Did I realize everything I planned with my planning tools as elaborated in my previous post "My Planning Tools"? Or not? What’s the reason?
I did realise everything I planned for Part A2. This is because I made sure to always consult my professional calendar and the other planning tools I use at the beginning of every week in order to get a highlight of all I had to accomplish that week. I paid attention to what was of topmost priority (important and urgent) and ensured that I got it or them done first. Also, I was able to get everything I had planned done because I left some time slots on my professional calendar and my other planning tools free in cases of emergencies or having to use more time for any urgent and important task/activity. Nevertheless, there were still days when I didn’t follow study plans as intended due to some distractions and interactions from family and friends that came in the way.
An Analysis of My Time Wasters
Drawing up my priority grid (Eisenhower matrix) for the rest of term
A reflection on my personal progress in time management
In terms of time management, I have made a steadily progressive advancement on the subject. Comparing the Eisenhower matrix / priority grid I drew up as at the time I was preparing for the class workshop for this topic and the one I had at some point in the first year with the one I have/had for the month of December till the semester ended, I spent more time in my “URGENT & IMPORTANT” box order than in my “IMPORTANT but not URGENT” and the other boxes in the grid. This is a good progress because at previous times I spent more time in the other boxes other than the “URGENT & IMPORTANT” box, and I ended up having a backload of “URGENT & IMPORTANT” box tasks to complete in such short time frames, which resulted in me having to lose so much sleep for their sakes.
More so, I have also observed that my time wasters aren’t as much as they used to be as at the last academic year. I used to struggle with procrastination, but that has rarely been the case this year. Social media has also not been a major time waster for me in recent years, especially the last academic year. I discovered that I rarely visit the social media platform I’m on unless I absolutely willed to do so. The fact that I turned all notifications off on all my social media accounts aided this progress here as well.
Moreover, I think I still need to pay more attention to my time management because there are still some areas where I need to be more time efficient and effective. One of these areas is in my proneness to perfectionism which tends to make me feel like I never have enough time to complete some tasks because I’m busy trying to get it done as perfectly as perfect can be, meanwhile, it could have long been finished if I had long settled for “good enough".
In addition, I think that acquiring some more professional networks who are successful in the area time management could help me manage my time better. I could learn some of the tips they use for effective and efficient time management.
Two (re)formulated SMART objectives of mine using learnings from the coaching exercises during class workshop
I will excel in all my courses this academic year with at least a score of 15, and I will also complete all assigned tasks at least two days before their due dates, by the end of each semester.
I will expand my professional network, especially networks that have good time management practices, on a 70% increase rate by December 31, 2020.
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