Find out how good your time management is by taking this time management survey.
15 Statements to Answer |
Not at All | Rarely | Sometimes | Often | All the time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 I leave things to the last minute. | ||||||
| 2 I work on the highest priority tasks throughout the day. | ||||||
| 3 On a weekly basis I set aside time for planning the following week. | ||||||
| 4 I attend unproductive meetings. | ||||||
| 5 I leave space in my schedule to deal with the unexpected. | ||||||
| 6 I use goal setting to determine my most important activities. | ||||||
| 7 I put off tasks that are difficult or I don't like. | ||||||
| 8 I routinely protect time in advance for the most important things. | ||||||
| 9 I work late at night or on weekends to meet deadlines. | ||||||
| 10 I spend more time than I want trying to find things. | ||||||
| 11 I feel that email overtakes my day. | ||||||
| 12 For each activity, I ask yourself "Is this the best use of my time right now"? | ||||||
| 13 I feel stressed and overcommitted because of all the things I need to do. | ||||||
| 14 How often do I procrastinate? | ||||||
| 15 Interruptions (email, facebook, visitors or telephone calls) continually disrupt my work day. | ||||||
| Score | Comments |
|---|---|
| 50-75 |
You are a time management ninja. Well done you are using your time effectively. If you want to streamline some of the things that you are doing then check out the below to see if there is anything you can fine tune. |
| 30-49 |
There is some room for improvement in what you are doing. Focus on some of the information below and you will improve your personal time management and reduce your stress. |
| 15-29 |
Ouch…that hurts. The good thing is that there is plenty of room for improvement in your productivity and overall effectiveness. To do this, you will need to make some changes in how you manage your time. Please read below. |
When you were completing the time management survey you probably had a good sense of where you could improve your time management.
The following are some of the areas of the survey that were looked at in the quiz. Have a look at the specific tools you can use in each of the areas of time management.
The key to good time management is to first determine what matters to you. Setting goals around these things and determining how you are going to get there is important. With proper goal setting it can be easy to be spread too thin across multiple competing priorities.
For many, goal setting is put into the too hard basket. Yet the small amount of time and effort can save you frustration and wasted effort later.
If you want to be serious about your time management we suggest you start with our 5 step goal setting series.
To set the right goals then consider setting SMART goals.
Once you have a clear idea of what is important to you - much of time management is about making sure that you have made time for it. This speaks to prioritization and scheduling.
Most people keep a to do list but this is just a collection of tasks. To work effectively it is usually better to determine your Q2 activities and schedule those tasks into your calendar.A schedule keeps you on track and protects you from overwhelm and stress.
Developing a robust schedule means you need to have an understanding of the environment you are in.
Work our your Q2 activities with our time management matrix.
Use these steps to develop an effective time management schedule.
OK...so you have a plan and you know when you are going to do it. But how do you protect your plan from interruptions and distractions. Many people are overwhelmed with the requests from others, interruptions from colleagues, email, and all the unexpected.
There are a few strategies here. See our tips on
"I'll get to it tomorrow" are the typical lines of a procrastinator.
Maybe you tell yourself that you work better under the pressure of a deadline. Or that you need to wait until you feel right in order to get started on that task. Or I don't need to do the task now...I will just err...you know fit it in later today sometime!
Except that sometime never comes!
If you are telling yourself these things then you have the hallmarks of a typical procrastinator. You are not alone, with procrastination statistics indicating that 20% of adults identify with being a chronic procrastinator...and this is on the increase! Once you know what you procrastinate on and why you can put in a plan to overcome procrastination. See our guide on how to overcome procrastination.
Did you know that the average white collar worker spends 6 weeks per year looking for stuff they already have. That's longer than my annual leave....that is pretty stressful!
Organize your space - starting with your desk, office, and email.
But don't stop there. White collar workers also attend lots of meetings and report that 50% of meeting time is wasted. Organize your calendar and create a high quality meeting culture.
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