Most people find time pressures and deadlines at work
very stressful. While you cannot always control the demands of your
work environment, how you arrange your use of time can help promote
efficiency and prevent problems, therefore lessening your time pressures
and concomitantly lowering your stress level. Time-management strategies have evolved along with the demands of the
workplace. The first generation consisted of notes and checklists. The
second wave involved appointment books, recognizing the need for future
planning and allowing for better scheduling methods. The third level
included the important ideas of prioritization, goal setting, and
planning. But some people chafed at systems that scheduled them, feeling
they were restricted and lacked flexibility. Therefore, an emerging
fourth generation emphasizes not the managing of time per se, but rather
managing yourself in time more effectively.
Thus, there are many
methods for time management that all have some useful aspects. But we
would like to introduce to you one fourth-generation system, namely that
put forth by Stephen Covey in his landmark books, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) and First Things First
(1994). Covey takes a somewhat different approach to time management
than traditional systems. He emphasizes organizing your schedule around
priorities rather than prioritizing your schedule. He recommends that
you divide your work tasks and projects into four categories or quadrants, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Importance and Urgency
The two aspects that
define any activity are its urgency and its importance. Things that are
urgent, such as a ringing phone, demand to be attended to immediately,
or at least very soon. Urgent matters are often popular or important to
others, but they may or may not be important for you. Covey further
recommends that you define importance based on how closely an activity
is tied to your goals and desired results, as well as to your overall
mission in life. Urgent activities call for a quick reaction. Tasks that
are important, but not urgent, typically require more initiative and
proactivity. If you have not defined your goals and therefore are
unclear as to what is important to you, it is very easy to be swallowed
up by urgency.
Quadrant I tasks, both
urgent and important, typically take the form of crises or problems that
require immediate attention. Although we all have some Quadrant I
activities in our work lives, many people are consumed with Quadrant I
work and are beset with problems all day long. While the demands of any
quadrant could potentially be stressful, clearly Quadrant I activities
contain the greatest potential for raising your stress level. The more
time you spend in Quadrant I, the more it appears to expand, because you
are not taking the time to be proactive and prevent future problems.
When you are overly immersed in Quadrant I work, you tend to escape to
the more mindless, easy Quadrant IV activities. While that might provide
a temporary breather, it does little to set the stage for a meaningful
decrease in Quadrant I and its inherent stress.
When people spend a lot of
time in Quadrant III activities, urgent but not important, it is
usually because they assume that these tasks are really important and
lie in Quadrant I. This is based on being influenced by the expectations
of others, because the matter is urgent or important for them. That
does not necessarily mean that it need be urgent or important for you
unless it fits with your workplace goals.
Quadrant IV
activities, often termed busywork, are often pleasant and offer an
opportunity to take a break. Be wary of spending the majority of your
time in Quadrant III or Quadrant IV, for that leads to irresponsibility.
Successful, effective people minimize time spent in Quadrant III or
Quadrant IV, saving that work for mini-breaks because, urgent or not, those tasks not important.
The key to effective
time management is to maximize time spent on Quadrant II activities,
which are important but not urgent. This involves work that is proactive
and preventive, such as long-term planning, networking and building
business relationships, establishing a business plan and personal
mission statement, preventive maintenance and preparation (along with
maintaining your health and personal relationships), and so on. These
are all things we want to do, and know we should do, but tend to put off
because they are not deadline-driven. But only by engaging in Quadrant
II activities can you shrink the stressful Quadrant I, by preventing
crises and problems in the first place, thereby lowering your stress
level.
Initially, the only way
to spend more time on Quadrant II activities is to subtract time from
Quadrants III and IV. Obviously you cannot ignore Quadrant I, but it
will begin to diminish once you increase your Quadrant II proactivity.
In order to lessen time spent in Quadrants III and IV, you have to learn
to say no to some activities (even if they are important or urgent to
others) or to delegate.
A ringing phone is a typical
example of a Quadrant III situation. It urgently demands that you
interrupt your work to answer and respond, but often the calls are only
important to the caller. The perfect example of this is telephone
solicitation. We have lost count of how many times our work has been
interrupted by someone trying to sell us something they think we
desperately need, be it a new long-distance phone service, a new credit
card, computer supplies, and so on. These salespeople are fast-talking
and know every trick in the book to keep us on the phone. We are amazed
by how many of our colleagues patiently sit through sales pitches and
then list all the reasons why they are not interested. Meanwhile, five
to ten minutes was wasted. Our method for handling such calls is short
and sweet. We nicely and diplomatically state, “Sorry, we don't accept
telephone solicitation,” and then hang up immediately without waiting
for a response. Over the years we have probably saved weeks of valuable
time by ducking such time wasters.
Your Personal Mission Statement
Stephen Covey
strongly recommends that each person develop his or her own personal
mission statement or philosophy that can help determine priorities, and,
therefore, assist managing time more effectively. This mission
statement needs to focus on the kind of person you want to be (your
character) and what you want to contribute or accomplish, along with the
values and principles upon which you desire to base and guide your
life. This philosophy is akin to your own personal constitution and can
function as the basis for making major life decisions as well as
everyday decisions. It can empower you with a guiding set of values in
the midst of change or stress. Your mission statement needs to reflect
your uniqueness as a person.
Covey reminds us that one important key to coping with change (and therefore stress) is to have a changeless core,
or sense of who you are, what you are about, and what you value. This
enables you to flow more easily with change and to determine what
directions you should take and what is important. Having a sense of
mission creates a linchpin of your own proactivity. It gives you the
vision and values from which to guide your life and helps you to set
your short- and long-term goals. As previously indicated, developing
your mission statement is definitely a Quadrant II activity, but perhaps
one of the most important ones you can ever do.
Additional Tips for Managing Your Time
Use
the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the benefit comes from doing 20
percent of the work. Figure out the most important and beneficial 20
percent and make that your priority to tackle first. Completing the
important 20 percent first often expedites or simplifies completion of
the remaining 80 percent of the work.
Focus
on one task at a time. People with problems managing their time often
flit from one project to another or try to do several things
simultaneously. The result is often delays, mistakes, and
disorganization, which wastes rather than saves time. Uninterrupted
concentration on a task, when possible, produces a better product in
less time. Arrange your work space to minimize distractions.
Don't
try to do things perfectly; just focus on doing them well. Striving for
perfection leads to fear of failure, procrastination, and having to do
things at the last minute, all of which adds up to a potent recipe for
stress.
Pay
attention to your body rhythms. Schedule difficult, challenging tasks
for the times you are most alert and energetic. If you are a morning
person, do the difficult, energy-consuming tasks early in the day. If
you are a night person, save the challenging projects for the evening.
Save the easy, routine tasks for times when your energy is at low ebb
(midafternoon for many people).
Use
small chunks of time to complete quick, routine tasks. While waiting at
the doctor's office, use that fifteen or twenty minutes to pay bills,
read your mail, or balance your checkbook. If waiting in line, pull out a
sheet of paper and make necessary lists (Scott, 1980).
Learn
to say no to low-priority items or requests, which only distract you
from completing the work that is really important. Delegate if possible.
Take short breaks to refresh and revitalize, particularly if you notice your concentration faltering. Sometimes engaging in a power nap,
shutting your eyes for five to ten minutes and reclining in your chair,
is all you need to perk up. Or take a five-minute walk around your
workplace and step outside for some fresh air.
All
work and no play is a sure way to maximize stress. Make time for
relaxing activities and fun. Don't be afraid to occasionally take a day
off to recharge and revitalize yourself. We refer to this as a “mental
health day,” taking a day off so as to prevent yourself from getting
sick. Your energy for your work will increase as a result and you will
therefore make much better use of time allotted for work.
Deal
with each piece of paper only once if possible. Each time you handle a
piece of paper, do something to move it along. When in doubt, throw it
out! Don't write when a phone call (typically quicker and cheaper) will
do.
