Time Management

First Week

First week lesson in the module ARMPD is time management. Students were given a series of activities and tasks to complete in order to utilize time.

Time management

Time management is planning and having control over the amount of time spent for specific activities, in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency.

There are various ways of managing time, techniques learnt today are

Prioritized To do list

A prioritized to-do list was given by the lecturer to the students to identify tasks for the following day 30^th October 2014.

Steps

• Students were told to identify tasks for the following day and note it down in the priority to do list (10 tasks were identified)
• Students were then told to prioritize the list based on important and un important
• Very important =A
• Un Important = F
• Then the students were told to prioritize the same list based on urgent and not urgent
• Urgent = U
• Not urgent = N
• Students were then told to carry out these activities the next day

Mind map

A mind map is an illustration used to visually organize information in order to help the author who drew the mind map to understand it easily.

The task of drawing a mind map for the To-do list was suggested by the lecturer in order to identify the way a particular task is done.

• A task can be done either in one or more ways.

Summary of Important and Urgent tasks

Getting ready and coming for lectures

The author considers being on time for lectures is the best way to be productive and gain knowledge, the author believes that every minute of the lecture is to be considered valuable and once passed it cannot be gained.

Therefore the author considers being on time for lectures important and an urgent task.

Complete E-Commerce and ARMPD work

The completion of the work given by the lectures is considered important and urgent for the author, due to deadlines for each modules were set by respective lecturers.

Doctor’s appointment

Visiting the doctor is an important and urgent task that should be met by the author on the given date and time (30^th October, 3.00pm)

If the author misses or cancels this appointment he should wait for another 2 weeks’ time to meet the same doctor in order to get the tests done

So this appointment is considered to be important and quite urgent for the author

Time and objectives

Time	Objective	Actual activity/task	Status/Time to complete	Interruptions
6.00 am	Wake up and get ready for lectures. be at APIIT by 8.15 am	Got to APIIT by 8.20 am	Task completed	Traffic
7.45 am	Dropping sister at work	Dropping sister at work on the way to APIIT	Task completed	Delayed by 10 minutes because sister wasn’t ready
10.00 am	Meeting a friend	Cancelled and re scheduled	Task incomplete
12.45 pm	Meeting lecturer	Met with the lecturer and clarified doubts	15 minutes to complete the task	None
2.00 pm	Having a haircut	Wasn’t able to have a haircut due to other work that needed attention	Task incomplete
3.00 pm	Doctors appointment	Met with the doctor at 3 pm and got the tests done	Task completed in an hour’s time	Traffic
4.00 pm	Retrieving a cheque for dad	Task was done on the way to go buy groceries	Task completed in 10 minutes time	None
4.15 pm	Buying groceries	Essential groceries were bought	Time taken 1 hour	None
5.15 pm	Paying utility bills	Utility bills were paid (urgent ones)	Task was completed within 15 minutes	None
5.40 pm	Complete ARMPD and E Commerce work	E Commerce and ARMPD work was successfully completed	Time taken for the activity 4 hours	None

Energy Cycle

• The energy cycle was created based on the time and energy levels spent for tasks. 
• The energy cycles shows the most productive time of the day and where the energy levels are used at a higher level.

How each task was done or wasn’t on the 30^th of October?

Getting ready and coming for lectures

An alarm was set at 6.00 am in the morning of October 30^th 2014, and then I got ready and proceeded to get ready, eat breakfast and leave to APIIT by 8.00 am.

Left home at 7.45 am

At APIIT at 8.20 am

Dropping sis to work

This task is considered important task for me to drop her to work but not an urgent task for me but for my sister.

Left home at 7.45 am

Dropped sister at work at 8.10 am

Having a haircut

This task was not completed because it was not considered to be important or urgent and could be skipped.

The task of cutting my hair was shifted to the 8^th of November 2014.

Complete ARMPD and E-Commerce work

This task is considered to be important for me because this task had a dead line and should be submitted before the dead line.

Both tasks were completed and submitted before the deadline successfully.

Meeting a friend

This task was not important rather time wasting, so I did not go to meet my friend on the 30^th of October 2014 because there were more important work to be completed.

Meeting my friend was re scheduled to the 3^rd of November 2014.

Buying groceries

Buying groceries was considered not an important task for me, but was an important task for my parents and family and I was needed.

This task was mandatory, and should be done within the day.

Even though the task was not important to me and not urgent to me I had to complete it because it was important to my family. The task was completed successfully within 2 hours’ time.

Paying utility bills

Even though this task was considered un important it was an urgent task that needed completion, the due date for payment was close and needed immediate attention.

The task was completed within the day without any problems.

• The author realized that colour coding dates based on due dates was an effective method to be considered.

Meeting lecturer

I was supposed to meet Mr.Javed for clarifications on the home work received that should be submitted, was able to meet him during the lecture break on the 30^th of October 2014.

Task was successful

Doctor’s appointment

A doctor’s appointment was scheduled for me on the 30^th of October 2014 at 3pm, I was able to visit the doctor and complete my appointment. A calendar entry was made on my smart phone for me to remember.

Retrieve a cheque for dad

A cheque had to be retrieved for my dad which was considered an urgent but not important task; due to the time extra time I had on that day I was able to retrieve the cheque on my way back home from the doctors. A cell phone reminder was set on my smart phone for me to remember.

Lessons learned by completing the tasks above

• The author was able to complete all the important tasks successfully and the author personally feels from the experience gained that prioritizing work based on importance and urgency is a successful method of managing time and being able to complete the important and difficult tasks early.
• The author also feels that re scheduling or cancelling un important work or tasks to complete an important task can be considered an effective method of prioritization.
• From personal experience gained from this activity the author states that completing the difficult tasks early is a productive way to manage time.
• The author also states that if time persists completing a task which can be done now and can save time later could be considered to be managing time.

SMART Goals

According to Lopper (2007) a SMART goals acronym is as follows

S-Specific

M-Measurable

A-Achievable

R-Realistic

T-Timely

S- Specific

Specific

The description of the goal should be described as specifically as possible.

Measurable

The goal should be measurable in means of quantitative values to be more effective.

Achievable

A goal to easy can be easily achieved and a goal too hard is difficult to achieve, its often good to set a goal in between easy and hard where the goal can be achievable with a bit of a challenge.

Realistic

Lopper  (2007) states realistic as “the knowledge, skill set, and competency to reach a goal”

The goal should be more realistic where you can know what you have to do to achieve that goal.

Eg:-knowing all information about that particular goal

Timely

A goal should be time bound; setting a realistic dead line for a goal is provides a positive outcome.

SMART Goals by the author

Losing 10 pounds of weight from the current weight of 120 pounds within the next 3 weeks by starting gym from November 3^rd, and going regularly thrice a week

• This goal is Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.