Who has the time?

You've heard it around campus, and heck, you've probably even said it yourself: "I don't have time to do one more thing." Question: is that true?

While I'm the first one to promote the value of saying "no" from time-to-time, the reality is, we all have time to do whatever needs to get done. So where do you find the time?

1. Set goals. Where do you want to be in a month? a year? five years? If you don't set short-term and long-term goals, you might eventually reach your goals, but they will most likely take a lot longer to reach than if you consciously laid out a plan.

2. Make lists that align with your goals. What do you need to get done today? What deadlines do you have on specific projects? If you haven't read Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, you really should. In that book, he lays it all out there for you. I especially like his take on time management (see page 151). We all have activities that fall into four quadrants: 1) urgent & important, 2) urgent & unimportant, 3) not urgent & important, and 4) not urgent & important. But it's the order in which we approach these activies that matters most.

3. Budget your time. How much time will a specific project, activity, or goal take? Give yourself the amount of time that you need, plus a little cushion. But don't nibble at it. For example, when my baby Octavia wants to, she can drink a full 8 ounce bottle in 15 minutes; but when she's not really into it, a feeding can last an hour or more. If we know that we have 15 minutes to complete a task, though, we certainly can finish the task in the alloted amount of time.

4. Take scheduled breaks. No one should work 24/7. Make sure that you've scheduled breaks -- daily, weekly, and monthly. You don't see this on the commerical, but even the Energizer Bunny needs to recharge its batteries on a regular basis.

For more ideas on time management, check out the following links:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~facultycenter/weekly_teaching_note_jan_7_2008.shtml

http://www.csupomona.edu/~facultycenter/weekly_teaching_note_jan_14_2008.shtml

http://www.csupomona.edu/~facultycenter/weekly_teaching_note_jan_21_2008.shtml