Time Management: Qualities of a Good Time Manager

Today we will help you learn some of the secrets to managing time, and what the qualities of a good time manager are.
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Four Generations of Time Management

Time Management is generally broken up into four generation. And don’t worry we won’t be boring you with an academic synopsis of time management!!! However, the distinction of four levels helps you to understand time management practices better, and will help you to better manage your time.

Steven Covey, in his now famous book: The Seven habits of highly successful people, stated that their have been four generations of time management:


1st Generation This is characterised by the development of notes and checklists. This is in response to the recognition and inclusions of many demands placed upon a person.

2nd Generation The second generation is characterised by Calenders and appointment books. Here we see a focus on looking ahead, scheduling and planning events.

3rd Generation In the 3rd generation we see a significant shift occurring, here we are beginning to prioritise and clarify values, and then using this as the basis of deciding on worth of an activity. The other area of development occurs as we focus on setting and achieving specific goals: long term, intermediate and short term goals are developed in harmony with our values. We also see a focus on daily and weekly planning of the steps required to achieve the agreed goals.

4th Generation This is a new and emerging generation and according to Covey we are now considering that time management is really a misnomer; the challenge is not to mange time but to manage ourselves. This is the basis of his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s Time Management Matrix is one of the strategies he uses to assist us to focus on our management of self.

The four generations show us where time management has come from, and the four step effectively shows where it is heading. The purpose of detailing the four generations of time management, is to show you, that the management of time goes beyond managing time itself. Time management, comes down to managing yourself. It is this management of self that will help you to achieve all your goals, and undertake those important activities that will lead you to success.

Qualities of a good time manager

Now that we know that time management comes down to self management, we can look at some of the quality of a good time manager and a poor time manager. The purpose of the table below is to firstly show you the characteristics of each, and then to help you identify which positive time management skills you possess and which negative ones you may processes. We will then look at ways you can overcome these negative qualities.

THE QUALITIES OF A POOR TIME MANAGER

· Inability to meet deadlines

· Working in excess of 50 – 60 hours per week

· Losing sight of individual objectives and priorities

· Making hasty decisions without considering the ramifications

· Stress

· Insufficient time spent with family (little or no social life)

· Inability to prioritise

· Inherent fear of delegation


THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD TIME MANAGER

· Clarity of thinking

· Decisiveness

· Single-mindedness

· Good memory

· Determination

· A methodical approach

· Punctuality

· Calmness

· Objectivity

· Rationality



How to prioritise

Setting priorities is a key component to help you make the best use of time and achieve goals. The step of setting up lists is a good start on this journey of time management, however it only takes you part of the way. To become more effective you must priorities your work to ascertain what is the most important thing you can do to achieve your goals.

So lets talk about setting priorities to determine the tasks that we must undertake, and in what order we undertake them.

THE 1,2,3 METHOD OF PRIORITISING

Priority 1 “Must Do”

These are critical items. Key aspects that deem them critical are detailed below:
Management directive
Important customer requirement
Opportunities for advancement/success
Is a key task to help you achieve your overall goals
Needed to complete the next stage

Priority 2 “Should Do”

These are important items but they are not essential and do not have critical deadlines.

Priority 3 “Nice To Do”

These are items which may be interesting to pursue but if required may be eliminated or postponed.

Always remember that priorities change over time. Due to a change in circumstance for example, a priority 3 item could become priority 1 tomorrow, or a priority 1 could become a priority 3. In order for you to effectively use your time you must constantly review your priorities.

Now that we have looked at priorities, we will spend some time focusing on your ‘daily to do list’. Whilst we consider goal setting in other sections of this program, effectively analysing your “to do list” will go along way to help you manage time effectively.

How to analyse your to-do list

Your to-do list is your task inventory. Review each item for:

Necessity
Scrutinise each task to be sure it is necessary. All to often we continue to do things past usefulness (eg monthly reports where information is no longer used).

Appropriateness
Who should perform the task (i.e. appropriateness to department and/or skill level)? Reassignment of work beneath your skill level helps you and the organisation.

Effectiveness
Is this a task you should be doing now, positioned against your priorities and goals?

Efficiency
Once satisfied you are doing necessary, appropriate and effective work, ask: “Is there a better way?” Look for faster methods, better procedures.


Summary:

So thats a summary of time management; first consider the four generations of time management, then consider the aspects of good and bad time managers and see what areas you have to improve in; then look at how you can prioritise your work.

And Some More Views:

Your editor went to bicycle traffic school with his kids and wife on the weekend. The event was organised through his eldest childs kinder, and proved to be an interesting event.

The traffic school - located in Melbourne - is like a mini suburb, it has a small road network, small buildings (like cubby houses), traffic lights and other road signals. The idea behind it, is to teach children about road rules before they get out on the road.

The age of the children at kindergarten is generally between three and four; however because they were allowed to invite siblings, there will children aged from 18months up until about 10 years.

The result was varied speed and levels of skills. There were two year olds in tricycles, with 10 year olds speeding through them. No one obeyed any traffic signals - I wondered if people expected if they would!!! - and there were crashes about every 30 seconds. All the kids loved it!!!

In other news...Your editor is trying to convience his wife that Husky Sledding, in the Artic Circle (in particular the northern part of Sweden) would be a great family holiday sometime in the next 3 or 4 months.

If anyone has done this we would love to hear your stories (good or bad): Please send an e-mail to andrew.collings9878@hotmail.com, we will post it in this blog.