Time Management

Introduction

Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who use these techniques routinely are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to sport to public service. Kanigel (pp. 78-86) mentions if you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure.

Discussion

With good time management skills you are in control of your time and your life, of your stress and energy levels. You make progress at work. You are able to maintain balance between your work, personal, and family lives. You have enough flexibility to respond to surprises or new opportunities.

All time management skills are learnable. More than likely you will see much improvement from simply becoming aware of the essence and causes of common personal time management problems. With these time management lessons, you can see better which time management techniques are most relevant for your situation (Mancini, pp. 45-57). Effective time management requires several components:

* Setting priorities to meet complex and multiple challenges

* Developing specific techniques to cope with difficult and time-consuming tasks

* Deciding on the most productive ways to spend limited amounts of time

* Delegating responsibility effectively

* Handling routine tasks efficiently

* Structuring the day in order to see what needs to be done and what has actually been accomplished by the end of the day

* Making the environment work for the school leader

* Maximizing output through minimizing time spent on administrivia (Kanigel, pp. 78-86), such as needless meetings and extemporaneous paperwork

There are four key steps to help a school leader study the time structure of the workday. First, become familiar with time management techniques. Second, analyze present time management practices. Third, decide what needs to be changed to help being effective rather than just being busy. Fourth, design, then implement strategies that will lead ...