Page 26 - Mini-Module 10

Arrange

Any number of time management ‘tips’ become irrelevant if you do
not arrange your time. More than likely you will quickly regress to
your old habits. By this stage you should be aware of where you
are going (goals), have analyzed how you presently spend your
time, assigned priorities to your actions and begun to plan how to
eliminate time thieves. Now you need to be sure to plan. How you
plan time is a personal thing – different ways work for different
people – but you should at least keep a yearly and a week/day
planner. Some people prefer to use computer or PDA based
planners – such as those included with Microsoft Outlook, whereas
others still prefer paper diaries.

A Yearly Planner

If you use a paper Yearly Planner consider recording a number of
things – it may be best to use a colour-coded system. You may, for
example, want to use green dots to indicate your holidays:
something to look forward to! Use a red ‘warning dot’ to signal
when any major reports or presentations are due: regular yearly or
biannual reports, or promotion exercises. You can also block in
regular meetings you must attend and pre-planned business trips.
By recording all these dates (and times) you will know
approximately how much time you have available. You may be
surprised at how little is left. Of course, you will need to update the
planner fairly regularly. Many computer programmes do allow you
to colour code.

A Week/Day Planner

A weekly or Day planner gives you a more detailed system for
planning your work. Decide what needs to be done during the
week and then prioritize your actions. Before you do this, however,
transfer relevant information from the yearly planner. So before
you schedule the week’s events your planner may already be
somewhat full.

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