So I’ve recently not had the time to write a blog every week, like I said I would, but this one’s going to be about time management and maintaining ahead of your schedule.
The first time I heard these words was at Bootcamp training with The Apprentice Academy. I brought my knowledge of time management to DPG and was very impressed at how I used it at the beginning of my apprenticeship; recently, I’ve noticed that this skill has slowly started to fade away.
I still find myself making weekly ‘To Do’ lists but find it hard to dedicate my whole attention to them. I know I can handle it, but I need to find a great way of managing to complete my tasks without thinking “Oh God, it’s five o’clock and I’ve not even done this!” – I need to adapt to a routine!
At the academy, they taught me how to manage time by making a daily schedule; writing down my daily tasks, how long they would approximately take and marking the most important ones so I knew which tasks I would need to complete first.
I think I should use this more often at work to help me manage my time but just making the schedule itself would be time consuming and would probably take up half of my day already! As I’m still an apprentice newbie, I’m still trying to adapt to the routine of setting myself tasks and being dedicated to them so I need your help.
If you have any advice or any tactics that could help me manage my tasks a bit better, don’t hesitate to share.
Stay tuned time management heroes…
Comments
Great work Debora.
You've got me thinking about time in general. I love the saying 'Anything lost can be found apart from time wasted'. I continue to live my life by this and by having this kind of mindset you can achieve everything you want and more :-) It has helped me over the years to think about the kind of person I want to be remembered for, the kind of life I want to have lived. By starting with our end in sight (that's the grim bit...!) we can really take stock of things we want to achieve. Once you've got all these things clear...all you have to do is....go achieve them!
So this is more about not wasting our precious time really but hopefully something that gets your brilliant mind thinking.
Lots of great advice coming through already so I'm sure you'll find something that works for you.
Sarah
Thanks for the advice Rachel :-) I will try these techniques and keep you up to date with how I get on :-)
Tee hee...I can fully sympathise here! I deliver a Time Management course and must be one of the worlds worst - that delivery is very much "do as I say, not as I do!".
I feel my own problem is setting unrealistic goals and timescales at the outset - thinking I can do it all. I'm always frantically running around 'cause I think "I could just do this first, then....". I joke that I'll be late for my own funeral! Just this morning I went rushing to an appointment and got there on the dot rather than early and relaxed as I decided I could easily sweep the kitchen floor 1st!
So look at your to-do list goals and timescales and ask if they are really realistic and achievable. Be strict with your prioritising of tasks and then do them in that priority order - starting with the tasks that must get done today (my kitchen floor for example was not one of them but attending that appointment was...) - yes I am going to try harder to practice what I preach too.
Another thing to look at is procrastination - are you guilty of putting off jobs because you don't like them or they appear huge? A book I'd recomment is Brian Tracy - Eat That Frog! (the frog being the job/task you don't want to eat!). It's an easy read and has very good tips in it. Brian Tracy has a good method for prioritising called ABCDE model, however this may be same or similar to what you've experienced already. If you do find this quite time consuming to use (must watch the Inbetweeners episode that Mike refers to) an alternative could be looking at Pareto's Principle aka 80/20 Rule.
Good luck and remember to share how you get own - so I can get some tips too :-)
Anyway - back to my A task of my assessment!
Thanks for the tips Mike I'll have to try them out :-)
Great blog Debora and regardless of experience or position - time management is hugely important.
I don't think that it will be your skills fading away........but more like you have more to do now as you've taken on more responsibility and additional tasks. Like you say you need to adapt your routine constantly and be able to prioritise work accordingly depending on importance and timescales. I know what your saying about to-do-lists and I don't know whether you watch Inbetweeners but one of the funniest things is where Will is studying for his exams and spends 90% on designing his colourful / coded study timetable and leaves no time for the actual study!!!
Remember, everyone gets the same time in a day, it's just some can seemingly use this time more effectively but it is a skill that can be learned and improved upon.
My tips
Anyone got any other tips for Debora?