Time management

A workbook on the topic of time

management and self-management
A workbook on time management and self-management

Contents

1 Check your working method ............................................................................... 3

2 The time-waster test ............................................................................................ 5
3 My requirements and roles ................................................................................... 6
4 Work-Life-Balance ............................................................................................... 7
5 My goals .............................................................................................................. 9
6 Action plan for a chosen goal ………….............................................................. 10
7 Time management methods .............................................................................. 11
7.1 Key questions: who, when, how, if at all …….............................................. 11
7.2 Planning the day => ALPEN method............................................................ 11
7.3 Which tasks - ABC Analysis ...................................................................... 12
7.4 In which order - the Eisenhower principle ……............................................ 12
7.5 What and how perfect - Pareto principle ……….......................................... 13
8 If at all? – Saying no …….................................................................................. 14
9 Delegate ............................................................................................................ 15
10 Mailbox exercise ................................................................................................ 16
11 To-do list ........................................................................................................... 17
12 My daily schedule 1 ........................................................................................... 18
13 My daily schedule 2 ........................................................................................... 19
14 A positive start to your day ................................................................................ 20
15 My personal performance curve ....................................................................... 21
16 My personal disturbance curve .......................................................................... 22
17 Ten rules for saving time ……........................................................................... 23
18 Place for notes .................................................................................................. 24
1 Check your working method
Please check the fields marked with the respective number:
0 = applies almost always 2 = applies sometimes
1 = applies often 3 = applies almost never

1. The telephone bothers me constantly and the calls are often

unnecessarily long.
0 1 2 3
   
2. Due to many visitors from the outside and from the house I often
do not get to do my actual work. 0 1 2 3
   
3. The meetings often take too long and their results are often
unsatisfactory. 0 1 2 3
   
4. I am putting off large, time-consuming and therefore unpleasant
tasks for later; I am having difficulties finishing them because I
never seem to come to rest (“procrastination”). 0 1 2 3
    
5. The priorities are often not set clearly and I am trying to complete
too many tasks at once. I am dealing with too many small,
unimportant tasks and therefore cannot concentrate on the most
important tasks. 0 1 2 3
   
6. I can stick to my schedules and deadlines only under deadline
pressure because there are always unexpected things coming up or
because I have taken up too much work. 0 1 2 3
   
7. I have too much paperwork on my desk; correspondence and
reading are taking up too much of my time. The overview and order
on my desk is not very exemplary. 0 1 2 3
   
8. The communication with other is often deficient. Delayed
exchange of information, misunderstandings or frictions occur on a
daily basis. 0 1 2 3
   
9. The delegation of tasks works rarely and I often have to carry out
things that also others could have done. 0 1 2 3
   
10. I find it hard to say “no” when others want something from me,
when in fact I should be doing my own work. 0 1 2 3
   
11. I am missing a clear objective in my life concept, both
professionally and personally; I often cannot find the sense in the
things that I am doing during the day. 0 1 2 3
   
12. Sometimes I lack the necessary self-discipline to execute what I
have put my mind to. 0 1 2 3
   
 
A workbook on time management and self-management

Please now sum up the checked numbers and enter the total
number of points into the box.

Evaluation:

0 - 17 points: Your time management is poor and you are letting others drive you.
You cannot lead yourself, let alone others. Time management will be the beginning of
a new and successful life.

18 - 24 points: You are trying to get your time under control, but you are not
consistent enough to make your success in that area long-lasting.

25 - 30 points: Your time management is good – and can get even better!

31 - 36 points: Congratulations (if you have answered the questions honestly!) you are a
role model for everyone who wants to learn how to manage time. Let other benefit from your
experience.

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2 The time-waster test

Go through the following list of the 31 most significant time wasters or time pitfalls
and check the top five that apply to you

1. Unclear objectives □
2. No priorities □
3. Trying to do everything at once □
4. Missing an overview of pending tasks/activities □
5. Bad day planning □
6. Personal disorganization □
7. Paperwork and reading □
8. Bad filing system □
9. Searching for notes, memos, addresses, phone numbers □
Lack of motivation, indifferent behavior towards work (not reaching
10. decisions) □

11. Lack of coordination/teamwork □

12. Telephone interruptions □
13. Unannounced visitors □
14. Inability to say „no“ □
15. Incomplete, delayed information □
16. Lack of self-discipline □
17. Not completing your taskts □
18. Distractions/noise □
19. Lengthy meetings □
20. Lack of preparation for conversations and meetings □
21. No or imprecise communication □
22. Private chat □
23. Too much communication □
24. Too many memos □
25. Procrastination □
26. Wanting to know everything □
27. Waiting times □
28. Hurry, impatience □
29. Too little delegation □
30. Lack of control of delegated work □
31. Cigarette break □

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3 My requirements and roles

How many roles do you have to, want to and think you have to play?

Roles

Private
Occupation
tasks
My
time

Things Hobbies

Questions:

Where does most of your time go?

What would you like to change about that?

Which requirements/roles can or would you like to give up?

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4 Work-Life-Balance

Analysis of the 4 areas of life: please take enough time to do this and go through
each of the questions for yourself.

In order to analyze our own time management we need to focus only on the
time when we are awake. The formula is derived from the equation "24 hours
 minus XY hours of sleep."

Calculate the time on a normal week basis. In this way you will get the average
 sleeping time/week.

 Example (24 hours – 8 hours of sleep) x 7 = 112 hours of being awake


a) Area of life - work:

For most people this quadrant takes up most of their time. Add to your weekly
regular working hours also the time you need to get to and from work as well as
breaks. If you are taking your work home, add this time to the weekly equation.
My working hours: ……………. hours/week

b) Area of life – body / health

What do you actually do for your health? Sport, regular walks, cycling,
gymnastics etc. Write down all of the things that apply to you and sum up the
hours.
Health - time
……………………………… ………..
……………………………… ………..
……………………………… ………..
……………………………… ………..
Total time: ……….. hours / week

c) Area of life - contacts

How much time do you spend with your friends, your family, and your partner?
Write down the contact, the reason why and the time you spend with them. Add
these hours as well.
Contact person Reason Time
……………………. ……………………………. ………..
……………………. ……………………………. ………..
……………………. ……………………………. ………..
……………………. ……………………………. ………..
Total time for contacts: ………… hours / week

d) Area of life - sense

This quadrant refers only to you personally. It is not easy to grasp this aspect.
People rarely take time consciously to plan their own self-realization.
Nevertheless, this is the most important aspect of one´s life. Your personal life
depends on this.

My vision / My life concept: …………………… hours / week

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Future orientation:

Area Time allocation In percentages

Work
Health
Contacts
Sense of life

Write down which changes have arisen from your analysis. What would you like to
change? Which areas are affected? How much time is available for each of these
areas?

My body, my health

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

My family, my contacts

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

My work, my performance

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

My goals

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

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5 My goals

The basis of a successful time management and self-management are clear

professional and private goals at which you consciously aim. This process of setting
your goals encompasses four steps: (the management control loop)

 Set objectives
 Plan, identify milestones, and carry out tasks
 Monitor progress
 Act on the results of monitoring

Set your objectives according to SMART

 Specific/written
 measurable
 ambitious
 realistic
 time-related

Define five professional and/or private goals which you would like to achieve in
the short, medium and long term period:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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6 Action plan for a chosen goal

GOAL:

Steps to achieving your objective:

Defined positively & ecologically sensible
Attractive/ Time-related
Specific Measurable Realistic
Ambitious
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

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7 Time management methods

Since it is usually impossible to achieve all of our objectives at once, we have to

set priorities and make decisions. You will find the following methods as very
helpful during this process:

7.1 Key questions: who, when, how, if at all

Questions that will help you in the organizational process:

- Does this have to be done now? => define the time

- Does this have to be done this way now? => rationalize
- Do I have to do it? => delegate
- Does this have to be done at all? => eliminate

7.2 Planning the day => ALPEN method

Die ALPEN method is the guiding principle for planning your day:

 A: list you Activities, tasks and appointments

o Tasks from your weekly plan

o Incomplete tasks from the previous day
o New tasks
o Appointments
o Recurring tasks, e.g. post etc.

 L: estimate the Length (duration) of the activities


 P: set aside pause times
o 60% for planned activities
o 20% for unexpected activities (disturbances, time thieves)
o 20% for spontaneous and social activities

 E: evaluating priorities
o (Eisenhower, ABC Analysis)

 N: notes in your schedule, follow-up inspection

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7.3 Which tasks - ABC Analysis

The ABC analysis is a method that will help you prioritize tasks, issues,
products and activities.

This is done by dividing them into three categories:

A = very important or urgent,

B = important or urgent,
C = less important or urgent

In order to force yourself to prioritize your work, it can be useful to determine

what maximal percentage of work can be classified as “A” or “B” category
work.

Based on your working hours you should divide the time as follows:

65% for A-tasks

20% for B-tasks
15% for C-tasks

Be careful: you are creating this plan based on circa 60% of your working hours. So
based on an 8 hours working day, you are creating a plan for just five hours.

7.4 In which order – the Eisenhower Principle

The Eisenhower Principle has an additional urgency category, so it is divided up

according to importance and urgency, and in this way has one additional
category in comparison to the ABC analysis, which creates more different options
in your plans.

B tasks
important

A tasks
Do them later, or
delegate the task Do them yourself
Importance

and immediately
not important

D tasks
C tasks
File or put in bin
Delegate them on time

not urgent urgent

Urgency
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7.5 What and how perfect – the Pareto principle

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, describes a statistical
phenomenon.

The rule states that 80% of the results are achieved in 20% of the working time.
The remaining 20% of the results will consume 80% of your total time and bring
about most of the work.

Working time Results

The Pareto principle will help you to decide which tasks have to be carried out. It can
also help you decide how well you need to carry out a certain task.

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8 If at all? – Saying „no“

Explain your „no“
You do not have to justify yourself but you can justify why you said „no“. Make sure
that it is clear that you are not saying “no” to the person, but that you cannot carry
out something due to other reasons.

Show understanding
Every „no“ will seem much softer if you show your understanding when someone
asks for something.

Say thank you

It is nice to thank the person who thinks that you can do something and who
believes in you: „I am honored that you thought of me, but unfortunately my
schedule is completely full“.

Sometimes a partial „no“ is enough.

It is often the case that you do not have to reject a task completely. For example, if
you cannot manage to do something today, but tomorrow on the other hand you
could do it, then you can say that to the other person, or that you are maybe willing
to carry out a part of the task.

Make a counteroffer
Offer an alternative proposal or solution.

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9 Delegate
Benefits through delegation:

The management has less work to do and thus has time forother, more
important tasks. This reduces the workload and prevents stress.


The employees develop further through competence and action
responsibility. Their initiatives are being encouraged. The employee´s self-
confidence and job satisfaction is increased.


Employees usually tackle the tasks more quickly and in the course of time
carry them out more successfully. It is only possible to carry out larger
projects by combining various competences.


The efficiency is increased since the knowledge and experience of many
employees is being applied.

Task delegation form:

Question Explanation
Which tasks are in question? (brief content
and objective description)
What should be delegated?

Which person is right for the job, who

Who should do it? participates? (technical and human
qualifications)

Why should it be carried out by this

What is the purpose of this task or
person?
activity?(motivation, learning effect)

Which details and regulations are to be

How should this person carry it out? kept in mind and in which way does the
authorization function?

Which working materials and documents

What can the person use to carry out the
does the employee need?
task?

Which intermediate and final deadlines have

to be met? What needs to be inspected?
When should it be carried out?

What are the consequences if the work is not

What are the possible risks?
carried out or if it is carried out only partially?

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10 Mailbox exercise
Plan the new week

You come into your office on Monday and the following tasks are waiting to be
carried out. After each of the tasks there is the estimated total time for that task
that you have written down.

Create a schedule for this Monday. Write down which activities you want to
carry out at what time. You can also omit some tasks or even shorten the
processing time.

 Meeting at the Department at 10:30 (15 minutes)

 Lunch with a colleague from another site (60 minutes) around 12 o´clock
 Create a plan for a new product (2-3 days)
 You received 47 E-Mails (30 minutes)
 Read the most important Intranet posts (15 minutes)
 Project meeting (1 hour)
 Urgent tasks in your daily business, phone calls, E-Mail (1 hour)
 You would like to read a technical article with focus (30 minutes)
  Prepare a short presentation for next week (2 hours)
 Your boss has invited you to a meeting at 2 p.m. (30 minutes)

Private tasks for this week:

 Visit your mother in the hospital (2 hours)

 Prepare your children´s birthday party (in two days) (2 hours)
 Make an appointment at the dentist (3 minutes)
 Call a heating service (3 minutes)
 Make an appointment at the car repair workshop (3 minutes)
 Shopping (30 minutes)
 Get a birthday gift for a girlfriend

Enter your tasks into a schedule. Apply the aforementioned methods to create
an optimal plan for your day.

Keep in mind: There are no right or wrong answers in this exercise!

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11 To-do list
Create your own to-do list for the following week.

Date Priority Activity/ Carried Start Finish-

Task Time out by ed by
required

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12 My daily schedule

Time Appointments
Contacts

Time Tasks

Statistic

Private

Goal of the day

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13 My daily schedule 2

Time Appointments
Contacts

Time Tasks

Statistics

Private

Goal of the day

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14 A positive start to your day

In order to achieve a positive attitude towards every new day, you should keep in
mind the following three rules:

 Every day do something that makes you happy. 

Every day do something that is bringing you noticeably closer to your personal
 goals.

Every day do something that creates a balance with your work.

Action
What will I do from today on to start my day with a positive attitude?




What will I do from today on to sweeten the working day with little
highlights?



What will I do from today on to give my evenings a positive momentum?



What will I do from today on to end my day with a positive attitude?





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15 My personal performance curve

Draw your personal performance curve.
Performance

Time of the day

Biorhythm
How can I adapt my schedule to my biorhythm?


How can I reach an optimal level of recuperation during breaks?



What will I do from today on to use my performance rhythm more effectively?



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16 My personal disturbance curve

S t ö r h ä u f frequency
Disturbance igkeit

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

ZTime
e i t(hour)
(Uhr)

Silent hour

How can I take into account the disturbance curve the best possible
way when planning my day?


When is it best for me to schedule uninterrupted block of time?



Which of my A tasks can I carry out the best possible way during the silent hour?


What will I do from today on to regularly have a silent hour?



My silent hour is taking place every day in the period from till o´clock.

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17 Ten rules for saving time

1. Set your goals

Apply the bow and arrow concept when managing your time: set your goals first!
Arrange your daily activities according to your own goals!

2. Prepare
Write down your plan for the next day in the evening before! Include unexpected
things and routine into your schedule!

3. Set your priorities

Do the important things first, the unimportant things can wait! Beware of
the tyranny of urgency!

4. Summarize
Carry out similar tasks in time blocks: phone calls, dictations, mail, short meetings
etc.!

5. Simplify
Divide difficult tasks into smaller steps! Determine the time and order in which
you will carry them out!

6. Let others do some of the work

Delegate: What? Who? Why? Until when? Saying „no“: rejecting time thieves!

7. Reject
Do not be always available for everyone! Use and arrange your appointments with
yourself!

8. Respect
Do not reschedule, do not be late, do not overrun! Always determine the
objectives and dates!

9. Call
Ask about the appropriate time for phone calls instead of disturbing
someone! Arrange appointments for phone calls and callbacks!

10. Enjoy your success

Perceive carried out tasks as success! Reward yourself as well as others!

Source: www.seiwert.de

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18 Place for notes

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