Use Time Effectively
Planning and Organizing
New Jersey’s
Professional Center Training
Academy
Time Management = Self Management
Manage ourselves to use the time we do
have better.
 Skilled (Competency)

Uses his or her time effectively
 Values time
 Concentrates his/her efforts on priorities
 Gets more done in less time than others
 Can attend to a broad range of activities

Time Management - Unskilled
Is disorganized and wastes time
 Jumps from activity to activity with no
reason
 Does not set priorities
 Can’t say no
 Mostly reactive
 Doesn’t have or follow a plan or method
for his/her time

Time Solutions

Set goals and establish priorities
Link goals together
 Short term projects should lead to long term
goals
 Short range goals lead to what to do today

Set Goals
Six months
 Prioritizing is as simple as A-B-C-D

A Goals
 B Goals
 C Goals
 D goals


High value
Medium value
Low value
Delegate
Take top goals and prioritize

A-1, A-2, A-3…
Covey’s Time Management
Urgent
I
II
Important
Activities:
•Crises conferencing
•Pressing problems
•Deadline driven reports
III
Not Important
Not Urgent
Activities:
•Interruptions, some calls
•Some mail, some reports
•Some meetings
Activities:
•Effective conferencing
•Prevention
•Relationship building
•Planning
IV
Activities:
•Trivia, busy work
•Time wasters
•Some mail and phone calls
Objective
OBJECTIVE #1
OBJECTIVE #2
OBJECTIVE #3
Priority
Activities Needed to Achieve
Goal
Completion Date
To do lists…



You can’t do a goal…establish activities
For each goal, write down the activities you think you
need to achieve it
Create a to-do list for the activities (daily and/or
weekly)
 Prioritize based on goals




A = Must do (critical items)
B = Should do (medium value)
C = Nice to do (low value)
Always ask…What is the best use of my time right
now?
Use Time Effectively
“Hard work is often easy work you
didn’t do at the proper time.”
Time Wasters

Procrastination
Set a self-imposed deadline
 Arrange with someone to ask you about it
 Do undesirable tasks early in the day
 Build in a reward system
 “Just Do It” or Do it Now!
 Break big jobs in to small pieces

Inability to say No

I’ll be glad to talk with you about that. However, not till
I finish what I am doing”

“I will work on that, but what I am doing now will be
delayed. Is your request more important?”

“I wanted to talk with you about that. Let’s set up a
time.”

“I appreciate your vote of confidence. Let me review
my schedule and workload and get back to you. I want
to be able to adequately handle the job.”
How’s your energy?

High…complex, important tasks

Moderate…complex…not as important

Low…standard duties, routines
Can you delegate?

Not wanting to
burden others…feel
guilty
 No one else can do it
better
 They might do it
better than you
 Not organized
enough
Time Management and New Staff

New staff need more time to process
policy and procedures

New staff tend to be less efficient

New staff require more of the
supervisor’s time
Some additional strategies to
balance work and life
Start/End your day with time for yourself
 Create more time for yourself to plan and
organize
 Distinguish between likes and dislikes
 Be sensitive to the time of others
 Create protected time
 Recharge your own batteries
