Time and Energy Management
Time and Energy Management: Finding peace, priorities and productivity in turbulent times
Never more relevant than now; we are facing unprecedented challenges to “the way things are done”, facing upheaval personally and professionally and still faced with the need to get stuff done.
This workshop will be a little different to typical time management workshops. Yes, we cover vitally important elements including prioritisation, organising our time and our diaries, ways to deal with overwhelm and how to get things done.
We approach this through the lens that time management is also very much about energy management, facing tasks with the right attitudes and the right energies to get things done.
While we see that everybody has just 24 hours in every day, we also acknowledge that some people seem to achieve much more than others with their allotted time. Particularly in an academic research environment, it is likely that there will never be enough time to do everything. If you are “working from home” under lockdown, the lack of pressure or deadlines may be unnerving.
And if we are working from home whilst home-schooling, caring for children, parents or friends, the challenges are anything but ordinary. For others, living alone with no human contact is a strain that might make days feel timeless.
This content will give you tools to help you to choose the most important things when all things seem important. We will consider different ways to assess priorities, to deal with time-wasters and with deadlines. As appropriate we will explore a number of tools and strategies to help us make better use of the time that we have.
Here’s a pdf file copy of the slides that accompany the session:
The modules below are organised as I might deliver them in a live workshop but can be viewed in any order if some elements seem more relevant to you.
What do you control?
Description
When we focus on things we have little or no control over, we increase our sense of stress or frustration. It helps to understand we have more choices than we often realise.
Why does time management fail?
Description
There are many reasons why people might struggle with time management. If we can understand why we are struggling there is often an obvious solution.
How to use your brain!
Description
In the absence of a “user manual” for your brain, understanding a simple metaphor can help you make much better decisions.
Procrastination Basics
Description
Procrastination, irrational delay in the knowledge that there will be unhelpful consequences. Basically, giving in to “I want to feel good now!”. We need to be honest about the fact that we are often avoiding uncomfortable feelings as we try to avoid dealing with a task and make choices our best self will be proud of.
Using lists
Description
To-do lists, have done lists and mind-maps.
Simple time management tools
Description
Prioritisation – a, b, c, d tasks
Description
A simple method that gets the most important thing done today and creates a sense of flexibility in our choices.
Prioritisation – using four quadrants
Description
The classic matrix. When are you planning to do your most important work?
Time blocking basics
Description
We often waste time and energy as we change between different types of tasks. Understanding how to group types of work together can help minimise losses and increase effectiveness.
Energy Management basics
Description
It is difficult to manage our time if we don’t first manage our energy. Getting enough sleep, healthy eating and recognising our own energy rhythms can make a huge difference.
Thank you for watching. I do hope you found the content helpful. If you’d like more personalised support in applying some of the lessons learned, or to learn a very different approach to managing your time and energy, please do reach out and ask…
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– Manage your time
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– Overcome Imposter Syndrome feelings
Any questions?
You’ve sampled all of the above and you’re still not quite sure, do reach out to me with your question, I’ll see how I can help!
Let’s work it out together.