Time Management
Some people just get a whole lot more done in their day than others. The difference between these people is in the habits they have formed. For some people it is easier than for others to create helpful habits. Nevertheless, everyone can improve their time management by creating productive habits and breaking unproductive habits.
This time management course is a great investment in time for people who feel too busy to attend it. Participants will discover the difference between being busy and being productive.
During this time management training workshop, participants will be given the insights, practical tools and emotional intelligence skills to develop helpful habits. Participants will look at what holds back their effectiveness and review the latest proven tools and tips that will help them become much more productive at work.
All staff members looking for ways to improve their time management skills
Full day training course. Half-day or shorter course options available
Run at your offices or virtual classroom
training goals are to:
- prioritise tasks and demands
- set clear goals and plans to achieve those goals
- use an understanding of the neuroscience of habits to create good ones and break bad ones
- commit to new habits through focus and discipline
- plan and schedule work to be as productive as possible
- know how to minimise and deal with interruptions
- fix a tendency to procrastinate
- manage a seemingly unmanageable email load
- take away a clear personal plan of how to use insight gained and put new time management skills to use.
Our facilitator will adapt the content and workshop style of this time management course to the needs of the group.
The following is a one-day program outline, which we can cut to a half-day workshop or shorter based on agreed topics.
introduction and workshop overview
Participants will review the agenda for the day and the group will discuss their training objectives.
what does it mean to be productive?
You know that inner glow or pat-on-the-back at the end of the day when you have ticked off things you’ve been meaning to do for ages? The aim of building good habits and tackling important things is to create that glow as frequently as possible. The group will therefore explore what it means to be productive. Participants will use their own situations to figure out the difference between being busy and being effective.
a day in the life of the ultimate time manager
Participants will come up with what it means to be a fantastic time manager. They will understand how the ultimate time manager behaves and what life looks like when you create a balance between work, social life, physical and mental health in your life through great time management. This will provide them with a time management vision to work towards.
minimising distractions and time wasters
Participants will figure out their pesky time wasters and habits or behaviours that get in the way of being as productive as possible. They will create a plan to cut down the impact of distractions and time wasters.
the neuroscience of habits
Participants will learn about habits, why they are hard to create and hard to break. They will take a good, hard look at their own productive and not so productive habits. They will use their new insights to plan practical steps to turn unproductive habits into helpful ones, beating procrastination and getting more done.
goal setting
Busy people need goals. Goal setting will provide structure and help manage priorities. The group will learn and practise setting SMART goals. They will also learn how to create a plan to ensure they will reach their goals.
prioritising
One of the hardest but most crucial elements of time management or creating helpful habits is prioritising tasks. Participants will discuss why it is important and will learn to use the 80/20 rule and the urgent/important matrix to prioritise.
planning and scheduling
The group will be given tools to plan and schedule prioritised tasks. They will see which ones work for their role and look out how they can use them in their workday. The group will take a look at time management tools such as to-do lists, the calendar and Gantt charts.
energy cycles and being more productive
We’re not 100% focused and productive the entire day. Certain times of the day naturally work for us better than others. It takes emotional intelligence to identify times of high and lower productivity. Participants will review this energy cycle and turn these insights into a plan to put their energy to best use.
managing email
Email is a source of distraction and frustration. It doesn’t need to be, even when you receive a constant barrage of emails. By reviewing and adjusting habits and using a systematic approach, participants will learn how to not get distracted by emails and better tackle that dreaded inbox and save time.
action plans
Applying what has been discussed in this course is critical. Throughout this course on time management participants will create personal action plans to create new effective time management habits.
why is emotional intelligence important to time management?
Some people may not immediately realise how important emotional intelligence is to time management. This time management training highlights the importance of EQ to creating positive time management habits.
To create good time management habits and minimise bad productivity habits you need to be aware of your thought processes and your automated actions. This course helps participants become aware of why they do the things they do.
For example, we can identify triggers to habits we would like to change. If we let ourselves be distracted by new emails coming in, we can learn to identify the cues that trigger our reflexes. What notifications are we exposed to that tell us we have new email? What do these notifications do to us? Gaining this awareness is core to EQ. Once we have built these insights into ourselves we can change the triggers and build our habits to focus.
So it means that by building participants’ EI, we build their capacity to create helpful work habits. Once you have created helpful habits, you have built the so called ‘discipline’.
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you”
-Jim Rohn
Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) - the capability of individuals to recognise and manage their emotions and those of others.
Being aware of the concept of EQ and then developing it is essential for employees, regardless of their role. High EQ is no longer an add-on but a ‘must-have.’
read more about time management
Time Management Training Courses in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth & Australia Wide
wise-up with your time
Whether it’s your work to-do list or your personal to-do list, it always seems too long and not achievable.
You may have seen this matrix which helps you review your list of tasks and make choices about what you tackle and what you let go. It also helps you decide on what you need to do now and what you can do later:
The idea is that you classify your tasks into one of the 4 boxes to help you evaluate where to focus your attention. Your aim is to have as many jobs in box #2 where you concentrate your efforts.
necessary tasks – urgent and unavoidable jobs you need to do right now. Even if you manage your time well, things can still end up here. There are always unforeseen things coming up. Too many tasks in this box will indicate that your ability to plan and manage your time well is not as good as it can perhaps be and this will be an area for you to work on managing better
quality tasks – if you are managing your time and priorities well then this is where you will be spending most of your time. Your ideal work routine is working on important items before they get urgent and shift to box 1. You do this by proactively planning ahead and making adequate time to work on these tasks. This is always going to be a challenge, but this is where you need to rely on your skills to delegate out work and evaluate where some things you are doing need to be in boxes #3 and #4
deceptive tasks – they are urgent because there is or seems to be a time urgency. Nevertheless, these tasks do little in the way of achieving your goals, so they are not as important, which is why they are called deceptive tasks. It means you want to minimise spending valuable time on them. Can you delegate these out? Automate them? Condense them or give up entirely? This is one of the trickiest areas of time management course Sydney. Only by creating productive habits you will start freeing up time.
waste-of-time tasks – or ‘distraction’ tasks. These are items where you question whether you need to be involved: unproductive meetings, sideline projects, even being cc-ed in emails that you need not be included, etc. Can you remove yourself from these and let more appropriate staff members handle these?
Try to get into this habit of evaluating your to-do list using the urgent/important matrix to shift your energy and focus on the right things and the right time. It’s not easy but it’s worth your time to consistently review new and existing tasks on which urgent and important box they fit in.