Time Management: Priorities

I love training because it gives me a chance to practice, and even re-learn, important skills. If you know me, you know that managing time is a skill that I often need to re-learn! Recently I delivered a short session on the topic for the staff of The Arc of Frederick County during their annual meeting. It’s always a pleasure to help people who do such good work, and it’s even more of a pleasure to work with people that laugh as easily as does the staff of The Arc of Frederick County.

So what did I learn from these folks as they learned about time management?

Well the first thing they realized is that it’s not really about managing time, but rather it’s about managing the tasks you have before you. A quick way to prioritize your tasks is to consider Stephen Covey’s famous matrix (above).

In order to prioritize your own tasks, divide them according to the factor of time – is the task urgent or not urgent? Then, divide them again; this time according to whether the task is important or not. Now you have your tasks organized on the matrix, and your priorities should be clear:

• Urgent & Important tasks need to be addressed first. That is, now.


• Important & Not Urgent tasks should be scheduled into a plan for the near future.


• Urgent & Not Important tasks should be carefully analyzed – many can simply be cancelled, some should be delegated, and others can be accomplished between more important tasks.


• Not Important and Not Urgent tasks are the lowest priority; most can be cancelled, although some of these tasks may have some value – such as facilitating casual social bonding and knowledge sharing among staff.
  

How do you prioritize?

-Marc

Meditation in the Workplace

It may bring to mind pictures of the workforce sitting idly in their offices with their eyes closed, their emails unanswered, the voice-mail light flashing futilely, and their reports left unfinished. But, practitioners claim, meditation actually makes people more productive, not less. It reduces workplace absenteeism, increases focus and concentration, and reduces stress and turnover.

While some forms of stress (like a looming deadline) can help make us productive, an oversupply is harmful. Ryan Diener, of Holistic Health Associates, in Frederick, Maryland, points out that stress reduction through meditation can have far-reaching effects, “Meditation is a practice that relates to life so while one may notice a reduction in stress levels in regards to their job, there is a deeper implication which points to the origin of stress itself and how we relate to that. While many people begin a meditation practice to relieve stress, often there is a bigger, more positive outlook on life that goes beyond one's relationship to work.”

Meditation does not mean a huge time commitment, either. Results can be felt in as little as fifteen minutes per day, he says. The most important thing is to practice it regularly.
In looking into it, I have come to understand that for beginners, the attempt to achieve a meditative state is what it’s all about. Practitioners do not claim that there is some trick to achieve nirvana in your cubicle—one should really be attempting to just focus on stillness and listening to your own thoughts.

Discussed in a Business Week edition some 4 years ago (read the article here), some organizations such as Apple, Yahoo, and Google were early adopters of workplace meditation programs. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to practice meditation. And if you are too darn busy to take a moment read it, you just might really need to.

Ryan says that when learning to meditate one can often benefit from a teacher, or participating in a group setting. He offers free group meditation sessions the second Wednesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.

-Dave