Time Management


Table of Contents

Introduction
One Good Thief is Worth Ten Good Scholars:
Outline
To Do Lists
Why Time Management is Important
Scholars are Really in Trouble
The problem is severe
Hear me now, Believe me Later...
Goals, Priorities, and Planning
Questions To Always Ask:
The 80/20 Rule
Inspiration:
Planning is Important
Separate Planning from Action
TO DO Lists
The four-quadrant TO DO list
On My Desk
Paperwork
Reading Pile
Telephone
Telephone
Vacations
Office Logistics
Scheduling Yourself
Learn to say No
Gentle Nos
Everyone has Good and Bad Times
Interruptions
Cutting Things Short
Time Journals
Using Time Journal Data:
Procrastination
Balancing Act
Avoiding Procrastination
Comfort Zones
Delegation
Delegation is not dumping
Challenge People
Sociology
Meetings
Technology
Technology
General Advice
Care and Feeding of Advisors
General Advice
THE SEVEN HABITS, BRIEFLY


Randy Pausch
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
School of Computer Science
School of Design
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
pausch@cs.cmu.edu

 

"Remember that time is money"

Advice to a Young Tradesman
Benjamin Franklin 1748

 

Introduction

•Time must be explicitly managed, just like money
•Much of this won't make sense until later (too late?): that's why the handouts...
•Faculty vs. Grad Students
•Lightning pace, heavy on techniques

One Good Thief is Worth Ten Good Scholars


Time Management for Teachers

Cathy Collins

Parker Publishing Company, 1987

CareerTrack Seminar:

Taking Control of Your Work Day 1990

(303) 447-2300

Outline

Why is Time Management Important?

Goals, Priorities, and Planning

TO DO Lists


The Office: desks, paperwork, telephones

Scheduling Yourself

Delegation

Meetings

Technology

General Advice

Why Time Management is Important

•"The Time Famine"
•Bad time management = stress
•This is life advice, not job advice

Scholars are Really in Trouble

 

The Problem is Severe

 

Hear me now, Believe me Later...

 

Goals, Priorities, and Planning

 

Questions To Always Ask

 

The 80/20 Rule

 

Inspiration

"If you can dream it, you can do it" Walt Disney

 

Planning is Important

 

Separate Planning from Action

 

Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits

 

TO DO Lists

 

The Four-Quadrant TO DO list

(From: The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic, by Stephen R. Covey, Simon and Schuster, 1989.)

 

On My Desk

 

Paperwork

 

Reading Pile

 

Telephone

 

Telephone

Vacations

Office Logistics

 

Scheduling Yourself

 

Learn to say No

 

Gentle Nos

 

Everyone has Good and Bad Times

 

Interruptions

 

Cutting Things Short

 

Time Journals

 

Using Time Journal Data

Procrastination

"Procrastination is the thief of time" -Edward Young, Night Thoughts, 1742

 

Balancing Act

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion

Parkinson's Law

Cyril Parkinson, 1957

 

Avoiding Procrastination

 

Comfort Zones

 

Delegation

Delegation is not dumping

 

Challenge People

 

Sociology

 

Meetings

 

Technology

 

Technology

 

General Advice

 

Care and Feeding of Advisors

 

General Advice

 

THE SEVEN HABITS, BRIEFLY

From: The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic, by Stephen R. Covey, Simon and Schuster, 1989.

1. BE PROACTIVE. Between stimulus and response in human beings lies the power to choose. Productivity, then, means that we are solely responsible for what happens in our lives. No fair blaming anyone or anything else.

2. BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND. Imagine your funeral and listen to what you would like the eulogists to say about you. This should reveal exactly what matters most to you in your life. Use this frame of reference to make all your day-to-day decisions so that you are working toward your most meaningful life goals.

3. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST. To manage our lives effectively, we must keep our mission in mind, understand what's important as well as urgent, and maintain a balance between what we produce each day and our ability to produce in the future. Think of the former as putting out fires and the latter as personal development.

4. THINK WIN/WIN. Agreements or solutions among people can be mutually beneficial if all parties cooperate and begin with a belief in the "third alternative": a better way that hasn't been thought of yet.

5. SEEK FIRST TO BE UNDERSTANDING, THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD. Most people don't listen. Not really. They listen long enough to devise a solution to the speaker's problem or a rejoinder to what's being said. Then they dive into the conversation. You'll be more effective in your relationships with people if you sincerely try to understand them fully before you try to make them understand your point of view.

6. SYNERGIZE. Just what it sounds like. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In practice, this means you must use "creative cooperation" in social interactions. Value differences because it is often the clash between them that leads to creative solutions.

7. SHARPEN THE SAW. This is the habit of self-renewal, which has four elements. The first is mental, which includes reading, visualizing, planning and writing. The second is spiritual, which means value clarification and commitment, study and meditation. Third is social/emotional, which includes service, empathy, synergy and intrinsic security. Finally, the physical element includes exercise, nutrition and stress management.

Randy Pausch
Human Computer Interaction Institute
School of Computer Science
School of Design
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
pausch@cs.cmu.edu