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Contents
About This Book
How to Use This Book
A. WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT?
1. Draw Your Clock
2. Five Minutes Worth
3. Itll Only Take a Minute
4. Time Management Self-Assessment
B. ESTABLISHING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
5. Telling Goals from Objectives
6. Turning Goals into Objectives
7. What You Want and What You Get
C. SETTING PRIORITIES
8. The Shopping List
9. I Bet on Time
10. The Multitasking Myth
11. Paretos Room
12. Sequence of Events
13. I Need
14. The Estimating Game
15. Seems to Be in Order
D. OVERCOMING TIME MANAGEMENT OBSTACLES
16. Clean Up This Mess!
17. Im In a Meeting
18. Clustering Time
19. I Politely Refuse
20. Delegate It
21. Wasting Time
22. Youve Got Mail
23. Email Time
24. The Shrinking Calendar
25. You Can Have My Procrastination
If you are using this exercise as an opener for a time management training session, you can
tell participants that the purpose of this training is to help bring out more similarities
between how time really is and how theyd like it to be. This could be an early motivation for
them to focus their attention on what you have to tell them.
Goals are:
general directions
unclear
more emotional than rational
Objectives are:
descriptive
clear and specific
more rational than emotional
Write down, for each of the following statements, whether they are formulated as goals or
as objectives:
1. Being happy.
2. Losing 10 pounds.
3. Getting a sales report done.
4. Spending more time with the family.
5. Getting a promotion.
6. Painting the garage door white.
7. Buying a new car.
8. Writing a book.
9. Reducing the time spent at work from 8 to 6 hours a day by next December.
10. Going on a vacation to Hawaii by the end of the year.
C. SETTING PRIORITIES
9. I Bet on Time
Purpose: To get participants to understand the value of time put into high priority tasks.
Participants: 4 16
Time Required: 45 minutes
Materials Needed: Handouts 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3, 50 poker chip set, pens.
Steps to Follow:
a) Tell participants that, since time is money, they are going to make a time bet.
b) Give them handout 9.1 and tell them to write down six tasks they have to perform at work,
one in each section of the page. Allow them five minutes to think of the tasks.
c) After completing this first part, ask them to estimate how long it would take them to fulfill
each task and write it down in the quadrant. The duration of each task must be a multiple of
30 minutes. If they their tasks take longer than a working day, ask them to write down the
number of hours (a working day will be counted as 8 hours).
d) Tell them to give each of the tasks a priority indicator, ranging from, 1 to 4, according to
their importance. Each priority indicator can be assigned to no more than two tasks. For
example, you can have a priority 1 task, two priority 2 tasks, one priority 3 task and two
priority 4 tasks; or you can have two tasks for three levels of priority and none for the fourth.
e) After theyve filled in handout 9.1, ask them how often their managers give them get all the
time they estimate they need to complete their tasks. Their answers will most likely be
rarely or never.
f) Bring out the poker chips and tell them that the chips are worth minutes. Pass out handout
10.2, stating the value of the poker chips to each participant.
g) Explain that you are going to give them chips they can use as time to fulfill their tasks. The
trouble is that theyll only get half of the time they estimated they need to complete the task.
For example, for a 30 minute task, they will receive a 15 minute chip; for a 7 hour task, they
will receive three chips worth one hour and one 30 minute chip. Tell them they have to think
how they can place their chips in order to get the most out of the time theyve been given.
h) Ask them to place the appropriate chips in each section, according to the way they want to
reallocate their time.
i) When theyre done arranging the chips, give each of them a copy of handout 9.3. Ask them to
follow the steps on the paper and talk them through each step.
j) After all calculations are done, ask each participant to tell you the number they got after the
final subtraction. The person who got the lowest number is the winner, because he or she has
placed all of the chips on high importance tasks.
Questions for Debriefing:
Why do you think that some of the tasks were multiplied by 4?
What do you usually do when there isnt enough time to get everything done?
What does this game tell you about prioritizing tasks?
Tips on Making This Activity Go Well:
Make sure your poker chip set is big enough so that you can give all the participants the
requested chips. A 50 piece set should do for a group up to 12 14 participants.
Due to the complexity of the calculations on handout 9.3, make sure you walk participants
through them and answer any questions they might have, so that they dont get the results
wrong.
Handout 9.1
1) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
2) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
3) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
4) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
5) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
6) Task:
Time Needed:
Priority Level:
Handout 9.2
Follow the instructions below:
a) Sum up the number of minutes of all the chips.
b) Multiply the sum by 4.
c) Sum up the value of all the chips you have placed on priority 1 and priority 2 tasks.
d) Multiply the sum you got at point c) by 4.
e) Sum up the value of the chips you have placed on priority 3 and priority 4 tasks.
f) Add the sums you got at points d) and e).
g) Subtract the sum you got at point f) from the sum you got at point b).
Handout 9.3
Chip values
White: 15 minutes
Red: 30 minutes
Green: 1 hour
Blue: 4 hours
Black: 8 hours
In case you have trouble getting people to volunteer for this exercise, use an volunteer
choosing technique, such as the person who will display the biggest smile just now will
automatically become a volunteer or the youngest person in the room is the designated
volunteer.
Handout 10.1
Effective time management is built on a set of principles, but it does not appear as a strict
result of the inflexible use of these principles and of the connected practices. People are
different and the correct understanding of oneself, of ones own wishes, priorities and lifestyle
is vital for getting the desired results.
5) Insert 5 casters into base of chair. Insert gas cylinder into center of base and slide cylinder
backrest screws. Tighten securely.
13. I Need
Purpose: To help participants develop prioritization skills.
Participants: 4 - 16
Time Required: 15 - 20 minutes
Materials Needed: A piece of paper, a pen.
Steps to Follow:
a) Get someone to volunteer for participating in this exercise. Ask him to step up to the front
of the room and have him sit down at the trainers desk. Hand him a blank piece of paper and a
pen.
b) Tell the other participants that they can each request something from the volunteer. The
requests will be make-belief and the volunteer wont actually act on them, but they have to
make such requests that the volunteer would chose handling theirs over those of the others.
c) The volunteer has to write down all requests as the participants state them. After
everybody has stated their request, he has to decide the order in which he would act on them.
He can also choose not to agree to certain requests. Give him 5 minutes to decide.
d) Have him read out what requests he would see to, in chronological order. Ask him to justify
his decisions.
Questions for Debriefing:
What determined this list of priorities?
Who were the requests important for?
What would you have to do move up on somebody elses list of priorities?
Tips on Making This Activity Go Well:
Some people might take the fact that their request was not selected to heart. Make sure you
prevent any hard feelings they might develop by using a humorous remark, such as Im pretty
sure that if you pay him enough, he would instantly change his priorities.
8) Milking a cow
9) Washing a cat
10) Building a castle in the sand.
What advantage did the neat team have that helped them win?
How much time do you spend looking for misplaced files or objects in real life?
Tips on Making This Activity Go Well:
In some groups, you might not get any people (or at least not enough to form a team) that
would describe themselves either as neat or sloppy. If this happens, turn the question from
who thinks of themselves as neat and tidy to who is tidy at least part of the time? This
should get you enough recruits.
Dont worry if the number of members in each team isnt balanced. You will calculate the
average, not the sum. Tell that to participants as well.
17. Im In a Meeting
Purpose: To make participants aware of the importance of planning and controlling
meetings.
Participants: 4 - 16
Time Required: 15 - 20 minutes
Materials Needed: Flipchart.
Steps to Follow:
a) Tell the group that you would like to call a meeting and that you find it very fortunate they
are already gathered in the room. If youre standing, have a seat and tell them the meeting has
begun.
b) Tell them you would like to hear their thoughts on improving the training session. Listen
carefully to their suggestions.
c) At some point, suggest that there should be no more breaks for the rest of the training. Ask
them how they feel about it.
d) When everyone is done presenting their suggestions and thoughts, randomly choose one of
the participants to tell you the conclusions. Write what he says on the flipchart. Check how
each of the conclusions is connected to the initial purpose of the meeting.
Questions for Debriefing:
How did this meeting go?
How well was the purpose of the meeting served?
What could we have done to make it more effective?
Tips on Making This Activity Go Well:
At the end of the meeting, you can ask the group if they have anything else to add aside from
what the person you named has already said. Use this if you feel that there have been
discussions unrelated to the topic of the meeting that the person you designated has failed to
mention.
2) Ironing shirts
3) Washing shorts
4) Buying sugar
5) Paying phone bill
6) Washing shirts
7) Cooking
8) Walking the dog
9) Buying peas
10) Buying meat
11) Cleaning desk
12) Sweeping room
13) Showering
20. Delegate It
Purpose: To help participants understand the importance of delegating tasks.
Participants: 6 15
Time Required: 30 minutes
Materials Needed: Pieces of paper, pens.
Steps to Follow:
a) Split participants into groups of three.
b) Tell them to write down a list of their ongoing tasks at work. All three participants will
compile the tasks into a single list.
c) Explain that they will receive help from a team of four people that has been assigned to take
over their tasks. They have to decide who they will delegate each task to, according to their
skills and personality traits.
d) Give them a copy of handout 20.1. The handout has a brief description of each member of
the team. It states their name, age, level of skill in the particular field in which they have to
perform and a list of personal traits. Give them 15 minutes to decide how to delegate the
tasks.
e) Ask each team to read out how they decided to delegate the tasks.
Questions for Debriefing:
Are the tasks evenly matched between the members of the assigned team?
What criteria did you use for delegating?
What challenges din you encounter when deciding who to delegate the tasks to?
Tips on Making This Activity Go Well:
You can add a short description of each member of the team, from the subjective point of
view of a manager. For example, you can say that James is the smart one, but hes not a team
player at all and hes rather lazy or Mary always does as she is told, usually gets the job done
but dont expect her to ever take the initiative. This will help participants get a clearer
picture of each of the four characters that make up the team.
Handout 20.1
1) James
Age: 32
Skill level: 9/10
Personality traits:
Creative: 10/10
Analytical mind: 9/10
Adaptive: 4/10
Organized: 4/10
Hard working: 3/10
Self-disciplined: 4/10
Productive: 5/10
Intelligent: 9/10
Detail oriented: 4/10
Emotionally competent: 8/10
2) Mary
Age: 22
Skill level: 5/10
Personality traits:
Creative: 3/10
Analytical mind: 5/10
Adaptive: 9/10
Organized: 9/10
Hard working: 10/10
6. Self-disciplined: 8/10
7. Productive: 9/10
Intelligent: 7/10
Detail oriented: 8/10
Emotionally competent: 6/10
3) Sandra
Age: 27
7) Brunching
8) Smoking
9) Day dreaming
10) Having coffee
Total:
If the participants say they cant make an accurate estimation of the number of emails they
receive, have them access their email account from a computer and count their recently
received emails.
Handout 23.1
Please answer the questions below:
1) How many email accounts do you have?
2) What is the average number of emails you receive on an account, each day?
3) How long does it usually take you to read an email?
4) How long would it take you to read all of the emails you receive in one day? Multiply the
answer from question 2 by the answer to question 3.