Time Management



	Exercises 1..4 Exercises 5..13 Exercises 14..17 Exercises 18..20 -------------------------------------- 21. Weekly Goal Management Worksheet #3 (Submit one week after Worksheet #2) - Start with your work from Weekly Goal Management Worksheet #2. - Add two more goals to your worksheet, making a total of 7 goals for reports 2 and 3. - Use the remaining worksheet #2 instructions. Submit Your Work (Page R4) *********************** Weekly Progress Report ********************* A-1 Get back to normal life now that Prakash is nearly back to normal Progress Since Last Week - Posted the final social welfare claim form - Got his train tickets ready for travel - Got his desk and access sorted at work - Helped him regularly in physiotherapy at home - Organized to work from 7:30 to 4:00 to avoid rush hour crowd on trains - Got him to do a few driving sessions. Planned Progress For This Week - Now that both of us are back to work and he is nearly back to normal, get him to do some of the work that he used to do earlier like cook once a week and clean dishes three nights a week. - Try to start activities one by one that have been stopped for the past three months – like music class, swimming sessions, etc - Take a few days break just to relax. - Help him with his physiotherapy at home so that he will gradually reduce and stop limping. ********************* A-2 Prepare for the wedding Progress Since Last Week - Decided on travel dates and have provisionally booked the tickets. - Organized with Prakash’s sister to get the wedding hall sorted - Have sent mails around to friends asking if they wanted to travel to India for the wedding. - Have provisionally booked tickets for two of my friends who are traveling. - Got Prakash’s sister to talk to the printing agency regarding the wedding invitations. Planned Progress For This Week - Decide on travel within India and find out about the availability of cheap tickets. - Go through the previously printed invitations and see what changes have to be made. - Find out a beautician close to the new venue and check if they will be able to get the bridal done in a couple of hours. A-3 Master the art of Time management and help others with their time management too Progress Since Last Week - Have received a few replies for my mails regarding 28. Timesaving Techniques From Interviews and am waiting for responses from few others. - Worked on the current exercise - Have sent out reminders to friends about replying for my mail. - My cousins Indu, Raja and myself had a chat online about the different timesaving techniques Planned Progress For This Week - Finish and send the current exercise on time. - Work on the next assignment on a everyday basis - Make a habit of asking “What can I not do?”. - Chose one timesaving category each day of the week and try to find more techniques in them by asking different people or reading or by searching on the Internet. - Write a blog/article about different time saving techniques. Take a break and relax Progress Since Last Week - Have booked a few days holidays two weeks from now. - Have worked out a list of possible places that I can go to. - Informed friends that I will be on a break and will not entertain anyone during that period. Planned Progress For This Week - Decide on a place and book tickets, accommodation, etc - Get more information on the place – read books, search for videos, surf the Internet, etc - Work out the budget for the trip. Work towards moving up the ladder at work Progress Since Last Week - Went through chapters 1& 2 of the book. - Have booked an appointment with the manager to talk about budget issues for the PMP exams - Surfed the net looking for other materials for PMP exams Planned Progress For This Week - Attend the study group meeting on Thursday. - Go through chapters 3 & 4 in the book. - Make a webpage with all different links found on PMP exams, like exam material, sample exams, online books, etc Talk to the team lead and check what other projects need people Progress Since Last Week - Have sent a mail to the Team Lead/Project Manager regarding my current position. - Have spoken to the resource manager to check if she has any new project coming up for me. - Read up on the project about which the UK DBA sent a mail. Planned Progress For This Week - Check my current status in the project team. - Now that the project has been de-scoped, try and find a project as soon as possible. - Help the current Irish team in different projects in their work if possible. This will help me use my skills and also gain experience. - Check if it is possible to go to UK to help the team in UK. If travel to UK has been approved then make necessary arrangements to fly out on Monday Morning Progress Since Last Week - Sent a mail out to UK asking if they needed help. - Sent a request to the team lead asking him if I can go to UK to help with the BIS project which is short staffed. - Have spoken to the admin staff to let them know that I might be traveling to UK on Monday. Planned Progress For This Week - Get clearance for travel by COB Thursday - Book tickets, accommodation, etc by COB Thursday - Create a new expense in SAP for advance required. ********************* GOAL/ACTION Report ********************* Goal - Get back to normal life now that Prakash is nearly back to normal - A-1: Get Prakash back to doing things that he would have done earlier – as long as it doesn’t involve standing for too long. - A-2: Get him to start driving slowly. - A-3: Make a separate A-1 list for activities involving Prakash – like posting his social welfare form every Monday, Physiotherapy every Tuesday, etc - Find out different activities that are on like the weekend run or the volunteer day that I had stopped doing because of Prakash needing more of my time. - Find things to do together for the both of us. - Inform my manager that I am available for short travel (from 1-3 days). - Ask Prakash to make his A-1 list everyday and see how much of it he can do it by himself. ********************* Goal - Prepare for the wedding - A-1: Book the wedding hall. - A-2: Print Invitations. - A-3: Find out if known decorators, caterers, photographers, etc are available for that date. - Provisionally book tickets for travel - Organize accommodation for friends who are traveling from here. - Chart out a local travel plan in India for before and after the wedding. - Get local arrangements made in Bangalore close to the wedding hall like beautician, florists, etc. - With change in the wedding hall, decide on whether the reception has to be the previous evening or the same evening as the wedding - Make a list of rituals that we want to follow and the ones that we want to avoid. ********************* Goal - Master the art of Time management and help others with their time management too - A-1: Finish the Time Management course in two weeks. - A-2: Find friends and relatives to share information regarding Time Management. - A-3: Make a habit of asking “What can I not do?”. - Continue to make the A-1 list everyday and work off it - Learn new techniques from people, books, Internet, etc - Concentrate on one thing at a time and work towards finishing the A-1 goal on the list - Constantly work towards improvising on techniques - Do not break the habit formed now of using time management techniques - Make a website with all the assignments so that they can be looked up by myself and friends if required. - Write an article/blog on time management. ********************* Goal - Take a break and relax - A-1: Decide on dates and confirm with manager before booking holidays in SAP. - A-2: Decide on a place to go. - A-3: Book tickets and accommodation. - Sort out the budget - Get information on the place by reading books, watching videos, etc - Decide on activities to do while on holidays. ******************** Goal - Work towards moving up the ladder at work - A-1: Join the current batch of students doing Project Management Certifications. - A-2: Form/Join a study group outside work time. - A-3: Fix up an exam date for next March and work towards passing the exam in the first attempt. - Get all the study materials required - Get sample questions and information from people who have already done the exams - Attend all sessions without fail. - Create a website with all possible information required for the exam ********************* Goal - Talk to the team lead and check what other projects need people - A-1: Talk to the team lead/project manager and find my current position. - A-2: Update Resume and post it on the internal website - A-3: Talk to the resource manager and see if there is any position available for me ASAP. - Help the team in Ireland/UK with the current projects that are progressing. - Be flexible to travel two or three days a week if required or work from different sites - Keep the managers informed on different positions that interest me in the internal vacancy website. ********************* Goal - If travel to UK has been approved then make necessary arrangements to fly out on Monday Morning - A-1: Get clearance for travel. - A-2: Confirm with UK and team lead here that I can work on the BIS project - A-3: Create a new expense in SAP. - Book flights and accommodation - Read up on the BIS project before Monday morning so that I will be ready to start working as soon as I land there. - Find out alternate arrangements like possibility of working from here if travel is not approved by Thursday or flying out on Tuesday morning instead of Monday. ********************* ********************* MY COMMENTS FROM A BROADER PERSPECTIVE 1. Improving my life. When I put down my goals and the actions required for attaining my goal, I clearly define what I want and what I have to do to get it. By doing this everything is made simple. It is easy to follow a written set of ideas rather than have a vague idea in mind and try to follow it. Now that Prakash is nearly back to normal and is back to work, my A-1 has changed to get my life back to what it was before Prakash broke his leg. I’ve also included another personal goal of taking a break and relaxing. I had a busy three months and haven’t had my holiday break this year. Because the wedding is postponed to January, I will not be getting a proper holiday break this year. So I have decided to take a small break, even for four or five days and relaxing. In fact, in a way it is also going to help my time management as I find it is good once in a while to take a break and take a stock check of what I am doing. I may come back with a totally different set of priorities after my break. 2. Improving my work. For work, I have put down three goals this week; the goal from last week has evolved to become a new goal as my project has been de-scoped. The current priority is to find a project for myself as soon as possible and the next priority will be to see if I can travel to UK to help the team with a project that is short staffed. This may also help us get that project if all goes well. The third goal to improve my work skills remains the same and some progress has happened in that front. 3. Improving my Time Management skills. As for Time Management skills, the goal itself hasn’t evolved much but what I want to do is to keep up the habit that has been formed. The very idea of working on this exercise everyday of the week and sending it on time every week is going to help me keep up the habit. I am also trying to get more and more people to try out Time Management with me. That should help me a lot as when there is company it is easy to do anything. To add to what I had already said in my previous assignment, I want to add that the new personal goal that I have added will help me relax and rethink on my goals and priorities in life. This should also help me in my Time Management. ********************* 22. Weekly Goal Management Worksheet #4 (Submit one week after Worksheet #3) - Start with your work from Weekly Goal Management Worksheet #3. - Add two more goals to your worksheet, making a total of 9 goals for reports 2 and 3. - Use the remaining worksheet #2 instructions. Submit Your Work (Page R4) ********************* Weekly Progress Report ********************* A-1 Get back to normal life now that Prakash is nearly back to normal Progress Since Last Week - Found out that he could manage on his own and left him in Dublin to handle things himself and came to UK for a short visit. - Got him to drive for his hospital appointment yesterday - Got him to do his own A-list and stick to it and I did my own A-list with very few overlapping actions on the list. - Helped him regularly in physiotherapy at home - Booked a holiday in Scotland. - Did a bit of organizing for starting music and dance class. Planned Progress For This Week - Find out from his doctor if he can travel and see if he can find a project where he can travel to UK too. - Try to find activities that Prakash can do without straining himself too much like swimming. - Now that I have more time in my hands compared to the previous two months, find some course that I can do in the evenings – maybe one night a week. - Help him with his physiotherapy at home so that he will gradually reduce and stop limping. ********************* A-2 Prepare for the wedding Progress Since Last Week - Checked on internal travel tickets for India and confirmed that I can book the tickets online from 60 days before the date of journey – Put a reminder on my calendar in outlook for 60 days before the date of journey so that I can book the ticket well in advance. - Decided to print a new set of invitation cards and the wordings have been confirmed. - Have paid for our (Prakash & me) tickets in full. - Have started getting little things like painting the dry coconut, etc done for the wedding. Planned Progress For This Week - Call up people who I had mailed earlier about the wedding plans and confirm numbers for travel. - Find out from Cindy if she is ready to extend her holidays by a couple of weeks so that she can stay for the wedding. - Start looking at accommodation in different places for people who are traveling. A-3 Master the art of Time management and help others with their time management too Progress Since Last Week - Have written a blog about different time saving techniques. - Worked on the current exercise - Have sent out reminders to friends about replying for my mail. - Set up a regular schedule for chat with my cousins regarding Timesaving Techiniques - Have put all my exercises on the course webpage. Planned Progress For This Week - Finish and send the current exercise on time. - Work on the next assignment on a everyday basis - Make a habit of asking "What can I not do?". - Chose one timesaving category each day of the week and try to find more techniques in them by asking different people or reading or by searching on the Internet. Take a break and relax Progress Since Last Week - Have booked tickets to Glasgow . - Have got information on Glasgow from the internet and have picked up a book from the library on Glasgow. - Informed friends that I will be on a break and will not entertain anyone during that period. Planned Progress For This Week - Book accommodation in Glasgow - Organize with the hotel for a cake as the trip is during Prakash’s birthday. - Find out about different modes of transport like bus, train, trams, etc for traveling with Glasgow. Work towards moving up the ladder at work Progress Since Last Week - Went through chapters 3 & 4 of the book. - Have found a book in books24x7.com for PMP - Started making a webpage with different links on PMP exam Planned Progress For This Week - Attend the study group meeting on Thursday. - Go through chapters 5 & 6 in the book. - Do a few mock exams and see where I stand. - Work on the webpage adding more info on PMP exam Talk to the team lead and check what other projects need people Progress Since Last Week - Sent mails on a regular basis to the team lead/project manager/resource manager reminding them of my current status. - Have modified my resume and added to the internal vacancy website. - Checked the internal vacancy website everyday to see if there is any suitable project available. Planned Progress For This Week - Check if I can stick to the UK DBA work and travel to UK three days a week - Keep an eye out for other projects in Ireland/UK which are more long term. - Be as flexible as possible, but remind people that I have a month’s holidays booked in January and find out if new projects will be affected. - Check in other Solution centers in EMEA if they need people for short term projects which does not involve moving out of Dublin. Find out if further travel is required for the coming weeks and make necessary arrangements. Progress Since Last Week - Got confirmation from UK on help required. - Got clearance to travel from Project Manager. - Booked flights, accommodation, etc. - Traveled to UK on Monday. Planned Progress For This Week - Confirm by Wednesday if travel is required for next Monday - Get clearance for travel by COB Thursday - Book tickets, accommodation, etc by COB Thursday - Create a new expense in SAP for advance required by COB Thursday. - Get train timetables printed for days of travel from Manchester Airport to Sheffield and back. Travel the world Progress Since Last Week - Booked tickets to go to a new country (Scotland) for this year. - Planned for another new country (Italy) for next year – Easter holidays. Planned Progress For This Week - Decide on a itinerary for Italy and book tickets now to get cheap deals. - Book accommodation for Scotland and Italy now to get good deals. - Check if there is any other country close by that can be visited on a long weekend – as not too many days holidays are left for the next year. - Check on visas for Italy – the number of days required and the price. - Try to get a six month or one year Schengan visa when applying for visa at the Italian Embassy and try to use it for other Schengan countries not visited so far. Start Music and dance classes once again. Progress Since Last Week - Found a dance teacher in Dublin to teach Bharatanatyam. - Tried to find more people interested in learning Bharatnatyam. - Spoke to my music teacher and have confirmed to start classes soon. - Spoke to other music students and have confirmed days and venue for the classes each week. Planned Progress For This Week - Call more people and find out if there are more people interested in learning Bharatanatyam - more people means less fees! Also it is easier to start a class with the full batch rather than trying to teach one or two that join later from scratch and bring them up to speed with the others. - Confirm a place and day suitable to all for the dance class - Also fix a fee for the class before the start of the class. - Try and start off the music class on the date fixed. - Try and get someone to bring music cassettes/CDs from India ASAP for both music and dance. ********************* GOAL/ACTION Report ********************* Goal - Get back to normal life now that Prakash is nearly back to normal - A-1: Get Prakash back to doing things that he would have done earlier – as long as it doesn’t involve standing for too long. - A-2: Get him to start driving slowly. - A-3: Make a separate A-1 list for activities involving Prakash – like posting his social welfare form every Monday, Physiotherapy every Tuesday, etc - Find out different activities that are on like the weekend run or the volunteer day that I had stopped doing because of Prakash needing more of my time. - Find things to do together for the both of us. - Inform my manager that I am available for short travel (from 1-3 days). - Find out if Prakash can travel and see if there is a project available for him in the UK. - Ask Prakash to make his A-1 list everyday and see how much of it he can do it by himself. ********************* Goal - Prepare for the wedding - A-1: Book the wedding hall. - A-2: Print Invitations. - A-3: Find out if known decorators, caterers, photographers, etc are available for that date. - Organize accommodation for friends who are traveling from here. - Chart out a local travel plan in India for before and after the wedding. - Get local arrangements made in Bangalore close to the wedding hall like beautician, florists, etc. - With change in the wedding hall, decide on whether the reception has to be the previous evening or the same evening as the wedding - Make a list of rituals that we want to follow and the ones that we want to avoid. - Start preparing little things required for the wedding like painting the pan made of palm leaf, painting the dry coconut, etc ********************* Goal - Master the art of Time management and help others with their time management too - A-1: Finish the Time Management course in a week. - A-2: Find friends and relatives to share information regarding Time Management. - A-3: Make a habit of asking "What can I not do?". - Continue to make the A-1 list everyday and work off it - Learn new techniques from people, books, Internet, etc - Concentrate on one thing at a time and work towards finishing the A-1 goal on the list - Constantly work towards improvising on techniques - Do not break the habit formed now of using time management techniques - Make a website with all the assignments so that they can be looked up by myself and friends if required. - Write more articles/blogs on time management. ********************* Goal - Take a break and relax - A-1: Decide on dates and confirm with manager before booking holidays in SAP. - A-2: Decide on a place to go. - A-3: Book tickets and accommodation. - Sort out the budget - Get information on the place by reading books, watching videos, etc - Decide on activities to do while on holidays. ******************** Goal - Work towards moving up the ladder at work - A-1: Join the current batch of students doing Project Management Certifications. - A-2: Form/Join a study group outside work time. - A-3: Fix up an exam date for next March and work towards passing the exam in the first attempt. - Get all the study materials required - Get sample questions and information from people who have already done the exams - Attend all sessions without fail. - Create a website with all possible information required for the exam ********************* Goal - Talk to the team lead and check what other projects need people - A-1: Talk to the team lead/project manager and find my current position. - A-2: Update Resume and post it on the internal website - A-3: Talk to the resource manager and see if there is any position available for me ASAP. - Help the team in Ireland/UK with the current projects that are progressing. - Be flexible to travel two or three days a week if required or work from different sites - Keep the managers informed on different positions that interest me in the internal vacancy website. ********************* Goal - Find out if further travel is required for the coming weeks and make necessary arrangements. - A-1: Get clearance for travel. - A-2: Confirm with UK and team lead here that I can work on the BIS project - A-3: Create a new expense in SAP. - Book flights and accommodation - Read up on the BIS project before Monday morning so that I will be ready to start working as soon as I land there. - Find out alternate arrangements like possibility of working from here if travel is not approved by Thursday or flying out on Tuesday morning instead of Monday. ********************* Goal - Travel the world - A-1: Decide on places to travel. - A-2: Check on how many days holidays are available for travel - A-3: Check on how much money can be spent on travel each year. - Check on visa requirements and try to plan countries that require a common visa in one trip. - Check if any country can be combined/covered on the way to/back from home (India) each year. - Either decide on a country well in advance and book cheap tickets or find out the off peak season and try to book holidays then rather than waiting till the last minute and spending too much on holidays. ********************* Goal - Start Music and dance classes once again. - A-1: Find teacher for dance class. - A-2: Confirm dates to restart music and dance class. - A-3: Try to get as many students for dance class as possible. - For music class, stick to the date and venue and try to go on with the class irrespective of what happens. - For dance class, try to find a bigger venue and more students and start the class ASAP. - Try to advertise in local mailing lists and newspapers about dance class to get more numbers. ********************* ********************* MY COMMENTS FROM A BROADER PERSPECTIVE 1. Improving my life. When I put down my goals and the actions required for attaining my goal, I clearly define what I want and what I have to do to get it. By doing this everything is made simple. It is easy to follow a written set of ideas rather than have a vague idea in mind and try to follow it. With Prakash being able to manage on his own, I have now started traveling for work related purposes and have let him handle things on his own. Also now that he can drive and do things for himself I have more time on my hands in the evenings and I am getting back to my lifetime goals again. The priorities now have changed and it is good to see that I can get back to what I wanted to do on a long term basis. 2. Improving my work. Work wise, a few things have changed and instead of sitting at my desk waiting for work to arrive and wasting my time, I decided last week to go look for work. Thankfully I could find some work in the UK, though not in my own project, decided to take it up. This is because of constantly asking myself what I should be doing and what should I avoid doing. This has not only made things better for me but has impressed my manager and he is ready to give me more responsibilities. 3. Improving my Time Management skills. Over the weeks that sticking to my goals and actions and doing my A-1 list improves my time management skills automatically. Now it has become more of a habit and I cannot let a minute go by without thinking if I am doing the right thing. The whole idea of improving my time management skills have blended with improving my life and work. I realize that improving my time management skills automatically improves the other two. ********************* 32. Course Evaluation - Evaluate of the course, and it's major elements. Submit Your Work (Page R4) ********************* A few months ago I was going through courses on the Rushmore site wondering which one of them will be more useful to me when I chanced upon the Time Management course. When I sent a mail out to Alan regarding the course, the only thoughts were that this course will help me and will maybe push me to complete my MBA. At the end of this course I know now that if my MBA is important to me, then I will find time and ways to complete it. Life has been the same then and now, but the way I look at it has changed. I know now to list out the actions and set priorities and not to worry about things that don’t matter much anymore. I never realized that handling fears was a time management technique. After doing the course, the best way I have implemented this technique was by getting out and starting to drive again. I had a fear about driving and I kept postponing my driving test because of this. I used any excuse possible to avoid driving and doing the test. I still haven’t got rid of the fear but I am out driving and am doing the test in less than a month from now. This course unlike others had a totally different approach and was quite interactive. When the course is interactive, it gets really interesting. Unlike other courses where I have to wait till I completed the paper to get my review, here I was getting reviews on a nearly daily basis. The course itself was designed in a way that only by putting whatever I was writing in practice that I can do my best in each assignment. Though I did my “Things to do” list once in a while, the concept of A-list was new to me. Initially it was difficult to do it on a daily basis, but once I realized the advantages of doing it then it automatically became a habit. Even when I was not at work/home and was in hospital with Prakash, I stuck to doing my A-list and it worked brilliantly for me. It is now much easier to look at paperwork/e-mails once and mark it as useful/action upon or discard it the very first time. Having an A-list, knowing to prioritize, being organized and sticking to schedules are all vital part of time management. ********************* ********************* MY COMMENTS FROM A BROADER PERSPECTIVE Time Management is a very important idea that everyone should learn at some point of time in their life, the earlier the better. I would suggest reading the book and doing a course, but if doing a course is not possible, the best way to do it is to get a team of people to work with. Preferably this has to be a group of people who we are working with or someone who we interact with on a day to day basis. Like all habits, it takes time to start doing A-lists and setting priorities and not wasting time, but once the habit is formed it makes a big difference in life. ***********************