Time Management
Prepared by
Juance, Jaime S.
Time Management
Without exception, members of Clinical Epidemiology Units (CEUs) complain of competing
demands and having “no time”. CEU faculty, who already have heavy workloads from
teaching and clinical services (both public and private), are also likely to be directors or
chairs of clinical departments, heads of various committees, officers of their respective
professional societies, and, to top it all, prime movers of various research projects or
programs. As “part-time professionals” who only spend a certain percentage of time in the
CEU, how can we make best use of our limited and valuable time?
This module outlines several strategies that will help you develop time management skills
and habits to achieve results (effectiveness), improve efficiency, and have fun at the same
time.
Learning Objectives:
1. To identify strategies for organizing the workload of a busy CEU director or research
investigator.
2. To choose priorities in the context of one’s sociocultural, professional and personal
milieu.
3. To analyze time commitments and usage in relation to time-savers and time-wasters.
4. To identify tools for prioritizing, planning and using one’s time.
“Never enough time when you’re
working!”
- Bruce Willis
in “Bandits”, the movie
Strategy 1: The Priority Principle
Time is finite. No one can actually stretch time in order to cover every single item on our “to
do” lists. In fact, time management is not actually about “managing” time; rather, it is about
setting priorities and planning our lives and time according to these priorities. If we choose
to set our priorities wisely, we can plan our time to achieve our priority goals and tasks more
efficiently.
Stephen Covey (1989) illustrates this principle of “put first things first” in the following time
management matrix:
Dwight Eisenhower said: “The more important an item, the less likely it is urgent, and the
more urgent an item, the less likely it is important.” Focusing on Quadrant II activities are
more likely to lead to results that contribute to our mission and priority goals, but they
require us to be proactive and opportunity-minded – prevention- rather than crisis-oriented.
On the other hand, we also need to attend to urgent and important activities (Quadrant I),
but dominance of such activities leads to stress and eventually burn-out. We should try to
avoid the “tyranny of the urgent” and constantly being engaged in “fire-fighting” activities
(Quadrant I and III). We should certainly strive to reduce Quadrant IV activities to a bare
minimum, preferably to zero!
Values-based time management means making choices on what projects/tasks are
important. But what is important to one person may be unimportant to somebody else, and
is affected by one’s principles and values, traditions and group norms, work ethic, and other
factors. Culture also plays an important role in one’s perception of time, priorities, and
deadlines. For example, there is the so-called “Brazilian” or “Filipino” time vs. precise
“Swiss” time. Family activities or civic responsibilities might take precedence over a pressing
deadline for a CEU report or manuscript. Because of such differences, we should keep an
open mind about work and time practices in different cultures and settings, and be prepared
to adapt accordingly.
Urgent Not Urgent
Important
Not important
I II
III IV
1. List five activities you’ve done in the past week and identify the values associated with
these. Some examples of values (adapted from Snead & Wycoff 1997):
Family Organization Love
Health and fitness Community Leadership
Financial security Country/nationalism Nature
Friends Fame/popularity Learning
Beauty Frugality Career growth and
Inner peace Music Development
Growth Travel Freedom
Productivity Spirituality Wisdom
Honesty Achievement Fun
Generosity Adventure Joy
2. Reflect on:
- What values define the person you want to be? (Top 5)
- Based on your hierarchy of values, what matters most to you?
3. After reflecting on the above, share and discuss these with your spouse or significant
other. Would you reconsider your primary values based on your conversation?
4. Read Chapters 2 and 3 (Habits 2 and 3) of Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
particularly for moving towards a principle-centered life.
on the methods for achieving the specific task(s), but without really providing the “gofer” with
the end results in view and with decision-making responsibility to achieve the desired
results.
Stewardship delegation, on the other hand, provides your team member with the “product”
or objective in mind and the freedom to choose the best methods to “deliver the goods”. This
performance agreement involves five elements (Covey 1989):
1. Desired results (not methods): identify what is to be done and when.
2. Guidelines: specify the parameters within which results are to be accomplished.
3. Resources: identify the human, financial, technical or organizational support to help
accomplish the results.
4. Accountability: set up the standards of performance and the time of evaluation.
5. Consequences: specify what will happen, both good and bad, as a result of the
evaluation.
Thus effective delegation involves 4 important steps: selection of the person/team with the
right skills and knowledge; the briefing process (where the above performance agreement is
discussed); ongoing support and guidance as necessary; and monitoring or follow-up.
The following are some pointers in the art of delegation (Hindle 1998):
1. When you delegate, you are not delegating the right to perform an action; you are
delegating the right to make decisions.
2. Be flexible. The person to whom you delegate (usually a specialist in that area, be it a
specific research task or handling your flight itinerary) may have a better and faster way
of completing a job than you.
3. Set precise and realistic deadlines for tasks that you delegate.
4. Provide constructive feedback on the work performed. Reward good work generously,
and chastise in moderation.
5. Overall responsibility for a delegated task remains with you.
Strategy 4: Conduct Productive Meetings
“Either we work or meet;
we can’t do both.”
– Peter Drucker
4. Have a receptionist or secretary screen your telephone calls. Then you can prioritize the
calls you need to return. If you have a short message service on your mobile phone,
avoid the temptation to reply to each and every text message during “no interruption”
times. Better still, switch off your cell phone at those times.
5. Minimize clutter and paper on your desk. Do not use your desk to store work that will not
be addressed that day. If you do get it out of your sight, put an entry on your “To Do” list
for later action.
6. Try to handle paper only once. Use the RAFT system: refer, act, file or trash it
immediately (Mayo 2001). Use this system for e-mail as well.
7. Skim documents (especially the many attachments on your e-mail) before deciding
whether you need to read the entire document.
8. Highlight key points on documents you read. This facilitates rereading or sharing with
others.
9. Request removal from e-group lists that are not relevant to you.
10. Start reading your e-mail messages from the last one sent, moving down to the older
messages. You will find that some more recent messages are copies of
reactions/actions to an older message.
12
Covey, S. R. 1989. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal
Change. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Hindle, T. 1998. Manage Your Time. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Snead, G. L. & Wycoff, J. 1997. To Do… Doing… Done! A Creative Approach to Managing
Projects & Effectively Finishing What Matters Most. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Mayo, S. 2001. Getting Things Done: Time Management for Clinical Research
Professionals. Available:
[Accessed: 24 June 2003
Covey, S. R. 1989. Chapters 2 and 3 (Habits 2 and 3) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Simon & Schuster. Read in light
of moving towards a principle-centered life.
Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R. & Merrill, R. R. First Things First. 1994. London: Simon &
Schuster UK Ltd.