Time Management/Organizational Skills

• The Need for Time Management and Organizational Skills:• There are 24 hrs in a day. • Research show : for a person to be healthy, roughly: * 7 - 8 hrs sleeping. (16 - 17 hrs for everything else to be done in a day): *go to school and/or work (3-10 hrs), *study (rule: lecture courses 2 hrs for every 1 hr in class) ~6 hours/d *eat (~ 1 hr), *shower & get ready (0.5 - 1 hr day), * exercise (0.5 -1 hr ), *routine maintenance (e.g., pay bills, pick up room, etc.—1 hour per day), *nonschool or nonwork interests (1 hr), *relax & have fun (0.5 -1 hr), *time with family &/or friends (face-to-face, or via e-mail or phone—0.5 - 1 hr) This estimate does not even include time spent on transportation or unexpected events & other activities.

• Time is one of the most valuable resources we have.

• Several philosophies have been iterated about time:◾The gift of your time is the most valuable gift you can give.◾If you want to know what people's real values are, look at how they spend their time and their money.◾Time is money.◾Time management is not about managing time; it is about managing yourself.

• Many advances in technology and other areas are all about saving time.

• Time management & organizational skills are important both personally and professionally.

• Poor time management can → *frustration, stress (physically detrimental) *failure to complete daily tasks or achieve personal & professional goals. *we may be considered < reliable,& < responsible *personal safety & patient safety can b compromised

• Common Myths/Pitfalls:

• "I don't have time. . ." • Is actually a lie. The truth is that we all have 24 hrs in every day to

accomplish what we need & want to do.

• The difference is how we choose to spend our time.

• The next time that you feel compelled to say, "I don't have time to ____________ [fill in the blank]," rephrase it to, "I can't take the time to ____________ [fill in the blank]."

• "I'm too busy. . ."

• You choose how to spend your time.• If you feel that you are too busy: *Change your schedule. *Do not take on as many tasks. *Find your success limit, and maintain it! • Contrary to popular belief, the busier people are, the more productive they are, and the more they accomplish.(but NOT all busy people)

• Important to recharge your batteries once in awhile, but "If ever the going seems easy, check to see if you are going downhill"

• Feeling consistent stress, & guilt if you relax @ all or "get off task."→ NOT healthy feelings & → escalate to illness & exhaustion.

• Balance between getting things accomplished but NOT that your schedule is so easy that you are wasting your potential to achieve higher goals.

• "My personal time management skills have nothing to do with how I manage time at work."

• May be possible but rare & unusual• At home because we are proactive (we determine when we want to do

what)• Pharmacy practice, is often reactive (we help pts when they ask for it/need

it)• These different situations give the impression that personal and professional

time management differ from each other. • We do not usually purposefully apply different criteria for how we manage

our time at home vs. work• These skills usually are unconscious, routine, habit. • These skills can be learned.

• "I need time to focus in order to. . ."

• The ability to multitask is an absolute necessity for any pharmacist or pharmacy student:

• Does NOT mean doing several things simultaneously (if so, pt safety may be compromised.

• It means: you have the ability to "switch gears" easily and maintain a sharp mind so that you can give your undivided attention for a few minutes to the task @ hand & then move on to the next task or back to the original task.

• Rarely you have the entire day on one task.

• "I'm a perfectionist. . ."

• Important to do your best and to always .• As a pharmacy student or pharmacist with many demands

on your time → it is critical that you discern which tasks must be perfect and which can be less than perfect.

• Dosing and preparation of chemotherapeutic agents, e.g., should be as close to perfect as possible.

• It is okay not to be perfect all the time, unless, the consequence of not being perfect is severe.

• "They didn't teach time management in my curriculum."

• Some pharmacy schools provide regular workshops for students or parts of courses devoted to time management, study skills, stress management, and other pharmacy school and life survival skills.

• This chapter helps you to be a better time manager.

• Theories and Practices of Time Management:

• Drucker (1967) articulated four suggestions for helping executives to better manage their time :

a. Find out exactly how you actually use your time.

b. Determine what does and does not have to be done (and discontinue doing the latter).

c. Delegate work to others who are equally or better qualified than you are.

d. Stop wasting other people's time.

• Covey (1989):• States that the essence of time management is to

"organize and execute around priorities." • Created a time management matrix (Table 10-1) to help us categorize our daily activities and understand how we can maximize our time by doing so. *Says that the most effective personal managers are when operating primarily in quadrant II.

• Morgenstern (2000) • Compares between time & space & describes each day as "a container, a storage unit that has definite capacity you can reach." Her book walks the reader through four phases:a. Laying the foundation: thinking about creating a time

management system that works for you.b. Analyzing: defining your personal style, preferences, needs &

goals.c. Strategizing: mapping your ideal schedule & staying on track.d. Attacking: putting your plan into action.

* Merilyn Paul (2003):• Offers a “seven-step path to becoming truly organized” (Fig. 13-1).

• Incorporates: mental, physical, emotional,& spiritual aspects of one’s life into the context of getting organized & thus living a better life.

• REAL TIME MANAGEMENT: HOW TO DO IT• The steps/themes involved in practicing better time

management :1) Recognize the need for improvement.2) Conduct an honest self-reflection or analysis of how you currently use your time.3) Establish your “mission” and set goals.4) Get organized (sort through tasks, create a master list, schedule tasks, use a system).5) Take action.6) Review, revise, and modify.

1) Recognize the Need for Improvement:

• Almost all literature that describes successful behavior start @ the same point:

The recognition that one’s behavior needs to change or that a person desires to change his or her behavior. • If one has not decided this, the chances of being able to improve are much less.

• Conduct an Honest Self-Reflection or Analysis of How You Currently Use Your Time

• Asking yourself some key questions to identify problem areas & how you should best plan your time based on your personal preferences & style.

• Keep a time journal→ document how you spend your time in blocks of 15 minutes & keep it with you at all times to document activities for an entire week, Be Honest.

• After a week, analyze areas where time could have been better spent, and evaluate factors that could have contributed to wasting time.

• Ask a coworker (or significant other) to observe your habits for 1 week & provide some constructive feedback

• Be sure not to be too hard on yourself & to reward hard work. (e.g., 3 - 4 hrs of straight studying deserves a 15-20-minute break & the 2nd round gets a 1/2-hr to an hr. break

• When conducting analysis, ask yourself these questions with regard to each activity:

• Why am I doing this?* What is the goal?• Why will I succeed?• Is what I am doing at this minute moving me toward my

objective?• What will happen if I choose not to do it?• What am I doing that does not really need to be done?• What am I doing that could be done by someone else?• What am I doing that could be done more efficiently?• What do I do that wastes others’ time?• If I do not have time to do it right, do I have time to do it wrong?

Douglass and Douglass (1993) advocate creatinga pie chart to visually depict where your time was spent

• Douglass and Douglass (1993) also suggest asking yourself 12 questions when reviewing a day in your time log to better determine how well you are managing your time:

1. What went right today? What went wrong? Why?2. What time did I start my top-priority task? Why? Could I have started earlier in the day?3. What patterns and habits are apparent from my time log?4. Did I spend the first hour of my [work] day doing important work?5. What was the most productive part of my day? Why?6. What was the least productive part of my day? Why?

7. Who or what caused most interruptions?8. How might I eliminate or reduce the three biggest time wasters?9. How much of my time was spent on high-value activity & how much on low-value tasks?10. Which activities could I spend less time on & still obtain acceptable results?11. Which activities needed more time today?12. Which activities could have been delegated? To whom?May not be all applicable to a typical pharmacy student

• Morgenstern suggests that readers complete 4 mini exercises: • The first exercise is to determine “what’s working,” & ask yourself 12

questions, including,• “No matter how busy I get, I always find time for ------------[fill in the blank],” • “I never procrastinate about --------- [fill in the blank],” • “I have no problem tackling difficult projects when--------- [fill in the blank]” * The second exercise suggests nine questions to ask yourself to determine:• “what’s not working,” including, “I never have time to ------ [fill in the

blank],”• “I am usually late for --------[fill in the blank],” • “One thing I wish I could do every day is ---------[fill in the blank]”

• The third exercise involves identifying your time management preferences. Morgenstern advocates circling each preference in a set of 12 opposites, i.e.,• “working independently versus collaboratively,”• “concentrating in short bursts versus long

stretches,” and• “tight deadlines versus long lead times”

• The last exercise, consists of 2 parts, helps the reader to identify personal energy cycles & sources.

• The first part asks the same set of two questions for each period of the day (mornings, afternoons, evenings, & late night):

• (“Mornings) are the best times for me to -------[fill in the blank] & the worst time for me to-------- [fill in the blank].”• The second part asks you to identify what helps you “recharge” from a potential list of 13 items.

• Woodhull (1997):• Workaholics often have no white spaces

(unscheduled time) is unhealthy.• 4 basic types of time managers:a)Leaders: * Get the job done & moving forward. * Direct and succinct. * ‘be brief & be gone.’ *Say what you have to say in ≤10 words. *Experts @ making quick decisions

b) Analytics: *Get tasks done with precision & accuracy. * Pay a lot of attention to detail. * Systematic. *Use facts, logic, & structure.

c)Relaters: *Getting along with others is most important. *They dislike making decisions that affect others. *Sometimes feel overburdened by all the things they have agreed to do for others”

d)Entertainers: * Do not like having a precise, predictable schedule.

* Enjoy a great deal of variety & flexibility (may be creative)

**Better time managers incorporate features of each style in order to be more flexible & adaptable to a variety of situations.

3) Establish Your “Mission” and Set Goals:*Write personal mission → all goals & priorities will flow

*Write out rough ideas, then edit & refine them

*Begin with the end in mind (most effective)

*Setting short- & long-term personal & professional goals is critical to help determine priorities and stay focused.

• Write SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, & timed) goals:

1. Goals should be specific: The more specific a goal, the more direction it provides, and the easier it is to measure progress. ( e.g., study more vs. # of hours)

2. Goals should be measurable: Try to quantify the specifics in your goal.

3. Goals should be achievable: *Should not be set so high (NOT realistically unachievable).(e.g., famous singer with no talent)

motivation ↑’s as with goals higher. *If goal is so high, you may never start.

4. Goals should be realistic: *Take into account available time, resources, & skills

5. Goals should be timed: * Much more likely to achieve if it has a target date which ↑’s motivation, commitment, & action.

6. Goals should be compatible: *If not, one goal may prevent from accomplishing another.7. Goals should be your own: *To ↑ motivation8. Goals should be written & posted where seen regularly.

• If lots of goals, categorize them: personal vs. professional short vs. long term• Classify “big picture” goals into 1 of 6

categories: self, family, work, spouse, friends, finances, & community• Accomplishing all goals @ same time →

overwhelming & discouraging

4)Get Organized (Sort Through Tasks, Create a Master List, Prioritize and Schedule Tasks, & Use a System): a. Sort Through Tasks b. Create a Master List c. Prioritize Tasks d. Schedule Tasks e. Use a System

a) Sort Through tasks:• Rule: “Handle each piece of paper once”• Receive a new piece of paper → *File it

*Recycle it or *Read it later

*Receive a new e-mail → *File it * delete it

*Read it later

• Go through papers & computer files periodically: Clean them out

b) Create a Master List:*Document all the tasks that you need to be completed @ some time & make your list(s) easily accessible & cross off tasks as you complete them.c) Prioritize Tasks: i)The goal-achievement approach (e.g., study 4hrs/d to achieve 3.5 GPA) ii)The deadline approach (esp. When set by others)iii)The consequences approach (e.g., fix car brakes vs. submit

late assignment) **Use a combination of the three

• Other ways that help you prioritize:• Time management matrix:1) Quadrant I (Priority 1)2) Quadrant II (Priority 2)3) Quadrant III (Priority 3)4) Quadrant IV (Priority 4)Urgency: activities requiring immediate attention (requires us to be REACTIVE)Importance: you must motivate yourself to complete this task regularly

(requires us to be PROACTIVE)Most of our tasks & activities should be in quadrant II

* Other approaches: 80/20 Rule: 20% of most fruitful activities fall into quadrant II (priority 2)→most of our efforts should be focused on such activities The “Big Rock” Rule: The big rocks in our lives are time spent with family & friends, taking care of ourselves, our faith, and time spent on other worthy causes. The sand and water are “fillers” in our lives.

Delegate Certain tasks of lesser priority to others

d) Schedule Tasks:• Always better to undercommit & overdeliver * Allow yourself more time than you think you will need to complete a task. • Allow for unexpected interruptions & events• Time yourself & then use a math approach to estimate how much time

tasks will take• Break larger tasks into smaller ones with their own deadlines→ setting

intermediate deadlines & sticking them helps you not to procrastinate ( < overwhelming)

• Schedule all tasks on paper or in mind• Review your schedule & master list several times a week or every night

before bedtime

e) Use a System: (for planning)i) Paper calendarii) Paper-based planner/organizer systemsiii) Personal digital assistants (PDAs), computer programs, & mobiles

**No system is perfect. **Determine your preference (visual or digital)**Customize your system, use it to the fullest, & accept its imperfections.

5) Take Action:*Some of the realities of human nature & how we normally spend our time: 1. We do what we like to do before we do what we don’t like to do.2. We tackle what we know how to do faster than what we don’t know how to do.3. We do activities that we have resources for.4. We do things that are scheduled before nonscheduled things.5. We respond to demands of others before our own demands.6. We wait until a deadline approaches before we really get moving on projects.**Being aware of some of these patterns can better help you avoid them.

• Three actions to help you overcome bad habits:

1. Minimize interruptions (i.e., unexpected events) & their impact.2. Conquer procrastination & chronic lateness.3. Overcome perfectionism.

• General Tips from the Experts:

• Take care of yourself: to be productive and successful (food, sleep & exercise)

• Most people do their best work in the morning, (do tough projects @ a.m.)

• Schedule meetings and less intensive activities in the afternoon.

• Check your e-mail & phone messages only twice a day, ( in a.m.& p.m. )

• Cluster tasks & activities (in the same place) together when possible.

• Quantity ≠ quality

• Busy ≠ productive.

• Working harder ≠ working smarter.

• Reward yourself.

6) Review/Revise/Modify:*Important periodically to review all the steps that you went through to determine if your system is working well:

• Are you accomplishing tasks & goals to your satisfaction?• Are you feeling less stressed ? • Do you procrastinate less often? • Have your preferences or your style changed in any way? • Do you want to try out a new organizational system? • Have your goals or priorities changed? • What major changes have occurred in your life to modify your goals

& priorities?

• Real change takes time, & old habits are hard to break.• It is okay if you did not follow your plan to a tee. • Celebrate your successes.• Learn from your failures.• Keep striving to improve.• As long as you are making progress toward your goals,

that is what is most important.• We will never have complete control over all our time.

• TIME MANAGEMENT in PHARMACY PRACTICE:• In a more administrative, project-based, or

appointment based position → more control over how time is spent.

• In most pharmacy environments → We do not get to determine how we spend our time & we can rarely plan our daily activities (the nature of the job involves responding to the demand of medication orders & questions from pts., h/c providers, & others).

• Time management in practice is based on two issues:

1) How organized you are personally at work (e.g., Can you work well in a scattered, chaotic environment , or must you work in a very structured & systematic fashion?) 2) What the workflow is like in your environment **Most of us have some control over 1 but not always over 2

• Examples of 6 specific tasks for handling the volume of phone calls in practice that can help to improve your professional satisfaction & ability to care for patients (a few apply specifically to outpatient & community practices):

1. Make full use of pharmacy technicians. 2. Respond to questions on the phone through your pharmacy technicians whenever possible. 3. If a patient insists on speaking with a pharmacist, explain that the pharmacist is busy with another patient right now. 4. Find out when and where would be the best time to call the patient back. 5. Gracefully exit the conversation after 2 minutes6. Have the technician take down all the information for prescription transfers (depending on what the law will allow).

• Other efficiencies , include:• A variety of dispensing technologies & robotics, • Job descriptions so that technicians perform most technical duties → pharmacists can concentrate on reviewing & monitoring patients’ drug therapy, & also engage in patient and provider education.

• It was shown that pharmacy students reported higher stress levels as students than they did as practicing pharmacists.

• Social & emotional support received from one’s coworkers & friends was shown to buffer the impact of job stress on job dissatisfaction.

* Other strategies to combat stress: meditation & relaxation (e.g., yoga and massage), biofeedback, & physical exercise.