12. TIME MANAGEMENT AND INEFFICIENCY TUTORIAL
SELECTED TUTORIAL REFERENCES
[1] ABOLISHING PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS ---
WHY THEY BACKFIRE AND WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
Click this link to see the book source outline:
(Abolishing Performance Appraisals)
[2] GET OUT OF THE TIME TRAP
BY GETTING MORE DONE IN LESS TIME!
The real reason behind our "time troubles" is human nature
and the difficulty of learning new habits.
People have to learn how to "use" time!
Typical TIME WASTERS are:
(1) Attempting too much at once
(2) Procrastinating
(3) Doing it yourself --- that is, not delegating
(4) Not saying no
(5) Personal disorganization --- cluttered desk
Time management in the year 2000 and beyond --- Still trapped after all these years?
(1) Why is "Time Management" still a problem?
(2) New perspectives --- the real purpose of time management!
1. Less stress through time control
2. Balance between work and personal life
3. Personal productivity --- "Productivity" = "Output + Input"
4. Success in achieving goals --- Setting goals will give you more time
5. The REAL PURPOSE of time management:
Time management is about WHAT you can accomplish with more time and
HOW you can be more successful in achieving your goals!
YOU are usually the "problem," NOT someone else!
It means doing the hard work of changing well-established habits!
(3) Planning puts you in control
(4) Making changes --- start where you are
(Book Source = The Time Trap)
[3] SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LIBRARIANS
"The Seven Habits"
HABIT 1 = Be Proactive (principles of personal vision)
HABIT 2 = Begin with the End in Mind (principles of personal leadership)
HABIT 3 = Put First Things First (principles of personal management)
Becoming a "Quadrant II Self-Manager" where people are more important than things!
It defines your unique mission including values and long-term goals, It helps you balance
your life by identifying roles. It gives you greater context through weekly organizing.
Quadrant II paradigm use 4th generation advances including being principle-centered
and conscience-directed and apply the key to self-management of others through delegation.
The value is not in any extrinsic technique or tool, but in seeing through the intrinsic lens
of importance rather than urgency!
HABIT 4 = Think Win/Win (principles of interpersonal leadership; 4 dimensions of win/win = character, relationships, agreements, supportive systems & processes; win/win management training; win/win performance agreements, win/win systems, win/win processes)
HABIT 5 = Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
(principles of empathic communication; character, empathic listening, diagnose before you prescribe, understanding and perception, seek first to understood...then to be understand)
HABIT 6 = Synergize (principles of creative cooperation; levels of communication--high and low trust & high and low cooperation; diagram page 270)
HABIT 7 = Sharpen the Saw (4 principles of balanced self-renewal; physical,
social/emotional, spiritual, mental)
(Book Source = The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
[4] FINDING "FLOW" BY MEASURING YOUR "TIME"
What gives you pleasure?
How do you feel when you eat, watch TV, have sex, work, drive, socialize with friends?
This psychological self-help book can help you reclaim ownership of your life. The key
to success is to challenge yourself with specific tasks that require great
skill and commitment.
You can learn the joy of complete "engagement" by learning the tools
of "life-change." These seemingly simple "lessons" in life-change are really
profound concepts based upon the author's life-long commitment to the study of "flow."
1) Assumption: You often spend your days unaware and
out of touch with your own "emotional" life!
As a result of this inattention to your own emotions, you find yourself
constantly bouncing between two extremes --- inundated by anxiety and pressures during
work and passive boredom and obligations during leisure moments.
2) The "structures" of everyday life
[1] Your "choice" is simple --- between now and your inevitable death, you can
choose either "to live" or "to die!" Experiencing "flow" or intense involvement
with the issues in your life depends upon your choice to really "live." That is,
"flow" is the positive feelings you have when you CHOOSE to seek and
to live a fully "engaged" --- excellent life!
[2] You cannot expect that anyone will help you "to live." You must discover how to do
it yourself! In this context, "to live" does not refer simply to biological survival, but
it means that you choose "to live in fullness," without waste of time and potential,
expressing your uniqueness, yet participating intimately in the complexity of the cosmos!
[3] What can make your life "serene, useful and worth living?" Three main assumptions
underlie the author's approach to this crucial question:
(1) The first is that prophets, poets and philosophers have gleaned important truths in the past, truths that are essential for your continued survival (as expressed in the conceptual language of their time so their meaning has to be "rediscovered" each generation from the sacred bibles of each culture).
(2) The second is that currently science provides the most vital information to humankind. At this time, science is still the most trustworthy mirror of reality, which you can ignore only at your peril!
(3) The third is that if you wish to understand what "real living" entails, you must listen to the voices of the past, and integrate their messages with the knowledge that science or scientific truth (which is also expressed in terms of the worldview of the times, and, therefore, will change) is slowly accumulating.
CONCLUSION: "The only path to finding out what "LIFE" is all about is a patient, slow attempt to make sense of the realities of the past and the possibilities of the future as they can be understood in the present!"
Now science shows that "how a person lives depends in large part on sex, age and
social position. The accident of birth puts you in a slot that greatly determines what
sorts of experiences your life will consist of."
Unfortunately, there is no justice, nor any rhyme or reason, in one person being born
into a starving community or with a physical defect, while another starts life with good
looks, good health and a large bank account!
So while the main parameters of life are fixed, and you cannot avoid resting, eating,
interacting, and doing at least some work, humanity is divided into social categories that determine to a large extent the specific content of your
experience. And to make it all more interesting, there is of course the matter of individuality or the "flexibility of human consciousness."
If everything were determined by the common human condition, by social and
cultural "categories," and by "chance," it would be useless to reflect on ways to
make your life excellent! Fortunately, there is still enough room for personal
initiative and "choice" to make a real difference in your life.
And if you believe this assumption, then you have the best chance to break free from
the grip of fate!
Thus, "to live" means to experience --- through doing, feeling, thinking. Since
experience takes place in "time," TIME is the ultimate "scarce resource" you have!
Even though "time is money," money gets its value from time, since money is simply the most generally used counter for measuring the time invested in doing or making something. And you value money because to a certain extent it liberates you from the constraints of life by making it possible to have "free time" to do in it what you want to do!
Everyday "LIFE" is defined not only by what you do, but also by who you
are with. Since Aristotle, it has been known that humans are social animals ---
both physically and socially. And cultures differ in terms of how much a person is influenced by others, or by the internalized opinion of others when they are alone. In other words,
no matter how individualistic a culture is, other people still determine to a large
extent the quality of person's life --- your life!
And everything you do is ultimately not aimed at experiencing "health, wealth or fame"
but happiness since it is desired for its own sake.
Learning to manage your goals is an important step in achieving excellence in
everyday life.
When what you feel, what you wish, and what you think are in harmony, then
you are experiencing "FLOW." The metaphor of "FLOW" is
one that has been used many times to describe the sense of effortless action by
persons that stand out as the "best" in their lives.
It is the full involvement of "FLOW" --- rather than happiness --- that makes for
excellence in "LIFE!"
(Book Source = Finding Flow)
[5] FINDING TIME TO DO IT RIGHT!
(Book Source = If You Haven't Got the Time to Do It Right)