Wanda,
If I am superwoman you are super, superwoman. Prioritized lists do help me, but sometimes I do the lists and then don't look at them. Interestingly, I do seem to remember what's on the list. I need to do better looking at the lists.
I do think that doing prioritizing lists is important, but we must be flexible, because unexpected events do happen and we must be willing and able to modify our plan of action.
Janet:
What a super women you are. I thought my schedule was busy while teaching two classes, working two contracts which are tutoring a Liberian refugee and teaching basic nutrion and menu planning to caregivers for a nonprofit. I also am in my second year of doctorate studies, have a husband, daughter in college, and a 15 year old varsity football player and track and field all conference athlete.I also rehearse 6-10 hours a week with a professional West African Dance ensemble.
The priority task list is helping me immensely. I too have been guilty of immediancy and getting side tracked when I do not have a list of the most important things to do.
Wanda
People like you, those who can complete school, work full time and care for others with ease, are great at time management. But I'm glad you are rethinking immediacy Janet. Immediacy is often the biggest challenge for people who are already good at managing time.
I have historically been a procrastinator. This is not my first course that deals with the issue of time management.
I started creating to-do lists (with task prioritization and rank) about 3 years ago, and have found this technique to be very successful
Dr. Read:
I usually choose to accomplish the most important and urgent task right away. Procrastination is a "pet peave" of mine and I believe it contributes to failure. If it had not been for my strong time management skills, I would not have successfully completed by B.S. and M.A. degrees, while working full time, being a caregiver for my parents and launching a teaching career.
This module did make me re-think immediacy, and it encouraged me to improve my skills in that area. While I am much better than I used to be, I still need to relax a little more and understand that some of the unimportant things can wait.
MMM. Probably not. I prioritze already according to urgency and importance. My downfall is when it seems urgent, but is NOT important. In general, I do well at prioritizing as long as I am focused. I am pretty task oriented.
Tasks from our bosses, as well as other key stakeholders within our organizations, should certainly be prioritized.
I tend accomplish tasks and priortize them according to thier importance. If my boss needs something then I tend to move those to the top of my list in order to help them complete thier tasks. Yes I think this module was very useful and gave good suggestions.
I have found that I complete my tasks in an effective manner. Based on what I have learned prioritizing the list is the most important way in which to maintain organization.
Cindy
I have found that I need a second to do list for those items that I would like to get to but know it may be a long time. That way, I put them out of my mind.
Probably. But like all new skills it will take some awareness and practice. I think I will give myself more lead time to be sure I am able to deal with any unforeseen obstacles that may come up.
That's a great question Salle. It sounds like you have a lot of high priority tasks. I might ask yourself which ones are due the earliest and attack those first. If they are all due at once, I might check and see if there is someone who you can delegate some of the tasks to so you can divide and conquer.
I suppose I'm more of a procrastinator than anything else. Sometimes it all seems overwhelming. So I do the easy things first. Or... I start a long and tough project, get caught up in it, and then can't seem to quit until it's done. That has it's benefits, but other important tasks may get neglected during the process. My toughest challenge is how to break the tasks down into manageable pieces. Sometimes it all seems important and/or urgent. During the session, I did begin a to do list. There are 39 things on it. 16 of them are highlighted. Many more are twos. How do I distinguish among the 16? Which of those gets done first?
Well, I do use lists, and tend to prioritize the things on it, but I tend to knock out the easy tasks first so that my list will look smaller. I procrastinate on the tasks that are not so fun even if they should be of a higher priority. I know which tasks I should handle and when already, but do not ALWAYS handle my time perfectly. Will I change this order in the future? Maybe.
Wow, it sounds like you already have a highly organized system Heidi. Yes, a task schedule could make you even more efficient, but you are doing great as is.
I try to tackle the most urgent and important tasks right away. It helps me feel as if I have truly accomplished something to mark off my list! I have in the past listed the tasks for the next day or two and then prioritized using A, B, C, etc. The A tasks need to be done today, the B tasks have some urgency also, the C tasks are usually ones that could be done but are not so urgent, might take less time,and are maybe just more fun! Sometimes I will "reward" myself with a C task after accomplishing a time-consuming A or B task. The module has reinforced my prioritization of tasks. I may need to consider making out a task schedule that covers an entire week, not just the next day or so.
Ronald, I really like the point you make about doing quick and easy tasks as a warm up. I have seen this work for many instructors. Sometimes, it takes an hour or so to really get into the complex tasks.
Without argument, it is necessary to complete certain tasks by a certain time and - for the sake of sanity - within a certain elapsed time. But to sequence tasks based only on their inherent importance and/or urgency ignores some human factors.
1) I often will do unimportant "quick and easy" tasks first just to get warmed up for the long haul jobs. There is a great satisfaction of "finishing" something, even if it is not an important something. It empowers me and lets me tell myself that I can get through the rest of the day.
2) I have come to realize that the most important thing about a response to any correspondence is its timeliness. Students, in particular, judge an instructor by the elapsed time between a submission and its return with grades and comments. Immediacy is terribly important to students; it indicates that the instructor is interested and involved in their work. At one level the student is aware that the instructor has graded the same exercise hundreds of times and knows all the different ways that it can be done wrong, but nonetheless the student wants reassurance that the instructor has taken some interest in that particular submission. The first indication of that interest is the amount of time it takes for the instructor to return the submission. That pushes mundane and trivial work to the top of the "to do" list. (In that respect, managers are not much different from students.)
Dr. Melissa
Yes, taking this course has helped me in putting a stop to immediacy. I can now even fit in this course!
Wanda
Excellent Agnes! I'm glad you are finding insights that will work for you. Yes, procrastination is not the only obstacle to good time management. The obstacle of immediacy can be just as challenging for some people.
