# Managing Your Time and Priorities

## Enhanced Strategies for Time and Task Management

Questions to Consider:
1. What strategy helps me prioritize my top tasks?
2. How do I make the best use of my time when prioritizing?
3. How do I make sure I tackle unpleasant tasks instead of putting them off?
4. What’s the best way to plan for long-term tasks?
5. How do I find time in a busy schedule?
Over the years, people have developed a number of different strategies to manage time and tasks. Some of the strategies have proven to be effective and helpful, while others have been deemed not as useful.
The good news is that the approaches that do not work very well or do not really help in managing time do not get passed along very often. But others, those which people find of value, do. What follows here are three unique strategies that have become staples of time management. While not everyone will find that all three work for them in every situation, enough people have found them beneficial to pass them along with high recommendations.

### Daily Top Three

The idea behind the daily top three approach is that you determine which three things are the most important to finish that day, and these become the tasks that you complete. It is a very simple technique that is effective because each day you are finishing tasks and removing them from your list. Even if you took one day off a week and completed no tasks on that particular day, a daily top three strategy would have you finishing 18 tasks in the course of a single week. That is a good amount of things crossed off your list.

### Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo. The basic concept is to use a timer to set work intervals that are followed by a short break. The intervals are usually about 25 minutes long and are called pomodoros, which comes from the Italian word for tomato because Cirillo used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to keep track of the intervals.
In the original technique there are six steps:
1. Decide on the task to be done.
2. Set the timer to the desired interval.
3. Work on the task.
4. When the timer goes off, put a check mark on a piece of paper.
5. If you have fewer than four check marks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to Step 1 or 2 (whichever is appropriate).
6. After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your check mark count to zero, and then go to Step 1 or 2.
There are several reasons this technique is deemed effective for many people. One is the benefit that is derived from quick cycles of work and short breaks. This helps reduce mental fatigue and the lack of productivity caused by it. Another is that it tends to encourage practitioners to break tasks down to things that can be completed in about 25 minutes, which is something that is usually manageable from the perspective of time available. It is much easier to squeeze in three 25-minute sessions of work time during the day than it is to set aside a 75- minute block of time.

### Eat the Frog

Of our three quick strategies, eat the frog probably has the strangest name and may not sound the most inviting. The name comes from a famous quote, attributed to Mark Twain: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Eat the Frog is also the title of a best- selling book by Brian Tracy that deals with time management and avoiding procrastination.
How this applies to time and task management is based on the concept that if a person takes care of the biggest or most unpleasant task first, everything else will be easier after that.
Although stated in a humorous way, there is a good deal of truth in this. First, we greatly underestimate how much worry can impact our performance. If you are continually distracted by anxiety over a task you are dreading, it can affect the task you are working on at the time. Second, not only will you have a sense of accomplishment and relief when the task you are concerned with is finished and out of the way, but other tasks will seem lighter and not as difficult.

### Breaking Down the Steps and Spreading Them Over Shorter Work Periods

Above, you read about several different tried-and-tested strategies for effective time management—approaches that have become staples in the professional world. In this section you will read about two more creative techniques that combine elements from these other methods to handle tasks when time is scarce and long periods of time are a luxury you just do not have.
The concept behind this strategy is to break tasks into smaller, more manageable units that do not require as much time to complete. As an illustration of how this might work, imagine that you are assigned a two-page paper that is to include references. You estimate that to complete the paper—start to finish—would take you between four and a half and five hours. You look at your calendar over the next week and see that there simply are no open five-hour blocks (unless you decided to only get three hours of sleep one night). Rightly so, you decide that going without sleep is not a good option. While looking at your calendar, you do see that you can squeeze in an hour or so every night. Instead of trying to write the entire paper in one sitting, you break it up into much smaller components and schedule them over the week as shown in the two tables below:
While this is a simple example, you can see how it would redistribute tasks to fit your available time in a way that would make completing the paper possible. In fact, if your time constraints were even more rigid, it would be possible to break these divided tasks down even further. You could use a variation of the Pomodoro Technique and write for three 25-minute segments each day at different times. The key is to look for ways to break down the entire task into smaller steps and spread them out to fit your schedule.

### Friends & Family Matter

JT has worked many different jobs over the past few years to cover his living expenses and save up for college. Because he didn’t earn a scholarship and doesn’t want to take out loans, he knows he needs to continue to work to pay for school. In fact, JT has calculated how much he needs to earn each month to graduate on time. He doesn’t have much wiggle room—a few missed hours a week, and he will struggle to pay all his bills.
At the beginning of the semester, JT has picked up extra shifts. In addition to wanting to earn extra money,  he also has a hard time saying no even when he could use that time to study. His boss really values JT’s work ethic and has started expecting that JT will fill in whenever his co-workers ask for time off or, in some cases, just don’t show up. And JT feels that going the extra mile will help him get a promotion and raise, which would allow him to earn more without working more.
In a few weeks, JT has several group projects and comprehensive exams coming up. This is also the busiest season at work and their boss sent a message to all the staff that they cannot ask for time off. JT is already concerned that he will be scheduled to work overtime, and won’t have much flexibility. JT is already stressed about getting all his work done and meeting his boss’s needs for covering shifts.

### Let’s Think About It

JT has several options. Think through the consequences of each one, and choose the best option or create your own option.
1. JT quits the current job and finds something that offers more flexibility even if it takes a few weeks to find it.
2. JT explains to his boss that he needs to earn enough hours to pay his expenses but not be overworked; in other words, JT asks for better control over his schedule even if this means the boss will struggle to find others to cover the shifts.
3. JT works the schedule he is given and spends what little time and energy he has to complete his course work.

### Let’s Talk About It

JT’s dilemma is common for students who must work while in college. You may also experience a situation when you have two very important responsibilities that conflict with one another. Here are some suggestions for communicating with others about the dilemma that JT is facing:
1. “I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to earn extra money by picking up additional shifts, but I need to reduce my hours in a few weeks because I need to spend time completing class projects and studying for my finals. Can we find a solution that works for both of us?”
2. “While I need to work enough each week to pay my bills, I also need time in the next few weeks to focus on my course work. I am not sure how to balance my commitment to the job with my commitment to college. Can we talk about it?”
3. “I want to be a valuable worker, and I am appreciative of the opportunities I have had to take on extra shifts and help the company meet its goals. The next few weeks will be challenging for me as I need to both work and spend more time on my course work. Would it be possible to reduce my hours during that time?”
Whatever choice you would make in this situation, it is always best to communicate clearly your needs, your concerns, and even your uncertainties.

### Summary and Next Steps for College Success

This chapter began by presenting why time management is important. Then, sections of the text covered how time management for college can be different from what students may have experienced before. Following this, the chapter contained several sections on how to effectively manage time (including predicting time on task), how to use technology to your advantage, and how to prioritize tasks. Other topics included specific strategies for time and task management and avoiding procrastination.
Refining your time management skills based on an honest assessment is something that should never stop. The benefits of good time management skills are something that will apply to the rest of your life, and you will no doubt be working on improving those skills for years to come. Now that you have read and reflected on the main ideas of the chapter, consider developing a plan to help you achieve college success by considering what you want to know more about that could help you. Review the list below and commit to working on one or more of the concepts this term and beyond:
1. Develop better self-awareness about the psychological reasons for procrastinating and create a plan to reduce your procrastination.
2. Learn to predict accurately the time needed to complete tasks in college.
3. Eliminate technology and social media as distractions by setting specific times of the day you will engage in them.
4. Try out additional time management strategies to supplement what you already do. Choose one to use this week and reflect on what worked or not and why.