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Time Management
(the Loch Ness Monster that eludes
us all)Rachel Macklin
Director, Talent Acquisition
Jackson Health IT
rachelm@jacksonhealthit.com

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“How did it get so late so
soon? It’s night before
it’s afternoon. December
is here before it’s June.
My goodness how the
time has flewn. How did
it get so late so soon?”
-Dr. Seuss

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Time Management
 Time Management is the ability to plan
and control how you spend the hours in
your day to effectively accomplish your
goals.
 Lack of Time Management can lead to:
 Increased Stress
 Poor discipline
 Inability to meet goals
 Imbalanced priorities
 Procrastination
Source: Psychology Today
What is it, and why is it
important?

+ Why this training? I could be doing other
things right now…like procrastinating.
 You’ll get an overview of:
 General Time Management Principles
 Tools and Productivity Hacks
 Productivity Systems

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The most important thing to remember:
Change takes time.

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General Principles
(things smart people have said)
Part I

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Multitasking is a Myth
 Doing several things at once is a trick we play on ourselves,
thinking we’re getting more done. In reality, our productivity goes
down as much as 40%. We don’t actually multitask. We switch-
task, rapidly shifting from one thing to another, interrupting
ourselves unproductively, and losing time in the process.
 A study showed that people distracted by incoming email and
phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ’s…The same as losing a
night of sleep.
Source: Peter Bregman, Harvard Business Review

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Interruptions Cost Time!
 Dr. Gloria Mark of UCLA found that average information workers
are interrupted every three minutes.
 Research shows that when you’re interrupted, you don’t
immediately go back to the task you were doing before you were
interrupted. In fact, workers tend to take on two additional tasks in
between the interruption and returning to whatever it was they
were doing before.
 It takes an average of 23 minutes to “get back to the groove.”
 Another Dr. Mark study shows that, in an effort to make up for
distractions, individuals try to work harder and faster at the
expense of personal wellbeing and – to some extent – the quality
of their work.
Source: “ The Science Behind Task Interruption and Time Management,” Halvor Gregusson

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New Concept: Attention
Management
 Knowledge workers are so overwhelmed by
incoming information, they spend much of
their time “playing defense,” operating
without a clear picture of their total
responsibilities.
 The problem’s not that we’re getting
distracted from work; it’s that we’re getting
distracted from important work by other
work.
 Attention Management (as opposed to
Time Management) teaches the ability to
control distractions, single-task for higher
quality results, and engage in sustained
(focused) attention when necessary.
Source: “Why Time Management Training Doesn’t Work,” Maura
Thomas, Harvard Business Review

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Batching
 Batching is a form of time management that allows a person to
maximize concentration and decrease distraction. As a result, it
increases your productivity, creativity and mental sharpness,
while decreasing fatigue, procrastination and stress.
 Batch Processing is the grouping of similar tasks that require
similar resources in order to streamline their completion.
Source: “How to Use Batching to Become More Productive,” Joshua Leatherman, MBA, LinkedIn

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Real Life Example
 When you grocery shop, you don’t go to the grocery store, buy
one item, then go home and clean the house, then go back and
buy another item, then mow the lawn, then go back and buy
another item. That way madness lies! Think of everything that
you’re wasting: definitely time, energy and gas.
 But often this is how we approach our workday: by sandwiching
important tasks amidst a bunch of trivial ones.

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The Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle is very simple, yet very
important. It is named after Italian
economist Vilfredo Pareto, who, in 1906,
found that 80% of the land in Italy was
owned by 20% of the population.
When we shift this model to a sales
environment, we find that 20% of your
customers produce 80% of your results.
Likewise, in time management, 20% of your
time produces 80% of your results.

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Applying the Pareto Principle
 Invest 80% of your energy on the 20% of your activity that
makes a difference, and prioritize other tasks behind it.
 Another way to look at it is are your hours billable? Will the task
you’re completing lead directly to gross profit? If not, change
the priority.

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What does it mean for…
 If your 20% is candidate
generation, focus your efforts
on time management, sourcing,
screening and submittals, as
well as ongoing training for
advanced sourcing techniques
and messaging that gets
results.
 If 80% of your fills come from
20% of your candidates,
building strong relationships
with your 20% is vital to your
success.
 If your 20% is connecting with
qualified prospects, focus your
efforts on territory management,
prospect research, time
management and active
prospecting, as well as ongoing
training for prospecting
techniques and messaging that
gets results.
 If 80% of your opportunities come
from 20% of your prospects,
building strong relationships and
qualifying effectively with your
20% is vital to your success.
Recruiting Sales

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Prioritizing
 Questions to ask yourself when approaching tasks:
 How much time and/or effort will it take me?
 How much value (i.e. revenue) does it have the potential of
generating?
 Is there a deadline involved?
 Does it require collaborating with other people?

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Prioritizing
Source: Dreamstime.com

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Tools and Productivity
Hacks
(they’re free, ya’ll)
Part II

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Productivity Hacks
 Do
 Turn off Notifications and
Alerts.
 Communicate your “focus
time.”
 Schedule your tasks.
 Set realistic goals.
 Silence the perfectionist!
 Take care of yourself – eat,
drink water, exercise and
sleep.
 Hug your dog, child or stuffed
panda bear.
 Don’t
 Be afraid to say “no” – if we
take on too much, then can’t
complete it (or complete it with
the quality we expect), we feel
defeated.
 Sweat the small stuff – it’s easy
to be overwhelmed with a lot of
little tasks.
 Stress about things that are out
of your control.
 Push off your “focus time”
unless there is an absolute
emergency. It has to stay
sacred, or it will never get
done.
Source: “23 Best Productivity Hacks,” Larry Kim, Inc.
Magazine

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Productivity Tools
 Organizing Tasks
 Outlook (Categories, Flags,
Folders)
 Trello (www.trello.com)
 Remember the Milk
(www.rememberthemilk.com)
 Todoist (www.todoist.com)
 Tracking Time
 Yast (www.yast.com)
 Toggl (www.toggl.com)
 Rescue Time
(www.rescuetime.com)
 Calendar Scheduling
 Doodle (www.doodle.com)
 MeetMe
(www.doodle.com/meetme)

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Productivity Systems
(wait, there’s a system?)
Part III

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The Pomodoro
Technique
 1. Choose a task you’d like to get done.
 2. Set the “pomodoro” for 25 minutes.
 3. Work on the task until the timer rings.
 4. Take a short break.
 5. Every 4 pomodoros, take a longer
break.
 No interruptions or distractions during
the pomodoro. Email and IM can wait.
Close Outlook, turn off notifications on
your phone and check them at the end
of the pomodoro.
 The name is kind of stupid (it was
named for a tomato timer), so you
don’t have to call it a pomodoro. Make
up your own name!
Developed by Francesco Cirillo
www.pomodorotechnique.com

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The Four D’s
 Delete (or drop): Scan through all your
emails and delete unwanted emails without
opening them.
 Delegate: If someone else can perform a
task at least 2/3 as well as you, delegate it.
If you find you don’t have anyone to
delegate to, can you start training someone
or outsource the task?
 Defer: Some tasks can be done later, but
no later than the last responsible moment.
 Do: Buckle down and get the task done.
But before working on something, prioritize
tasks to only work on one thing at a time.
TIP: Creating a “not-to-do” list can be as
powerful as a “to-do” list!
Source: “4Ds Time Management,” Wan How, LinkedIn Pulse

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The Art of Getting
Things Done
By David Allen
www.gettingthingsdone.com

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Further Reading…
 The Science Between Task Interruption and Time
Management, Halvor Gregusson
 4Ds Time Management: Delete, Delegate, Defer, Do, Wan How
 Time Management Training Doesn’t Work, Maura Thomas
 How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking, Peter Bregman
 How to Use Batching to Become More Productive, Joshua
Leatherman
 23 Best Productivity Hacks of the Year, Larry Kim
 Top 15 Time Management Apps and Tools, Kirstin O’Donovan