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Scheduling
Planning to Make the Best Use of Your Time
Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available
to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you
have identified. By using a schedule properly, you can:
- Understand what you can realisticaly achieve with your time;
- Plan to make the best use of the time available; Leave enough
time for things you absolutely must do;
- Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected';
- and Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to yourself
and others.
How to Use the Tool:
There are many good scheduling tools available, including diaries,
calendars, paper-based organizers, PDAs and integrated software
suites like MS Outlook or GoalPro 6. The scheduling tool that
is best for you depends on your situation, the current structure
of your job, your taste and your budget: The key things are to
be able to enter data easily, and to be able to view an appropriate
span of time in the correct level of detail.
Scheduling is best done on a regular basis, for example at the
start of every week or month. Go through the following steps in
preparing your schedule:
- Start by identifying the time you want to make available for
your work. This will depend on the design of your job and on
your personal goals in life.
- Next, block in the actions you absolutely must take to do
a good job. These will often be the things you are assessed
against.
For example, if you manage people, then you must make time
available for dealing with issues that arise, coaching, and
supervision. Similarly, you must allow time to communicate
with your boss and key people around you. While people may
let you get away with 'neglecting them' in the short-term,
your best time management efforts will surely be derailed
if you do not set aside time for those who are important in
your life.
-
Review your To Do List, and schedule in the high-priority
urgent activities, as well as the essential maintenance tasks
that cannot be delegated and cannot be avoided.
- Next, block in appropriate contingency time. You will learn
how much of this you need by experience. Normally, the more
unpredictable your job, the more contingency time you need.
The reality of many people's work is of constant interruption:
Studies show some managers getting an average of as little as
six minutes uninterrupted work done at a time.
Obviously, you cannot tell when interruptions will occur.
However, by leaving space in your schedule, you give yourself
the flexibility to rearrange your schedule to react effectively
to issues as they arise.
- What you now have left is your "discretionary time": the
time available to deliver your priorities and achieve your goals.
Review your Prioritized To Do List and personal goals, evaluate
the time needed to achieve these actions, and schedule these
in.
By the time you reach step 5, you may find that you have little
or no discretionary time available. If this is the case, then
revisit the assumptions you used in the first four steps. Question
whether things are absolutely necessary, whether they can be delegated,
or whether they can be done in an abbreviated way. Remember that
one of the most important ways people learn to achieve success
is by maximizing the 'leverage' they can achieve with their time.
They increase the amount of work they can manage by delegating
work to other people, spend money outsourcing key tasks, or use
technology to automate as much of their work as possible. This
frees them up to achieve their goals.
Also, use this as an opportunity to review your To Do List and
Personal Goals. Have you set goals that just aren't achievable
with the time you have available? Are you taking on too many additional
duties? Or are you treating things as being more important than
they really are?
If your discretionary time is still limited, then you may need
to renegotiate your workload. With a well-thought through schedule
as evidence, you may find this surprisingly easy.
Key points:
Scheduling is the process by which you plan your use of time.
By scheduling effectively, you can both reduce stress and maximize
your effectiveness.
Before you can schedule efficiently, you need an effective scheduling
system. This can be a diary, calendar, paper-based organizer,
PDA or a software package like MS Outlook or GoalPro 6. The best
solution depends entirely on your circumstances.
Scheduling is then a five-step process:
- Identify the time you have available.
- Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed
in your job.
- Schedule in high priority urgent tasks and vital "house-keeping"
activities.
- Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable
interruptions.
- In the time that remains, schedule the activities that address
your priorities and personal goals.
If you have little or no discretionary time left by the time
you reach step five, then revisit the assumptions you have made
in steps one to four.
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