Time Management for Cadets - Strands (PDF)

1 1 Time Management for Cadets (and Commandants, too!) 2 At this talk you will learn to: • Clarify your goals and achieve them • Handle people and projects that waste your time • Be involved in better delegation • Work more efficiently with your leaders • Learn specific skills and tools to save you time • Overcome stress and procrastination = really important point 3 Remember that time is money Ben Franklin, 1748 Advice to a young tradesman CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  2 4 Outline • Why is Time Management Important? • Goals, Priorities, and Planning • TO DO Lists • Desks, paperwork, telephones • Scheduling Yourself • Delegation • Meetings • Technology • General Advice 5 Why Time Management is Important • “The Time Famine” -- people are always saying they are starved for more time. • Bad time management = stress • This is life advice 6 The Problem is Severe By some estimates, people waste about 2 hours per day. Signs of time wasting: – Messy desk and cluttered (or no) files – Can’t find things – Miss appointments, need to reschedule them late and/or unprepared for meetings – Volunteer to do things other people should do – Tired/unable to concentrate CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  3 7 Hear me Now, Believe me Later • Being successful doesn’t make you manage your time well. • Managing your time well makes you successful. 8 Set Goals, Identify Priorities and Ensure Planning to achieve them • Why am I doing this? • What is the goal? • Why will I succeed? • What happens if I chose not to do it? 9 The 80/20 Rule 80% of what we do is really trivial; only 20% is really critical CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  4 10 Inspiration “If you can dream it, you can do it” Walt Disney • Disneyland was built in 366 days, from ground-breaking to first day open to the public. 11 Planning • Failing to plan is planning to fail • Plan Each Day, Each Week, Each Semester • You can always change your plan, but only once you have one! 12 TO Do Lists • Break things down into small steps • Like a child cleaning his/her room • Some suggest doing the ugliest thing first • For others, tackling a bunch of very small, easy tasks first gives a greater sense of accomplishment • Know yourself and figure out which of the two methods works best for you CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  5 13 The four-quadrant TO DO List 4 3 2 1 Important Not Important Due Soon Not Due Soon 14 15 Paperwork • Clutter is death; it leads to thrashing. Keep desk clear: focus on one thing at a time • A good file system is essential, even for a middle or high school cadet • Have files for each class, cadet event, etc. • Touch each piece of paper once • Touch each piece of email once; your inbox is not your TODO list CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  6 16 An example of how a desk should look: 17 KEEP A CALENDAR 18 CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  7 19 20 Telephone: I know, this one’s hard for teenagers :) • Keep calls short; stand during call • Start by announcing goals for the call • Don’t put your feet up • Have something in view that you’re waiting to get to next; tell the other person “I’ve got to go do my homework.” 21 PILES ARE A VERY BAD THING • CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  8 22 Scheduling Yourself • You don’t find time for important things, you make it • Everything you do is an opportunity cost; it costs you time, so make sure it it worth it. • Learn to say “No” • “I’ll do it if nobody else steps forward” or “I’ll be your deep fall back,” but you have to keep searching. 23 Everyone has Good and Bad Times • Find your creative/thinking time. Defend it ruthlessly, spend it alone, maybe at home. • Find your dead time. Schedule meetings, phone calls, and mundane stuff during it. 24 Interruptions • 6-9 minutes, 4-5 minute recovery – five interruptions shoots an hour • You must reduce frequency and length of interruptions (turn phone calls into email) • E-mail noise on new mail is an interruption -> TURN IT OFF!! CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  9 25 Cutting Things Short • “I’m in the middle of something now…” • Start with “I only have 5 minutes” – you can always extend this • Stand up, stroll to the door, complement, thank, shake hands • Clock-watching; on wall behind them 26 Time Journals • It’s amazing what you learn! Use one to keep track of everything you do and how much time is productive vs. wasteful • Monitor yourself in 15 minute increments for between 3 days and two weeks. • Update every .5 hour: not at end of day 27 CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  10 28 29 Using Time Journal Data • What am I doing that doesn’t really need to be done? • What am I doing that could be done by someone else? • What am I doing that could be done more efficiently? • What do I do that wastes others’ time? 30 Procrastination “Procrastination is the thief of time” Edward Young Night Thoughts, 1742 CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  11 31 Balancing Act “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” Parkinson’s Law Cyril Parkinson, 1957 32 Avoiding Procrastination • Doing things at the last minute is much more expensive than just before the last minute • Deadlines are really important: establish them yourself! 33 Delegation • No one is an island • You can accomplish a lot more with help • As a cadet leader, you have to decide who among your subordinates can handle delegated tasks • Delegation to the right people can be wonderful • Delegation to a “flake” can be very stressful and not worth the trouble CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  12 34 Delegation is not dumping • Grant authority to the person to accomplish the task; ultimately it is still your responsibility, but have them feel as though they are responsible to you. • Concrete goal, deadline, and consequences. • Treat your people well 35 Challenge People • People rise to the challenge: You should delegate “until they complain” • Communication Must Be Clear: “Get it in writing” – Judge Wapner • Give objectives, not procedures • Tell the relative importance of this task 36 Meetings: You will have many more of them as you go up through the ranks • Average executive: > 40% of time • Lock the door, unplug the phone • Shoot for a maximum of 1 hour • Prepare: there must be an agenda • Minutes: an efficient way to keep track of decisions made in a meeting: who is responsible for what by when?; get these sent out to all participants within an hour after the completion of the meeting CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  13 37 E-Mail Tips • Save all of it; no exceptions • If you want somebody to do something, make them the only recipient. Otherwise, you have diffusion of responsibility. Give a concrete request/task and a deadline. • If you really want somebody to do something, CC someone powerful. • Nagging is okay; if someone doesn’t respond in 48 hours, they’ll probably never respond. (True for phone as well as email). 38 General Advice • Unplug your Tv and Cd/DVD players when you have important tasks to accomplish • Eat and sleep and exercise. Above all else! 39 General Advice • Never break a promise, but re-negotiate them if need be. • If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t have time to do it wrong. • Recognize that most things are pass/fail. CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06  14 40 Recommended Readings • The One Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, Berkeley Books, 1981, ISBN 0-425- 09847-8 • The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, Simon & Schuster, 1989, ISBN 0-671-70863-5 41 Action Items • Get a day-timer (or PDA) if you don’t already have one • Start keeping your TODO list in four- quadrant form or ordered by priorities (not due dates) • Do a time journal, or at least record number of hours of television/week • Make a note in your day-timer to revisit this talk in 30 days. At that time, ask yourself “What behaviors have I changed?” CACc Standard 2R CACC Training Aid 13-H-8 Last Modifed 6 Jan 06