Not Urgent and Not Important, you ELIMINATE it
• Productivity Journaling includes labeling each page with the day and date, writing what needs to be done that day, prioritizing each task, highlighting the top three items to focus on, crossing off items when completed, and carrying over incomplete items to the next page.
• The Glass Jar metaphor refers to time management and prioritizing tasks using Rocks (Important, not urgent), Pebbles (Urgent and important), Sand (Urgent, but not important), and Water (Neither important, nor urgent).
• Chunking involves breaking projects into specific tasks that can be completed in less than 15 minutes.
• Blocking is setting aside set times to complete specific chunks.
• Tackling is focusing on a specific task rather than the project as a whole.
• When prioritizing time, you should be ready to take action and don't over-plan. When you get going, follow the 80/20 rule. Finally, make new plans based on new information.

Tackling Procrastination

• To overcome procrastination you can:
  • Delete it.
  • Delegate it.
  • Do it now.
  • Ask for advice.
  • Chop it up.
  • Obey the 15-minute rule.
  • Have clear deadlines.
  • Give yourself a reward.
  • Remove distractions.
• "Eat that frog" concept means your "frog" is the task that will have the greatest impact on achieving your goals and is most likely to be procrastinated.

Organizing Your Workspace

• To retrieve materials quickly, you'll need an effective filing system including three basic kinds of files:
  • Working files: Materials used frequently and needed close at hand.
  • Reference files: Information needed only occasionally.
  • Archival files: Materials seldom retrieved but that must be kept.
• With emails you can follow these 4 D's:
  • Delete emails that either don't apply, don't interest or don't require any further action
  • Do it straight away as long as the email can be responded to or actioned in under 5 minutes
  • Delegate emails that can be handled by someone else or to a folder for future reference.
  • Defer email if it needs thought or time, mindfully wait and create a flag for your future self
• S.T.I.N.G is a method for preventing being overwhelmed by a task:
  • Select one task
  • Time yourself
  • Ignore everything
  • No breaks
  • Give yourself a reward when you complete the task
• Emails handled in batches at regularly scheduled times of day, and E-mail contacts to use specific subject lines.
• Open and read urgent e-mails, and respond accordingly, by using folder for different topic/projects, by senders depending on email programs to automatically move folder.
• Delete e-mail from trash can and junk folder on a regular basis.
• Calendars are used to organize reminders into a small number of calendars and lists, by areas of responsibility .
• People with multiple responsibilities, use an annual calendar organized by areas of responsibility and list the major responsibilities month by month by using the productivity journal.

Setting a Ritual

• A ritual is any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner, with three steps: identify the task, time/trigger, and sub-tasks.
• Three items essential to ritualize are sleep, meals, and exercise.
• Using rituals:
  • During a break at work or at home, read for ten minutes.
  • Take one minute to do some deep breathing and stretches.
  • Take five minutes to clean off your desk or some other small area.
  • Take ten minutes to update your Personal Productivity Journal.
  • Set aside one lunch hour a week to do personal errands
  • Make a list at the beginning of each week and do one a day.