Finally, the results of my work changed in the definite meaning of improvements. With reducing the procrastination and keeping the interruptions to a minimum I was able to better concentrate on the task. And the final outcome showed it. Not only was my work at a superior quality, but I managed to learn more and better use and apply the knowledge I had gained by completing the task. All these increased my confidence in myself, which was soon obvious to my colleagues and teachers. I am now able to better interact with those around me and I have more self-respect.
4. Action Plan have implemented numerous time management tools and techniques; each personalized and adjusted to my particular needs. They all helped me achieve my final goals of increasing my efficiency and also the quality of my hand-in work. But these tools and techniques need to be further developed, customized and implemented in order to ensure the continuing success of my scholarly activities as well as an efficient preparation for my future as a marketing director within, I hope, an international corporation.
The action plan for the previously as well as future implemented time management tools and techniques can be summarized as follows:
Identifying the causes for delays and low quality tasks should first state that I love what I do, my marketing major that is, and I cannot wait to graduate and apply all the knowledge I accumulated during my years of study to the benefit of an organization. Therefore, even if the fact that we don't like what we do is generally a major cause for the failure of our actions, it is not the case for me.
The reasons for which my actions sometimes failed to retrieve the desired outcomes came from more personal approaches to the studying process. As such, as stated before, I generally approached the project from a timely stand point, considering that if I completed the assignment within the specified amount of time, it will all be good. Then, another reason for failure was the fact that I generally poorly organized myself. By this, I mean that I used to postpone the moment of starting work, and once I did start, I kept interrupting myself and procrastinating.
Establishing my personal goals
The major goal was to increase the effectiveness of my scholarly activities while in the same time improving the quality of my works. But in order to be achieved, these goals had to broken into numerous smaller goals, which are easier to meet. Among these smaller goals I included establishing a clear working schedule and sticking to it, reducing procrastination and other interruptions in order to be able to concentrate better, better organize my resources, such as reduce the amount of time spent on reading works I was already familiar with. Also, I learnt how to read between the lines in order to get the author's general idea. These goals had to be...
I identified two criteria, and implemented them based on the particularities of each task. The two criteria were importance and urgency. Urgency referred to the next due project and I would basically attend to it. However, when a future project was more important than the urgent one, say for instance a term paper in comparison to a daily homework, I would work on both, but emphasize on the important one.
Once the activities were prioritized, I began to make a plan for how I would handle the task. Take for instance the case of my dissertation paper. I first looked into several marketing areas which present interest for me. Then, based on the identified topics, I searched fro bibliography and then discussed the retrieved information with my coordinating teacher. Once he approved of the subject, I began to collect as much information as I could and think of a structure for my paper. Only then I started to actually write.
Reducing interruptions
There are two sorts of interruptions, those from yourself and those from others. However it is rather difficult to reduce the interruptions from others, I could reduce the interruptions from myself by establishing a clear work schedule and sticking to it. For instance, I would generally eat before starting to work, so didn't have to stop.
Keeping my work area organized
Similar to the other components of the action plan, keeping my work area organized was highly important and aided me in reaching my final objective. In this order of ideas, I cleared my desk from any potential distractions, such as magazines or my mobile phone.
All the above played a vital role in my personalized implementation of the time management and offered me the necessary support in improving the final quality of my work and better preparing for my future career. But it doesn't stop here; I will continue to identify new sources for potential failure and reduce their negative impact through customized time management tools and techniques.
References
Allen, D., 2001, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Production, New York Viking
Cook, M.J., 1998, Time Management: Proven Techniques for Making the Most of Your Valuable Time, Adams Media Corporation
Harvard Business School Publishing, 2005, Time Management: Harvard Business Essentials, Harvard Business School Press
Mancini, M., 2003, Time Management, the McGraw-Hill Companies
1996, Guide to Better Time Management, Sonic Net, http://sonic.net/~mfreeman/time_hlp.html. Ast accessed on February 11, 2008
