Mini guides: Time Menagement - ebook

George Sandford

Guide to time management

1. What is time management?

Time management is all about how you manage your time. Of course, time is immovable and runs at the same pace for everyone so time itself cannot be managed, only our use of it.

Time management is really about managing yourself and your life overall. There are many different aspects of time management such as managing paperwork, telephone calls, meetings, interactions with others, prioritising, setting goals and meeting deadlines and, creating an effective work-life balance so that your work commitments do not destroy your family life. It isn’t easy but luckily, BEM is on hand to show you how to do it and in English too!

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Immovable Can not be moved
Runs Moves, passes
Pace Speed
Aspects Parts, dimensions
Paperwork Documents, files
Interactions Contacts and conversations with others
Prioritising Deciding which things are most the important
Work-life balance Managing the conflicting demands of work and home
Destroy Wreck, ruin, damage beyond repair
On hand Here, available
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Glossary

management – zarządzanie

immovable – nieruchomy

to run – mijać

pace – tempo

overall – ogólnie, całkowicie

aspect – aspekt, punkt widzenia

paperwork – robota papierkowa

interactions – wzajemne relacje

prioritising – wyznaczanie priorytetów

meeting deadlines – dotrzymywanie terminów

effective – efektywny, skuteczny

work-life balance – równowaga pomiędzy obowiązkami w pracy i w domu

commitments – zobowiązania, obowiązki

on hand – dostępny2. Time management self-assessment quiz

How good at managing your time are you? Tick which answers apply to you, then add up your score.

+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | Question | Never | Sometimes | Often | Always |
| | | | | | |
| | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1 | I have clear long-term goals | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2 | I balance work and family life | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 3 | I set monthly, weekly and daily goals | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 4 | I use ‘to do’ lists to help me plan my work | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 5 | I meet the majority of deadlines | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 6 | I am able to say ‘no’ to requests and negotiate deadlines and workloads | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 7 | I prioritise my work | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 8 | I delegate where possible | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 9 | I use travel and waiting time efficiently | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 10 | I manage paper and electronic files | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 11 | I am in control of my email box | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 12 | I make effective use of meetings | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 | I keep my desk tidy | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 14 | I am highly productive | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 15 | I do what I say I will do and don’t make excuses | | | | |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

Score

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31-40 Well done! You are on the way to becoming an excellent time manager. You are well organised and achieve most of what you set out to. Keep up the good work!
21-30 Not bad - you achieve some of what you set out to but it’s a bit hit and miss. Become more self-disciplined and you will see improvements.
11-20 Oh dear! Time is getting the better of you and you constantly feel under pressure. Reduce your commitments and start prioritising.
0-10 Catastrophe! You are a slave to time and other people. Start taking control now or you will end up in hot water!
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Long-term Over a longer period of time, usually, greater than one year
‘To do’ list A list of things you need to do!
Meet deadlines A verb/noun collocation to describe achieving something on time
Workload The total amount of work that you regularly have to do
Delegate To distribute work to others
Waiting time Time spent in receptions and travelling when you are waiting
Tidy Without mess everywhere
Excuses Reasons given for not doing things
On the way In the direction
Keep up Continue
Set out Start, intend
Hit and miss Inconsistent
Self-disciplined In control of your actions
Get the better of To defeat or dominate
Commitments Things you are obliged to do
Catastrophe Disaster
Hot water Trouble
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Glossary

long-term – długoterminowy

workload – obciążenie pracą

to delegate – przekazywać (część obowiązków)

efficiently – efektywnie, wydajnie

productive – wydajny, produktywny

to make excuses – tłumaczyć się, usprawiedliwiać

to be on the way – w drodze, zmierzać

achieve – osiągać

to set out to – nastawiać się na coś, planować

to keep up – utrzymywać na tym samym poziomie, podtrzymywać

hit and miss – ryzykowny, na chybił-trafił

self-disciplined – zdyscyplinowany

improvement – postęp, poprawa

to get the better of – wziąć górę nad kimś, zdobyć przewagę nad kimś

constantly – ciągle, stale

to be in hot water – mieć kłopoty