Comments to: crs@uvm.eduReviewed as of 4/20/98
THIS DOCUMENT WAS PRODUCED BY THE NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM. IT IS POSTED BY THE CENTER FOR RURAL STUDIES FOR PUBLIC
USE. THE CENTER FOR RURAL STUDIES ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THE CONTENTS.
EXERCISE 1
Map the Week
This is an exercise designed for all, but it is especially useful
to people who have difficulty meeting time commitments and feel
that they never have enough time. To people who feel they manage
time well, the map will probably not be surprising. The exercise
develops what the unsurprised already have--an intuitive
understanding of their map.
The map is the schedule of your average weekly activities,
commitments, and open times. You actually write it onto the
attached time matrix, and etch it into your awareness.
1) Do you already keep a calendar? If so, study the last month.
If not, just think about the following. Did you have:
þ Obvious patterns (work, appointments, classes,
etc.)
þ Last-minute schedulings
þ Missed appointments and deadlines
þ Difficult tasks and situations
þ Unexpected reschedulings
þ Things that happened that didn't even make it on
the calendar
Identify your time management "trouble items." Watch how you make
decisions for those items throughout the rest of this exercise.
2) Make a list of everything that takes up time in your week:
þ Things that are high priority and that you
absolutely must do.
(work, volunteer responsibilities, meals, etc.)
þ Things that are high priority because you really
want to do them.
(recreation, education, hobbies, etc.)
þ Things that you may have been promising yourself
you will do, but have never had enough time to do.
þ Things that you do on a monthly basis.
(use one-fourth of your estimated monthly work and
allocate it on the schedule)
þ Things that could be delegated to someone who would
make more effective use of the time.
3) Assign time estimates to all the things you do, and assess
whether they are:
þ solid estimates (allow the estimated time)
þ reasonable estimates (allow 20% more time)
þ total guesses (allow 30 to 50% more time)
(trouble items usually need more time than you initially
think)
4) Map out all the things you do on the attached schedule, being
aware of:
þ the things that must be done at certain times
þ the things that can be done anytime
þ the transition time required to get from place to
place (trouble items may need more transition time)
þ things that can be done simultaneously or in
succession (by using advance planning you can
schedule to do something while waiting for another
thing to happen, or do all necessary things when
making a trip somewhere)
þ juggle time well by using the most appropriate
method (phone vs. mail vs. transportation)
You may discover that you are not able to fit all the things you
want to do into your schedule. Most likely, you will have to
reduce or eliminate the time on certain activities, delegate other
activities, do better advance planning in order to group things,
and consider getting more support from family and friends.
On the other hand, you may be surprised to find that you have more
free time than you imagined. Before joyously going on to schedule
new activities, be careful and ask yourself if you've included all
the things you do during the week (and fraction of month),
especially routine activities since we often don't realize how much
time they take.
5) The important thing to consider now is how flexible you're
required to be during the week. Unanticipated meetings,
emergencies, and last-minute schedule changes happen to everyone,
but some people's jobs and lifestyles cause these to happen more
often than for others.
Ask yourself whether you have a fairly regular and planned
schedule, or whether you're working with a schedule that is likely
to change at any moment. Both regular and hectic schedules have
their advantages and disadvantages:
þ A regular schedule is more predictable, requires
less flexibility, and allows you to do more advance
planning to group activities together so that time
can be more wisely spent. However, a regular
schedule can also be boring. It can be helpful for
people who feel their schedules are "too regular"
to learn to use more flexibility in scheduling
things.
þ A hectic schedule can be interesting; however, it
can be stressful to live with a lot of
uncertainties. People with hectic schedules learn
to be very flexible, can't do much advance
planning, and almost always learn how to "juggle"
things as they come along. It can be helpful for
people who feel their schedules are "too hectic" to
schedule a few routines that will be honored as
much as possible.
6) Summarize in a list all the specific steps you must take to have
this ideal schedule. Remember to actually do the delegating,
rearranging, and planning that may be required by your new plan.
Once you've taken care of all these steps, make a commitment to
follow the schedule as closely as possible for one week.
7) Plan to do a final evaluation to make sure you've been
realistic. While you're following this schedule for the first
week, write down any changes from the planned events and times, and
note whether these changes were within or outside your control.
Notice how accurately you mapped the week, and notice what things
you enjoyed about the schedule. During this evaluation, make
modifications as necessary so you have a schedule you can use as an
intuitive guide.
> Further notes on the exercise:
This is a straight-forward exercise to get people to realize and
actually "see" what the full map of their time commitments looks
like.
Participants should go through each of the steps, reminding
themselves to think about everything (special and routine
activities, monthly or occasional tasks, reasonable or ridiculous
estimates, etc.) that affects their time during an average week.
If a step requires further discussion before participants can go
on, that's fine. Discussion time noted below is not intended to
wait for the exercise to be completed, but to be used at your
discretion.
It may be useful for participants to do the beginning of the
exercise on their own time, and bring the results in for
discussion. This is fine if people feel they don't need the
guidance in the group structure.
> Time: 20 to 30 minutes for the cycle; 10 minutes for discussion.
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu
Reviewed as of 4/20/98