Time management strategies and implementation

Time Management

My time management style

My time management style is very proactive and engaging. I tend to plan activities either a week or a day in advance. Activities that are easily foreseeable are incorporated into my weekly activities. For example, a doctor's appointment is generally planned well in advance of the actual appointment. This provides both my wife and I flexibility in our planning. Activities such as work take high priority in our household. On many instances, activities are planned in advance around my work schedule to insure that my family is financially stable. My daily log incorporates planned activities such as shopping and other leisure activities. These activities are planned in advance and occur either before or after my work. The time for these activities is also very flexible in case and important or urgent activity requires my attention.

Roles and Patterns

very important roles within my life are my wife, sleep and work. All three are essential within my daily pattern. My wife is my life partner and therefore warrants much of my time. A large portion of my time is allocated to my wife as she helps me to better prioritize my activities throughout the week. For example, on Day 1 of my log, I needed to attend a doctor's appointment. Although minor, both my wife and I planned this activity within our daily routine in order to be more efficient. My wife is also very helpful in regards to unexpected activities and interruptions. In regards to time management, my wife is often able to handle unexpected occurrences with our son.

Next, sleep is another very important role within my daily routine. Sleep is particularly important as it correlates to my performance in my two other roles of wife and work. Sleep is the catalyst that allows me to perform well in my other two roles. I have noticed that without adequate sleep, my work product suffers. In addition, I find myself rushing and unable to properly prioritize tasks well. I therefore engage in a very routine sleep pattern in order to better fulfill my work and relationship duties.

My final role pertains to my work. This role exhibits are particularly routine pattern of hours throughout my log. Although, interruptions such as my son's doctor's appointment may interrupt my work, these occurrences are rare. My work exhibits a routine pattern of activity as it is very important to both my financial and physical well-being. I therefore allocate a disproportionate amount of my time to work related activities to ensure that my family is safe and financially comfortable.

Importance vs. urgency

As it relates to "important" vs. "urgent" activities, I generally spend much of my time doing important activities. Many of the urgent activities rarely become urgent due to my prioritizing ability. In addition, my wife helps to diminish the impact of sudden and unexpected activities that become urgent. When urgent activities do occur, they generally relate to my son. In these instances, I partner with my wife to address many of these urgent activities. By partnering, both parties are less stressed throughout the overall process. Partnering also helps to diminish procrastination which is the #1 cause of stress.

Areas of Concern

One area of concern I have in regards to my time management is my ability to proper prioritize work. In order to address this issue I have now incorporated a matrix to help me better determine important activities from activities that are not important. Second I have also planned activities further in advance while incorporating flexibility to allow for unexpected activities. Finally, I have avoided unnecessary activities that do not add value to my daily work

My second weakness is that amount of time that I waste, looking for paperwork or other important documents. To address this issue, I have reduced my desk space at work to minimize the possibility of creating clutter. Second, I have also attempted to touch any paperwork that needs to complete only once as oppose to multiple times. And third I have better utilized technology such as my blackberry to better synchronize of priorities during the day. This reduces the amount of paper I use writing down activities