by Samuel M. Natale

In the film, "The Hours" Virginia Woolf says "I am instructed by doctors of my interests". Regrettably, that seems to be the way of the world today with its ever increasing demands, requests, and requirements. We are instructed by doctors, lawyers, colleagues, administration, faculty, family, government and a host of other individuals and organizations of what we "must" do to achieve. For many of us who are blessed with a career that we find fulfilling and noble, we have the additional difficulty of being asked to choose so very often between good things. That is to say, we need to make decisions on which of the requests we have before us to act. So very often, all the requests are important, helpful and needed. How do we choose? Which do we decide upon? How do we know we have chosen wisely and prudentially?

All of the above has become folded into the concept of "Time Management". In reality, it ought to be called, "Self-Management". I offer some ideas below that may be of use to some of our readers. Nothing here is new or particularly insightful but I find it often useful to "recall" what we already know and reposition it in our minds.

In some ways, the task is easier than we want to admit, once we shed our idea of our self-importance and the urgency of the demands around us. There are really only two options available to us: change ourselves or change the world. Since the world doesn't seem to want to be changed by me or anyone else, I'm left with having to change myself. It's really all about that.

Since most of us are of good heart and willingness to help, there is a tendency to say "Yes" to things and opportunities before we have a chance to really think them through. Hence, my first cardinal rule is:

• NEVER (and I do mean never) carry your appointment book with you. I know, it's hard to imagine life without it but if you do not have the book with you, you must take time to go find it and check your availability…as well as a moment to get sane about what you really can do…or not do. Once you locate the book, you can take a broader view of your commitments and see where and how this request/necessity fits.
  
  
• TIME OF DAY is a critical variable. I recently sat on a doctoral dissertation committee which dealt with how each of us has a learning style as well as a most productive time of day. This is perhaps a genetic and developmental issue that determines when each of us is "at our peak". I'm often amused when the curriculum people at some of the secondary schools speak of scheduling the "hard courses" in the early AM which tends to be, ironically, reported prime time for many teachers, while the current research on adolescents indicates that the adolescents are far more alert later in the afternoon when, I suspect, many of the faculty would prefer a book, a drink and a nap.
  
  
• NO. It's a wonderful word and few of us use it with the respect it deserves. To be honest, our inability to say "No" is more about our desire to be liked and affirmed and to avoid others' disapproval rather than our desire to be helpful to others. We are to be helpful to one another and to our common missions but that means fitting our abilities with the situation at hand and seeing how and if our skill base meets the criteria of mutual satisfaction and sensible productivity. The word "No" does not mean one doesn't care but that simply, for many possible reasons, the request is not a priority or possible at the moment.
  
  
• TO DO" LIST is a critical tool but it needs to be used sensibly and prioritized. Specifically, too often, our lists become catch alls for everything that we think we need to do and so at the end of the day we have completed 18 of the 24 items on our list…none of them time stamped as important or having primacy over the others. The "To Do" list is only as good as the prioritizing we do with it. The A's need to be the urgent/primary things; the B's are good to get done; the C's….well, if we don't get those done and we have prioritized them correctly, will either disappear or come back in another, more important form.
  
  
• Pareto Formula basically is an important control mechanism. It suggests that generally speaking we get 80% of our results from 20% of what we do…Just check your closet and notice that most of us wear that 20% of favorite clothes 80% of the time. It also seems to apply to many reports of teachers and executives who indicate that determining the critical 20% made the difference for them in time use.
  
  
• Delegation is an important and frequently mentioned technique but it makes me smile since in these days of more work with fewer people and since I am not a millionaire, I find it difficult to find anyone to whom to delegate. Remember when one delegates a project; we retain responsibility for its completion. A deadly trap (and one inexperienced managers often make) is to delegate that which they do not know how to do. Sure, it seems like it saves time but how can you supervise accuracy and efficiency when you do not know what is being done? Individuals need to go up the learning curve first themselves before they delegate responsibility for something.
  
  
• Personal Time is not free time. It may sound trivial but when we name time as "free" then it is available to other people and projects. Personal time is about the things one needs and prizes to do individually from personal care to exercise to reading and meditation.
  
  
• Sacred Selfishness is a concept taken from Bud Harris book of the same name. He defines it as "making a commitment to valuing ourselves and our lives enough to pursue the decision to become people of substance." The extension of this is that we value ourselves such that what we do has meaning and significance and our work contributes not just to more paper pushing but to the common good. The Scholastic adage "Nemo dat quod non habet", (one cannot give what they do not have) is pertinent here. We need to have substance to get the job done intelligently and collegially.
  
  
• The Telephone There are few conveniences greater or more intrusive than the telephone. The issue is control. YOU must control it and not the other way round. Just because someone calls, does not mean that one must take the call. Obviously, one needs to return urgent calls but some people believe that every one of their calls is urgent. YOU need to make that call, not the caller. In fact, it is not a bad idea to screen all calls and take only those that appear or are truly urgent. As for calling back, one ought to simply group them and return calls either before lunch or before leaving time when people are more anxious to get on with their lives than dally on the phone. It actually works believe it or not!
  
  
• The Knock on the Door. Again, one does not have to answer every knock on the door. If you are in the middle of a project, it is more sensible to simply not answer the door. A "Do Not Disturb" sign can work on some occasions though there is a tendency for each of us to think that the sign is not meant for "us". When the sign is not appropriate, then it is fine to get on with the project underway and respond at a later time to someone who may need attention. It also blocks the "time eaters" who roam the halls looking for something to occupy themselves…it ought not to be you… unless you are so inclined.

Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start using your time creatively. It is, after all, the only time we will ever get. Good luck!