An effective time management plan

Time Management Plan

Laying the Foundation (Goals)

As a doctorate student, effective management of my time for optimum productivity is of vital importance given the numerous activities and events that require attendance. This time management plan is meant to help appropriate my weekly time. The objective is to ensure that I manage my time effectively and that I only major on the most important aspects of my academic excellence and personal growth. With this time management plan, I will be able to assign adequate time to important activities; preparation for examinations, to attend lectures, to socialize, to undertake my research, to pursue my hobbies, and at the same time create adequate time for my family (Britton & Tesser, 1991; Misra & McKean, 2000). I believe that through effective management of my time, I will be able to make the most of my years studying Doctor of Business Administration degree and therefore achieve the requirements to pursue a career in business journalism or academia. Moreover, the ability to appropriately manage my time right now inculcates a good behavior which is part of the discipline required for a successful career in journalism and in academia, my desired careers. In the meanwhile, this time management plan will help in the attainment of three major goals;

i. To publish research in an academic journal - which is one of the goals of all doctoral students. To do so would validate the usefulness of the research beyond the obtainment of the DBA degree (Macan et al., 1990).

ii. To contribute to a larger body of research - which would be evidence by being cited by others. If my research is truly contributing something of value, other academics will recognize that, and seek to build on it.

iii. To go along with the completion of the DBA degree is to make a meaningful contribution to the industry and field through my work – by adding to the body of information available (Graves & Varma, 1997).

Self-Analysis

Strengths

· I am up-to-date on business research and have added to that some quality work experience.

· I have kept my study and research skills up to speed for the digital research age.

· I have cultivated discipline as part of my life, something that puts me in a good position to apply my knowledge and my research and analysis skills.

· I am very focused, visionary, and self-driven towards the attainment of the set short-term and long-term career goals.

· I have a very supportive family, and academia professionals – lecturers and supervisors.

Weaknesses

· I have limited practical experience. I have not had an opportunity to apply theory from business school.

· I do not necessarily have the connections and the social networks right now to conduct that sort of direct research.

Opportunities

· I am a lifelong scholar, someone who has maintained currency on where business theory and scholarship is today

· Potential to pursue a career either in business journalism with one of the major business publications or in academia

Threats

· There is competition, where I would be competing not just to get into doctoral studies, but once I am there with others who are studying the same thing, or competing for the same research funding (Bedeian et al., 2010).

· Limited funding for research work. With the high expenses needed for a successful research project, and even pursue the doctoral education, limited funding is a threat to my education.

Personal Style and Preferences Time Management System Design

Essentially, I am a very good time manager, self-driven, and highly disciplined in the management of self. This is one of the primary resources that will come in handy as I manage time in pursuing my doctoral degree.

What’s working?

My discipline, along with my knowledge of current business theory, will all contribute to my being able to meet the time management goals.

What’s not working?

A third challenge will be data-gathering. Gathering data is one of the biggest challenges for doctoral candidates, and again mirrors the business world. Data is powerful, but reliably gathering data, especially about subjective, social fields of study can be quite difficult. I will definitely need to learn a lot about research design in order to be able to achieve the goals that I have set out for myself.

My Time Management Preferences

I have become exceptionally conscientious in my work. I have learned a work ethic that will help me overcome these challenges. For this reason, I think that my strengths align well with what it takes to acquire a doctoral degree, and go beyond that to achieve the goals that I have set forth for myself.

My Energy Cycles and Sources

?I believe that I am fairly well-prepared to meet these challenges. I will not really know until I do it, of course, but I feel that over the years I have cultivated a certain amount of discipline that is greater than most. I am very productive in the morning and in the evening before retiring for the day, thus I focus to do much at such times (MacCann, Fogarty & Roberts, 2012).

Strategy and Design

Time (hrs)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Gym

Gym

Gym

Gym

Gym

Gym

Personal time

Academic work

Family time

Lunch break

Academic work

Hobby

Family time

Review of the week and editing of the plan

1900 -2000

Study and review of course notes

0000 - 0600

Sleep

Table 1. A weekly time plan.

The primary objective of this time plan is to promote academic performance and personal growth. As a result, most of the time has been allocated to academic work. Academic work in this paper refers to all work related to academic including course theory, practical/field sessions, and supervisor/lecturer meetings. This doctoral degree requires significant data collection activity and thus, specific academic activities will be allocated within the academic-work time as the specific activities arise. For physical fitness, the first thirty minutes of every day except Sunday will be spent in the gym (). The one hour and fifteen minutes allocated for lunch break will also be used for socialization. From 1800hrs, it is family time and afterward, from 2100hrs to bedtime, it will be time to review the day’s academic work, mainly study of course notes/theory.

The day's schedule will essentially begin with the gym (health), academic (education), lunch (health), academic (education), hobbies (social), family, and review of academics (education) (Trockel, Barnes & Egget, 2000).

Figure 1. A day's time map

To ensure I keep track of the time management plan, various tools are to be used.

i. Time blocking. This is an effective tool for time management and for the more efficient organization of my day’s activities. Time blocking will help to keep track of the prevention of distractions, procrastination, and the avoidance of unproductive multitasking.

ii. Weekis – this is a tool that helps in the planning of a week. Because my current time management plan is on a weekly basis, then weekis comes in handy. It is a web-based application that allows for entry of a day’s activities for a whole month. This tool is most appropriate because the time management plan can then be carried almost everywhere through a mobile device – with a Smartphone the best option. It will also help to keep track of time and the relevant event at any given time.

Making It Happen

Weekis will be used to ensure that I carry the time management plan with me almost everywhere. This way, I will be able to keep track of the event I should be undertaking at each specific time. On the other hand, time blocking will be used to ensure that any possible distractions, procrastination, and other unproductive events are avoided during the day. I will check for my productivity by ensuring that every activity is undertaken at the right time (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). If not, then I will be reviewing the time management plan on a weekly basis, as the last activity of the week and modifying it accordingly to ensure I am able to concentrate on the most important activities and to accommodate any emerging issues. To ensure that any arising issues, risks, and environmental and/or psychological obstacles are effectively accommodated within the plan, I have designed a considerably flexible plan to ensure that, any important event are accommodated within the plan (Bedeian et al., 2010). For example, academic time is not defined as lecture time, research or data collection time, but rather just academic work. As a result, it is possible to accommodate any education-related activity e.g. meeting with lecturers/project supervisor flexibly within the plan.