Time Management Secrets for

Working Women
Getting Organized to Get the Most Out of Each Day

by Ruth Klein
Sourcebooks © 2005
256 pages

Focus Take-Aways
Leadership & Mgt. • Working women feel that there is never enough time to get everything done.
Strategy
Sales & Marketing • Working women fall into three "Personal Motivational Lifestyle" categories: "The
Corporate Finance
Traditional Homemaker, the Transitional Woman and the Achieving Woman."
Human Resources
• Distribute your time in a way that meshes with your personal motivational lifestyle.
Technology & Production
Small Business • Setting goals will help you determine what you must accomplish with your time.
Economics & Politics
• Many women look for work situations that allow them to control their time.
Industries & Regions
Career Development • It's healthful to spend time pursuing activities that relieve stress.
Personal Finance
Concepts & Trends
• If you work from home, learn to avoid distractions.

• Strategies for controlling your schedule include forming a backup team, using a
calendar and performing several tasks simultaneously.

• Other methods for using time efficiently and productively include organizing your
workspace, delegating tasks, using waiting time and making lists.

• Once you know what makes you tick, you'll be more comfortable with the clock.

Rating (10 is best)

Overall Applicability Innovation Style

7 9 5 7

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 Relevance

What You Will Learn

In this Abstract you will learn: 1) How working women can squeeze the most out of every
minute of every day; 2) How to organize your schedule and maximize your productivity;
and 3) How to use time in a way that matches your lifestyle and values.

Recommendation
Many working women awake to the figurative sound of a starter pistol and race against
the clock until they lie down to sleep at night. Author Ruth Klein understands the unique
challenges that time management presents to working women. The demands of home,
family and work always compete for their attention, and they get almost no personal
time. She divides women into three “Personal Motivational Lifestyle” categories and
explains that a woman will feel unbalanced and unfulfilled if her time investment is
out of sync with her lifestyle. She encourages women to nurture a clear understanding
of their own personalities so their time use aligns with their values and beliefs. Klein
offers many useful, practical timesaving tips, strategies and techniques for the home
and workplace. The book jumps from subject to subject with little regard to flow, but the
advice is solid and actionable once you find it. getAbstract believes Klein can help you
organize your time. Just give her a minute.

Abstract

Tick Tock Tears

To many women, time is an adversary. The ticking clock prevents them from accomplishing
“One woman
may find herself all they need to do. Society expects working women to perform optimally at work, and
meeting the to manage their homes. Men, on the other hand, are only required to manage their time
responsibilities at work. Women who feel pressured by time also feel guilty, overwhelmed and anxious.
of a wife, mother,
lover and career
Learning how to manage your time according to your values will help relieve most of
woman – not to this stress.
mention those
of a friend, Track the source of your stress: 80% of it probably results from time management
daughter, hostess, dilemmas. Take time to relieve your stress instead of letting it build into an insurmountable
child schlepper, problem. Take a long bath, window shop or visit the gym. Mental activities that help
housekeeper,
recreational
relieve stress include letting go of things that cause continual tension, taking time for
director, nurse, recreation, trying not to rush and maintaining a positive attitude. When possible, give
cook and yourself a little treat like a facial or a movie.
amateur shrink.”
Three Kinds of Women
How do you alleviate the time pressures you feel as you try to meet your work, family and
personal needs? Choose which “Personal Motivational Lifestyle” category best describes
your way of life, and use it to reorganize your schedule to compliment your values and
priorities. See where you fit among the three basic categories of working women:

“Working women 1. “The Traditional Homemaker” – She treasures the traditional values of caring for
need to learn how her family and home. Although she may work outside the home, she considers her
to balance time, work a job rather than a career. Her satisfaction and happiness come from devoting
not juggle it.”
herself to her family. She feels this is her most important work, and resents society
for looking down upon the “housewife.”
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 2. “The Transitional Woman” – She is conflicted by her duel desires to take care of her
“What women
family and work outside the home. She possesses traditional values, but often needs
want most is the to work to help make ends meet. She regularly feels like her life is out of control. The
time to handle, demands of work and home pull her in opposing directions, and she can’t find total
without always satisfaction in either place.
rushing, all the
tasks they deem 3. “The Achieving Woman” – Her primary focus is her career. She puts most of her
necessary.” energies into her work. She volunteers to head each committee, takes on every
available new client and attends numerous events. She is happy with her lifestyle
choice, but often feels overwhelmed and overcommitted.

A Goal-centered Life
To get what you want from life, begin by setting goals. Then, give yourself permission
to achieve your objectives. Goal setting will help you determine what’s important
every day. Make a list of five general goals. So that you will think positively, write an
“Working
women realize “intention statement” about each goal as if you have already achieved it. Analyze why
how important each goal matters to you and write down your motivation. List strategies for reaching
their decisions each objective. Lastly, do one thing to get started toward each goal right away.
are…the need to
make decisions
often seems like Time Emphasis
an extra-heavy You know you are busy, but how do you actually spend your time? Try to use time
burden.”
in a way that’s in harmony with your personal motivational lifestyle, and makes you
feel happy and fulfilled. Traditional homemakers spend 50% of their time on family
and home, 30% on personal activities and 20% on professional activities. Transitional
women spend 35% of their time on family and home, 30% on personal activities and
35% on professional activities. Achieving women spend 25% of their time on family and
home, 25% on personal activities and 50% on professional activities.
To analyze how you spend your time, keep a time diary for two weeks. Write down your
“By staying
flexible, you can
activities in half-hour increments. After two weeks, categorize each activity under the
avoid being frozen headings of home, personal or work. Total the time you spent in each category. Decide
by the enormity which personal motivational lifestyle best fits you. Then, compare your percentages of
of a crisis or
time allotments with the lifestyle you chose. If your time emphasis is not consistent with
challenge.”
your lifestyle choice, that may explain why you feel fatigued, anxious and pressured.

Time-Pressure Relief Valve

Use these tips to employ your time wisely in your home, personal and professional life:
• The "SWAT Team" – Enlist the help of two or three people you can rely on in emergency
situations. Agree to back each other up when there is an urgent problem.
“No matter • Keep a calendar – Record your daily appointments and activities on a calendar that
how small your shows a full month on each page. Take it with you. Circle significant dates in red, and
business or what keep one day free before and after trips. Reserve time for personal activities.
position you
may hold in an • Use your road time – Convert your car trunk into a “mini-office-kitchen” so you can
organization, maximize your time away from home.
knowing how and • Build in time for your family – Make dinnertime into family time. Use bedtime as a
when to delegate
responsibility is special opportunity to reconnect with your children.
critical for growth • “Integrate or suffocate” – Learn how to accomplish two or more goals at the same
and success.” time. Slip things you have to do into your existing activities. For example, help your
child study for a test while you fold laundry.
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 Earning Alternatives
Many women seek untraditional jobs that give them more control over their time. Some
“As we evaluate options include job-sharing, flextime, part-time employment, working from home,
our time- starting a business, operating a franchise, and using compensatory time and personal
management days creatively. The following professions are worth investigating for part-time, creative
skills, we
often discover
or home-based work: “Accountant, sales representative, public relations specialist,
a surprising provider of seminars and training, editor, speech therapist, secretary, customer relations
discrepancy representative, personal coach, housecleaner, freelancer, consultant.”
between how we
think we spend
our time and how The Work-at-Home Dilemma
we actually fill Working at home presents unique time management problems. The ringing phone, the
our hours.” laundry piling up and unexpected visitors rob work-at-home women of valuable time as
they duck other distractions, such as the need to clean, answer the phone, check e-mail
or run errands. Some women also find working from home very isolating.
Combat the need to clean or iron by hiring a housecleaner, enlisting your family’s help or
devoting a limited amount of time to chores before you start work. Refuse to indulge in
personal telephone calls during work time, and install a second phone line for business. Put
in a couple hours of work before reading your e-mail, instead of clicking in first thing.
“Time Many women can’t resist a ringing phone. Cell phones provide availability no matter
management
skills lay the where you are or what you are doing. But being accessible to your clients 24 hours a day,
groundwork for every day, is not efficient. Do not interrupt an important activity to answer the phone.
living a more Instead, answer messages and make calls at designated times that fit your schedule. As
balanced,
calm, joyful and
long as you respond to your clients in a timely fashion, they will be satisfied.
productive life.”
Organize Your Workspace
To work efficiently, organize your workspace. Keep your desk clear of papers and clutter.
Stack unfiled papers neatly in a designated area or in a basket. Use the “three-D filing
system.” Place papers in three folders labeled “do it this morning,” “do it this afternoon”
and “do it now.” Clear out your office weekly: file papers, toss out the junk and pile
papers neatly.

“Women often A Woman’s Prerogative

perceive time as Many working women have difficulty making decisions. This manifests itself as
an enemy that
prevents them
indecision or stagnation. Fear of changing or making a mistake inhibits women from
from getting it all deciding. To liberate yourself from indecisiveness, realize that your decisions do not have
done, all the time.” to be perfect and can be changed if necessary. Women tend to fall into six categories of
decision makers:
1. “Analyzers” fear mistakes and so they examine each facet of a situation before
deciding. They waste time before they eventually decide.
2. “Information overloaders” keep seeking data. Stop at “seven sources;” that’s plenty.
3. “Risk takers” decide fast using facts and “gut” feelings. They take risks but save time.
4. “Traumatizers” decide, but then fret extensively. Don’t doubt yourself. To build
“If you work
at home, any
confidence, record your decisions and see how many of them come out well.
interruption is a 5. “Fence sitters” are painfully unable to decide. The best cure is a pro versus con
time-killer.”
analysis. List positive and negative factors, and compare them.
6. “Procrastinators” delay until they are compelled to choose. Instead, accept
responsibility and realize that “a forced choice is no choice.”

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 Those Lovely Lists
Rather than trying to remember everything you need to do, make a list. List keeping relieves
stress while keeping you organized. Begin each day with a one-page “starter sheet.” First,
write down two things you must complete that day at home, at work and in your personal
time. Use a “time-log sheet” to track the hours you spend on each task. You can also use a
“task sheet” to itemize each activity you need to perform to reach your goal.

“Everyday snafus Delegate

and mistakes can Many working women are obsessed with being in control. This need is rooted in the
turn into learning
experiences and
twin emotions of fear and guilt. Women fear being rejected, appearing incompetent or
opportunities.” infringing on someone else. They feel guilty about not being perfect. When women
cannot delegate, they suffer burnout and depression. Delegating tasks is a necessary
coping mechanism. Ask for help in your home and office. To move ahead, select the jobs
you enjoy doing and keep those. List your other chores in priority order and call for some
assistance in accomplishing those tasks. Maybe you can swap chores. For example, one
woman grocery shops for her friend on Saturdays, and the friend gives her three hours
of house cleaning once a week.

It’s Worth the Wait

Many working women spend much of their day waiting. Minutes tick by as you sit in the
car, waiting for your next appointment, for your child’s soccer practice to end or for the
When you paint
“you’re not
train to go by. Convert that waiting time into productive time. In just a few minutes, you
bothered by can check off many of the items on your to-do list. Keep useful equipment in your car,
mistakes. You such as office supplies, gift-wrap, cards and snacks. Use extra minutes to return phone
just say, ‘The
next time will be
calls, write notes or catch up on work-related reading.
better.’ That’s
what happens in
life. That’s why I Meeting Management
wouldn’t change Learning how to run meetings efficiently will ultimately save you time and money.
anything: because Limit meetings to 55 minutes. Give each participant an agenda in advance, start on time
I made mistakes,
but those mistakes
and stick to the agenda. Arrive for meetings prepared and on time. Meeting tips: ask
taught me how to questions, offer input, pay attention to body language and listen carefully.
live.”
[ – Frank Sinatra ]
Who Are You?
To make the most of every day, understand your own motives and needs. Believe in your
right to be calm, peaceful and happy. Revel in the special qualities that make you unique.
Set a goal and enjoy the process of attaining it. Take a vacation from guilt and seize
control of your time. Focus on your objectives, but remain flexible in your approach.
Trust your inner voice. When you learn how to respect your emotions, you will begin to
have faith in your choices and decisions.

About The Author

Ruth Klein is president of a company that provides time management solutions for
professionals, moms and students. She is a frequent public speaker, an active civic
volunteer and the author of five books, including Where Did The Time Go? and Manage
Your Time/Market Your Business.

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