1.
Time Management:
Making the Most of Your Time
BY: SOFT SKILLS WORLD

2.
Module Instructions
• You are encouraged to write down the
answers to the questions you see throughout
the workshop.
• Complete the included inventories and
assessments.
• Contact our office to schedule an
appointment if you need to discuss anything
further with a staff member.

3.
Objectives
• To define why time management is
important
• To define what time management is and
involves
• To identify what makes time management
difficult
• To identify useful strategies for managing
your time

4.
Why is Time Management
Important?
Why is it important to you to manage or
have control over your time? What do you
hope to accomplish by managing your time?
In what situations or areas of your life is it
important to be able to manage your time?

5.
Importance of
Time Management
• Time management is important to different
individuals for different reasons.
– Make sure you have time for all your
important activities
– Give structure to your days and weeks
– Assist in setting goals
– Assist in planning for the semester
– Assist in determining priorities

6.
To Realize the Value of:
• ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
• ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a
premature baby.
• ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
• ONE DAY, ask a daily wage laborer with kids to
feed.
• ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to
meet.
• ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
• ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an
accident.
• ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a
silver medal in the Olympics.

7.
What is Time Management?
• Awareness of your time
• Awareness of your time wasters
• Use of priorities
• Self-management or the management
of your personal resources
• Goal setting & achievement
• Planning

8.
Personal Time Management
Time management is different for
everyone
• How do you define time management?
• If you are managing your time
well, what does that look like for you?
What does that mean?
• What skills are required for you to
manage your time well?

9.
What makes time
management difficult?
Managing our time is not always easy.
There are a variety of things that make
time management difficult. Below are
some of the things that often make it
challenging for us to manage our time.
Review the following list of common time
wasters and identify which ones are
challenges for you.

10.
Time Wasters
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Burnout
• Procrastination
• Perfectionism
• Lack of planning
• Unexpected events (such as phone calls or
drop-in visitors)

11.
Additional Time Wasters
• Depression
• Being unorganized
• Working against your natural tendencies
• Bad habits
• Email or IM
• Loosing track of time
• Television
• Ineffective studying (have to repeat what you
studied or re-read material)

12.
Let’s get personal…
• Take a few moments to complete the
following assessments:
– “Self-Evaluation of Time Management”
– “My Time Wasters”
• What did you learn about the way you
manage your time?
• What did you learn about your time
wasters?

13.
Take a 10 minute break
Study Tip
Take a short break
each hour to
refresh your mind
and body.
You’ll do better.
Set an alarm clock
or timer and come
back!
exit

14.
Knowing is Half the
Battle
Understanding what time management is and
what your time management strengths and
challenges are can assist you in determining what
strategies will be most useful as you develop your
time management skills.
The following slides offer some time
management tips and strategies that you may
find useful.

15.
Strategies:
Define your values and determine
your priorities.
Knowing what is important to you (what
you value) and what your priorities are
allows you to put those things first as
you schedule your time, therefore
guiding the way you manage your time.

16.
Values
• Complete the attached Values
Assessment to identify your values.

17.
Priorities
• Prioritizing, or determining your priorities, is a
process of deciding which of several options or
tasks is most important.
• Prioritizing involves deciding that Activity A is
more important than Activity B.
• Priorities change over time.
• Priorities are influenced by your values and
your goals.
• Your priorities may not be the same as
important others (family or friends) in your life.

18.
Guiding questions for
determining priorities:
• What are the costs vs. the benefits of doing this
activity?
• How well does this activity fit into my goals?
• Does this activity have a deadline for completion?
• How much do I enjoy doing this activity?
• Have I promised or agreed to do this activity?
• What needs of mine will be satisfied by doing this
activity?
• How much time does this activity require?

19.
Determining Your Priorities
• Priority activities can include
studying, attending
class, worship, meditation, exercising, spendin
g one day a week with family, or other
activities important to you.
• With this in mind, take a few minutes and
write down your answers to the questions on
the previous slide.
• What are your priorities?

20.
Strategies:
Set goals & make action plans
• Use the system SMART when setting your
goals
– S = Specific
– M = Measurable
– A = Action-oriented
– R = Realistic or Reasonable
– T = Time Phased
• It is okay, and often helpful, to re-evaluate
your goals periodically and change or update
them or re-set them

21.
• Action plans are step by step plans of how you
are going to accomplish your goal – what are
you going to do to reach your goal
• Action plans allow you to break the goal down
into smaller, more manageable portions and
give you the chance to make and record
progress towards your goals

22.
The 80/20 Rule
• The 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s
Principle, states that 80% of your results come
from only 20% of your actions.
• For most people, it really comes down to
analyzing what you are spending your time on.
• Are you focusing in on the 20% of activities that
produce 80% of the results in your life?

23.
The Urgent/Important Matrix
• Managing time effectively, and achieving the
things that you want to achieve, means spending
your time on things that are important and not
just urgent.
– IMPORTANT: These are activities that lead to the
achieving your goals and have the greatest
impact on your life.
– URGENT: These activities demand immediate
attention, but are often associated with
someone else’s goals rather than our own.

24.
The Urgent/Important Matrix

25.
Additional Strategies for
Time Management
• Use a system that works for you
• Learn to say no
• Plan to do the biggest projects during your
most energized times
• Be proactive not reactive

26.
Learn when to say “NO”
• You can’t do everything
• Don’t undertake things you can’t
complete
• Remain consistent to your goals

27.
More Strategies & Tips
• Tackle the big projects first, even if it is step by
step (don’t get lost in the little things)
• Use an A-B-C system to plan your day
• Handle papers only once
• Make use of “waiting” time
• Make “want to do” lists not “have to do” lists
(“have to do” lists can often cause pressure
and lead to guilt if items are left undone)

28.
Use your waiting time
• On public transportation
• At the doctor’s office
• Waiting for your plane
• On hold
• When you are early

29.
Strategies & Tips
continued…
• Focus on one thing at a time
• Assess the BIG PICTURE – what’s most
important overall
• Get & stayed organized
• Set time limits and mini-deadlines
• Practice positive self-talk
• Know your learning style & use study
techniques that fit that style

30.
Why We Procrastinate
• No clear deadline
• Inadequate resources available
• Don’t know where to begin
• Task feels overwhelming
• No passion for doing the work
• Fear of failure or success

31.
Nine Ways to Overcome
Procrastination
1. DELETE IT
2. DELEGATE
3. DO IT NOW
4. ASK FOR ADVICE
5. CHOP IT UP
6. OBEY THE 15 MINUTE RULE
7. HAVE CLEAR DEADLINES
8. GIVE YOURSELF A REWARD
9. REMOVE DISTRACTIONS

32.
Eat That Frog!
• "If the first thing you do each morning is to
eat a live frog, you can go through the day
with the satisfaction of knowing that that is
probably the worst thing that is going to
happen to you all day long!"
• "If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest
one first!"
• "If you have to eat a live frog, it does not pay
to sit and look at it for a very long time!"

33.
Avoid Being a Perfectionist
• Yes, some things need
to be closer to perfect
than others, but
perfectionism, paying
unnecessary attention
to detail, can be a form
of procrastination.

34.
Review
• Set goals
• Prioritize
• Organize
• Learn when to say “NO”
• Use your waiting time
• Concentrate on the task at hand
• Consider your personal prime time
• Celebrate success

35.
The Big Rocks of Life
Time 35
Management

36.
Case Studies
• You are doing dual courses simultaneously. You
have your exams of course 1 approaching in the
first week of the next month; and you also have
to submit your assignment for the course 2 at
the same time. Which one will you choose?
• Your mother have asked you this evening to get
the wheat flour from the market else the dinner
will be hampered; on the other hand your best
friend has just called you up to accompany
her/him for shopping of the clothes that he/she
wants to wear on his/her date