150520L - TIME MANAGEMENT

Lecture for medical students at the Faculty of Medicine King Fahad Medical City Riyadh on May 20, 2015 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr.

Aim

• The aim of this session is to highlight the importance of time management and the different methods which can be deployed for achieving it.

Keywords 1

• Activity logs
• Prioritization
• Goal setting

Keywords 2

• Different concepts of time: Islamic concepts of time vs European concepts of time
• Time perspective of events
• Importance of time
• Quality of time
• Measurement of time
• Time: planning & prioritizing

Keywords 3: 

• Methods of prioritization
• Scheduling time: calendar/diary
• Transition time
• Discretionary time
• Scheduling the day

Keywords 4:  

• Balance in time management
• Self versus work
• Self versus family
• Self versus community

Keywords 5:  

• Problems in time management
• Poor time planning
• Habits and routines
• Procrastination
• Punctuality
• Interruptions
• Meetings

Issues for discussion

• Manage time. Get things done - Beating Procrastination
• Finding out how you really spend your time – Activity Logs
• Small scale planning - Action Plans
• Tackling the right tasks first - Prioritized To-Do-List
• Deciding your personal priorities - Personal Goal Setting
• Planning to make the best use of your time – Effective Scheduling

Scenario:

• Zahid is a phase 3 undergraduate medical student. He has an excellent academic track record throughout his life but he finds the current clinical attachment in phase 3 as extremely challenging.
• He has always spent at least four hours daily reading his text books but now he feels that the workload during his clinical attachments are over-burdening him. Zahid, however, notices that many of his other colleagues are faring well and in some cases the academic performance has actually improved.
• He also wants to carry out a small research work and he intends to publish this work but he wonders if this will happen.

Assessment

• All students will be required to write a 75 to 100 words reflective paragraph which will be included in their Portfolio.
• The students’ presentation on the topic

CONCEPTS OF TIME

• The underlying concepts influence the efficiency of time use.
• In pre-Islamic Arabia time was looked at as a dangerous destructive phenomenon, dahr.
• Time is important, finite, and fleeting.
• Time is a resource and an opportunity at the disposal of humans.
• Some time periods and days are of higher quality than others.
• Human perception of time has innate limitations; humans cannot perceive very quick or very slow events.
• The modern European concept of time is that of a valuable commodity used for material gain whether at work or at play. Time can be bought or sold like any other commodity.

TIME: PLANNING & PRIORITIZING 1

• Good time management assures success.
• Events can be classified into 4 categories depending on their importance and urgency. Urgent and important, urgent and not important, not urgent but important, and not urgent and not important. Some activities like salat are time-sensitive and must be put on the schedule at the right time.
• Important things even if not the most urgent should be given most priority.
• Priority is given to essential needs rather than wants.
• ‘Ibadat has the first priority. Next are biological needs such as sleep and food.

TIME: PLANNING & PRIORITIZING 2

• Time must be allocated for the family, rest, recreation, and earning livelihood.
• Prioritization decisions should be maximizing gains and minimizing losses.
• Stakeholders must be given priority in time allocation decisions.
• All time prioritization decisions must be by conscious choice and not passive following of others.
• A diary or calendar should be used to schedule the day’s activities.
• Proper scheduling requires attention to transitional time, discretionary time, and functional linkages.

BALANCE IN TIME MANAGEMENT

• Self and family
• Self and community
• Imbalance among various acts should be avoided.

PROBLEMS OF POOR TIME MANAGEMENT 1

• Poor scheduling
• Poor prioritizing
• Lack of contingency plans
• Trying to do everything and not delegating
• Poorly kept diary that is incomplete and with conflicts
• Overwhelming work, changing priorities
• Too many meetings.

PROBLEMS OF POOR TIME MANAGEMENT 2

• Failure to anticipate events such that emergencies get out of control and deadlines are missed. Procrastinations
• Inflexible routines and habits
• Reactive and not pro-active behavior
• Punctuality
• Interruptions (visitors, lengthy conversations, and the telephone).

GOOD REASONS FOR CALLING MEETINGS

• Goal clarification
• Information
• Decision-making
• Introducing new ideas
• Conflict resolution
• Resolving implementation bottle-necks.

MEETINGS SHOULD NOT BE CALLED IN THE FOLLOWING CIRCUMSTANCES

• Availability of alternatives to a meeting
• Not enough time to prepare
• Key players not available
• Personal/sensitive matters.

FACTORS OF MEETING SUCCESS

• Calling meetings when they are actually necessary
• Having a clear agenda
• Maintaining meeting focus on the set agenda
• Listening to others.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MEETINGS THAT WASTE TIME

• No objective
• No agenda
• No time limits
• Participants come late.

HOW TO DEAL WITH MEETINGS THAT WASTE TIME

• If you have a good excuse, do not attend.
• Finish your priority work and be late.
• Arrive on time and leave early.
• Bring work to do during boring meeting sessions.
• Excuse yourself for 15-20 minutes to do priority work.

THINGS TAT WRECK MEETINGS

• Invite as many people as possible
• Invite anyone
• Cover as many topics as possible
• Discuss important issues last
• Spend most of the time on unimportant issues

MORE ADVANCED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CONCEPTS OF TIME

1. Think of a particular community that you know well or have lived in and describe the general concepts about time that are held
2. What differences in concepts about time do you identify between your community and other communities you have known about
3. Explain how concepts about time are influenced by the underlying cultural values and norms

IMPORTANCE OF TIME

1. Explain in your own words what you understand  by the statement that time is a resource
2. Think of your community or any other society that you know and describe the attitude to time and its importance. What are the practical consequences of such attitudes?
3. Explain how the attitude to importance of time determines differences in achievement among individuals, communities and even nations?

QUALITY OF TIME

1. Explain in your own words why the month of Ramadhan is better than other months of the year?
2. Why is Friday better than other days of the week from a community or societal point of view
3. Explain how understanding of the differences between the different values of times can influence decisions about what tasks to undertake at particular times

MEASUREMENT OF TIME

1. Give an example of human failure to perceive correctly very rapid events
2. Give an example of human failure to perceive correctly very slow events
3. Explain what type of calendar (Islamic or Gregorian) is used in your community.
4. What is your suggested solution to the problem of disagreement between those who use sight and those who use computation to determine the start of  Ramadhan
5. How good are you in estimating time periods without using a watch? Can you suggest an experiment to compare estimation ability among various members of the workshop?

MULTIPLE PRIORITIES

1. Give examples of the following criteria of prioritization: (a) First come first served (b) Start with easy things (c) Start with the most difficult (d) Start with the most urgent though not most important (e) Start with the most important, though not most urgent
2. Give examples of conflict between wants and needs
3. Give examples of conflict between wants and musts

SCHEDULING TIME

1. Describe the use of a calendar or of a ‘to-do’ list in your community
2. How well do people in your community keep appointments: turning up or turning up on time
3. What are the possible causes of schedule conflict?

PUNCTUALITY

1. Describe the attitude to and practice of late-coming in your community?
2. What sanctions, if any, does your community impose on late-comers
3. What are the usual excuses for late-coming
4. How can you tell a genuine from a non-genuine excuse?

BALANCE IN TIME MANAGEMENT

1. Give examples from your community of imbalance in time allocation
2. What are the social consequences for the family of time allocation imbalance
3. What are the health consequences of imbalance in time allocation

MANAGING INTERRUPTIONS

1. Give examples from your experience of time wasting because of the following: (a) Drop-in visitors (b) Telephones (c) Disorganized paperwork
2. What are the polite ways in your community of getting rid of an unwelcome visitor
3. How can you politely cut off a rambling useless conversation

POOR TIME PLANNING

1. Give examples from your experience when schedule conflicts occurred. What was the cause and what was the cause and what were the consequences?
2. Explain in your own words what contingency planning means. Give an examples
3. Explain how changing priorities in the middle of an activity causes scheduling problems

HABITS AND ROUTINES

1. What in your experience are the commonest causes of procrastination?
2. How can a person be actually busy while not being productive
3. Why do people feel comfortable with routine even if it is unproductive and inefficient
4. Why in your opinion many people tend to be reactive and not pro-active

MEETINGS

1. What is the most common reason for calling meetings in your organization
2. Describe meetings in your experience that were successful and the reasons for the success
3. Describe meetings in your experience that failed and the reasons for the failure