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Time, tasks and teamwork management
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Time and tasks management

Learning outcomes

At the end of this module you will:

 

understand the importance of personal organization to improve productivity

understand the process of planning

learn how to avoid procrastination

Personal organization

Personal organisation is the action a person takes to structure his or her actions in a productive and psychologically balanced way. It includes a whole set of skills that allow the person to deal efficiently with his or her tasks.

It involves a set of abilities that can be acquired and improved.

Personal organization: Objectives

Personal organisation implies knowing the starting point before starting a task, what the objectives are, knowing the available resources, planning a procedure and establishing a timetable. Objectives should be SMART.

Personal organization: SMART objectives let

Personal organization: Objectives

When the objectives are very large, complex or very long-term, it is useful to split them into simpler and short-term objectives.

Planning activities

Personal planning is the ability to set personal goals, to have a plan of action and to carry them out, which helps to improve professional performance.

Classification tasks help to plan activities, prioritizing them and allowing to give enough time.

A well-known method of classification is the urgent-important matrix.

More strategies on https://www.usa.edu/blog/time-management-techniques/

To know about the urgency-importance matrix and how to handle it, access these videos by scanning QRs or clicking the links. After, comment with partners or mates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBy-3G1m-ME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xyYArJnEGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD44_TGcyVQ

 

Stop time thieves in meetings: attitude and behavior to avoid them

What are time thieves?

In the world of work, they are those activities or people or even situations that make you waste your time. There are external and internal ones and you have to be the one who decides if they are going to steal your time or not.

There are two time thieves:

  1. External
  2. Internal

 

External Time Thieves:

  • Interruptions

It is one of the most frequent time thieves. They can be: calls, visits without an appointment, requests for help...

When you are faced with an interruption, it is important that you remain firm and decide whether or not your time is stolen.

  • If you receive one of these interruptions, assess whether it is an emergency that requires your immediate attention.
  • If you decide that it is not necessary to attend to him at that moment, decline the interruption, politely and firmly.
  • Put some barriers to avoid these interruptions, such as turning off the phone, closing the office door, using headphones, asking that you not be interrupted at certain times, etc.
  • Notifications

The notifications are almost never urgent, for example:

  • Mail
  • Social networks
  • Instant messaging
  • Subscriptions

You must lose the fear of being disconnected from these channels for a few hours.

How to avoid :

  • Silence all notifications
  • Ignoring them is hard, so it's better not to have them.
    • Set the times of the day that you will check each channel.
  • Meetings

If you work with other people, you will necessarily have to attend meetings; also with clients, partners or suppliers. Meetings in themselves are not time-stealers, only when they are done badly, so that your meetings don't become time-stealers

Important aspects

  • The form: Meetings should have a structure, with a start and end time
  • Content: also the topics that are going to be discussed.
  • Urgencies: Most of them are not true emergencies, so it does not require immediate attention.

 

Internal Time Thieves:

  • Lack of organization

The best thing to do is to dedicate some time each day to planning and monitoring activities.

  • Procrastinating

You know that these tasks are not going to go away; by postponing them you only manage to turn them into urgencies later on.

 

Managing procrastination

To know about the urgency-importance matrix and how to handle it, access these videos by scanning QRs or clicking the links. After, comment with partners or mates.Procrastination is spending too much time doing things we don't have to do, or that are unimportant, instead of spending time on the things that really matter.

There are also multiple negative effects: job performance, reputation, anxiety,  self-steem, health problems, etc.

https://www.mindtools.com/a5plzk8/how-to-stop-procrastinating

What is Pomodore technique? Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNBmG24djoY

Internal Time Thieves:

  • Not delegating and not knowing how to say "no“

These two behaviors rob you of a lot of time and energy. When you don't delegate some of your tasks and pretend to do everything, you overload yourself and run out of time for the tasks that are really important

  • Communication problems

In your personal life and in your work, interaction with other people is very frequent. In order for these interactions not to become time-stealers that slow down your productivity, you need to train your communication skills.

Summing up

Personal organization improves:

Planning
 

The productivity and Emotional stability.

 

Classify - Eisenhower matrix Assign times.

Define SMART goals

Procrastination

 

Break down complex goals

 

Pomodore technique

   

Stop time thieves

     

External and internal

 



Keywords

Time organization; Personal organization; Urgent-important matrix; Procrastination; Communication; Deadlines; Distractions

Objectives/goals

The objectives of this module are to underline the importance of personal organization, to explain what urgent-important matrix is and how to use it, and to teach how to avoid procrastination.


Description

  • Understanding how important personal organization is to improve productivity
  • Understanding the process of planning
  • Learning how to avoid procrastination

Bibliography

  • Allen, D. (2015). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin Books.
  • Covey, S. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Schuster.
  • Ferriss, T. (2007). The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Crown.
  • Mankins, M. (2011). The Strategy and Tactics of Time Management. Harvard Business Review Press.
  • Robbins, T. (2001). Time Management from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule -- and Your Life. Henry Holt & Co.