The Organized Professional
How Effective People Manage Time and Juggle Priorities

This workshop teaches people in challenging jobs how to identify and focus on the critical, high payoff aspects of their job and how to get that work done quickly, while at the same time managing the flow of other routine tasks and time demands.

The course concentrates on:

• tools and practices that support this effort (the ones that relate to prioritizing, planning, scheduling, monitoring)
• techniques for avoiding distractions and procrastination
• ways of managing the incessant time demands of other people.
  
  

1. An examination of typical time wasters in contemporary work
   
   
2. Axiomatic truths about time that make it such a difficult issue to address
   
   
3. Lakein’s “A,” B,” “C” method of setting work priorities
   
   
4. The classic 10-point model for organizing work, time and priorities
   
   
5. Methods for organizing routine daily transactions and an examination of tools and techniques for listing, recording and monitoring time usage
   
   
6. Methods for identifying and sequencing “A” priority items
   
   
7. Methods for dispatching “B” and “C” priority tasks
   
   
8. Techniques for handling interruptions and distractions
   
   
9. Ways of responding better to the endless time demands of others by setting reasonable limits and avoiding the need to keep everybody pleased
   
   
10. Methods for dealing with reading and paperwork
    
    
11. Techniques for staying on top of email and voice mail and other electronic media
    
    
12. Quick remedies for dealing with moments when one feels overwhelmed
    
    
13. Techniques for avoiding procrastination and excessive perfectionism
    
    
14. Finding ways to create work-life balance

1. Participants go back to their offices and immediately prioritize their work
   
   
2. Based on those priorities, they develop a written work plan
   
   
3. Dig into their work by tackling “A” priorities first
   
   
4. Dramatically reduce the time they spend on pointless maintenance tasks and other forms of busywork; batching these activities into discrete time periods
   
   
5. Use their calendar as a tool for scheduling work rather than for merely setting dates, by actively carving out chunks of time to accomplish “A” priority tasks
   
   
6. Curtail the amount of time they currently spend in electronic messaging
   
   
7. Regularly pausing to upgrade their “To Do” lists by including new events information and opportunities into their planning.
   
   
8. Keep a log of distractions and interruptions as the first step in reducing the incidence of both
   
   
9. Creating some periods of “alone time” to complete complex assignments which can’t be chopped up into 5- and 10-minute bullets
   
   
10. Learn to say “No” to unreasonable demands on their time
    

to top