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Time Management in the Busy Professional Environment: Take That First Step

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 145; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1053/j.gastro.2013.05.022

1528-0012

Francisco H. Andrade,

Philosophy, Science, and History

I am sure it was the catchy title, but do you really have time to read this? Is there something else, maybe more important, you should be doing? Welcome to the club: we rush from meeting to meeting, and are stressed by fast approaching (past?) deadlines, slaves to Outlook, smartphones, and clinical schedules. Our time is not “ours”: It is at the whim of others, meted in 15-minute intervals. Yet, we never stop and question why it is that way. That universal maxim “time is money” holds sway; we must justify every moment of our professional existence, sometimes at the expense of other areas of our lives. After all, “busy” means “productive,” right? So we continue a never-ending race dictated by our schedules. This loss of control is so prevalent that a whole industry exists to teach us “time management.” As I write, a quick search of a large Internet bookseller resulted in almost 6300 hits for the term “time management.” One might think this plethora of options means nobody has the solution. I propose they all do; the same answer packaged in different ways. By all means, go ahead and pick a couple of books, look at some time management guides: Reference (2) and the websites included in Table 1 are some of my favorites. The specific strategies they present might be a little different. Find the one that best suits you, but first make sure you understand why you do so: That is the point of this commentary. Hopefully, it will make you think and cast a critical eye on everything you do. It is not intended as a step-by-step program for fixing your schedule. You will have to come up with the one that best serves your priorities. My purpose is to present what should be at the core of any plans for taking control of your time: It is all about knowing who you are.Table 1Some Useful Websiteswww.mindtools/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htmLink to the time management page of MindTools, a website dedicated to leadership and management tools.www.stevepavlina.com/articles/time-management.htmThis website for personal development has a good article on time management.www.businessballs.com/timemanagement.htmTime management link of a popular business training and organizational development website. Open table in a new tab It all starts by being clear about your priorities: What is important in your life? To keep it simple, we can divide life into three compartments: Professional, family, and personal. The compartments are self-explanatory and they apply to us all. The size or importance of each compartment and their overlap change over time, as does their impact on our sense of well-being. The rest of this discussion deals exclusively with professional life, both to keep within the space limits, and because it is the life sphere in which we typically feel most out of control. We have the same basic resources at work: Our talent, our colleagues and staff, space and equipment, and time. Of those, only time is completely nonrenewable: You have new ideas all the time, people come and go, and you can buy new equipment. Time is different: Once “today” becomes “yesterday,” it is gone forever. In that sense, time is more valuable than money, and that should give more urgency to the question, where does time go? Examine closely what you do on any typical day. Try the efficiency ratio described in Figure 1: It is a fun exercise that can be quite illuminating. If nothing else, it serves to see objectively how we spend our working days. Do not focus too much on the ratio itself; the number is not as important as looking at the activities we spend time on regularly. Look at the recurring entries in your schedule. Some are important, regular events: Clinics, classes, mentoring, business meetings, and committee meetings. Other items show up sporadically, yet must be dealt with: Annual reviews, certifications, and such. Consider all the entries critically. Do you need to be involved in all the activities? Are all of them important to your professional life? Meetings with undefined agendas, problems managed by unfocused committees: Nothing eats up more time than lack of purpose and indecision. Think back to how many times you have left a meeting unclear about its goals, and feeling that not much was accomplished. How much is your own fault, how much somebody else's, I will leave it for you to figure out. Complaining about too much to do is a universal sport, and so is procrastination. On top of all the activities we cram into our schedules, there are some bad habits that waste time, and worsen our feeling of chaos. Some were listed in the preceding paragraph and Table 2. Another common example is having unrealistic time estimates: How long it will take to write a paper, finish a report, or prepare for a class. Remember Hofstadter's law: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law.”1Hofstadter D.R. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid. Random House, New York1979Google Scholar I mentioned indecision already; its opposite, deciding before analyzing, is equally bad: Time and effort are wasted correcting the consequences of a poorly made decision. Add disorganization and lack of planning to the list: Time spent looking for a pen that should be in your pocket is time wasted for more important tasks.Table 2Time Wasters and SaversTime wastersTime saversUnrealistic expectations and deadlinesSet aside time for projectsUndefined goals and agendasPrioritize tasks and goalsIndecisionDecisivenessDisorganizationOrganization Open table in a new tab Take a moment to reflect on your own habits. Then, revisit the efficiency ratio (Figure 1). Now that you see how you spend your time, and recognize the bad habits, try to force increased efficiency by cutting the time you spend “at work.” In other words, spend less time pretending to be productive, and more time doing real work. For whatever reason, many think time management is this magic fix to every ailing schedule. Such a fix does not exist: Time management is another life skill that some exercise more than others. The term “time management” applies to those strategies we have developed to cope with our work schedules, and it is included in a more global term, “personal productivity.” Think again of the resources you have at work. Knowing where time goes, and how some habits and routines conspire to waste it even more, we can begin to manage our time. It does not have to be a complicated process: The first (and I argue the only) step is to know what is truly important for your professional life. This is a never-ending exercise: You must evaluate your life continuously. You need to be aware of how your circumstances and priorities change in all spheres over time. Nothing else matters: Unless you know what is important in your life at this stage of your career, you are at the mercy of others. Now, this is not an excuse to dump things you do not like to do: If you do not like seeing patients in a clinic, maybe you chose your career poorly and it is time to become an accountant. The same applies if you hate writing papers and grant applications. There are some aspects of every job that may not be particularly pleasant, but are necessary. Time management is not about avoiding unpleasant tasks; it is about eliminating those that add little to our professional lives. It could very well be that you are grossly overcommitted or unprepared for some functions, or there is someone better suited for a task. Maybe you find a better way to structure your day. Knowing your circumstances, and how to improve them, is how you start to renegotiate your duties. That is how you present a compelling, rational case that includes potential solutions. It is much better than saying: “I just can't do it.” The important step is done: You have identified the aspects of your professional life that are truly important and meaningful. You have the information to decide how to better organize your duties and schedule at work. Excellent, now is the opportunity to examine those bad habits you must break to make your life a little easier.2Fried J. Heinemeier Hansson D. Rework. Crown Publishers Group, New York2010Google Scholar Look at the “Time Savers” column on Table 2: First and foremost, be organized. A cluttered mind, messy office, and irregular schedule get in the way of important tasks. Break with the stereotype: The office of an academic does not need to be full of papers and books, thrown around in piles. Second, be decisive: Collect the necessary information, analyze it, and decide. Move on, do not go back and tinker with the decision. The time and the process to revisit come later. Third, prioritize tasks and goals, not your schedule, which is organized in time bins not necessarily ranked in order of importance. Failure to adhere to your schedule does not equal procrastination. We juggle tasks all the time, yet “multitasking” does not mean we must do them all at the same time. Effective multitasking is the art of organizing our time in a way that allows us to perform our functions in an orderly fashion so that we can achieve our goals. Those who believe that “multitasking” means to “do everything at the same time” end up doing nothing well. Fourth, and related to the previous, set aside time for your high-priority tasks. We all know it takes a month or two to write a grant, yet how many have the discipline to parcel out the work? Progress comes in small steps, not in a frantic, sleepless weekend before the deadline. The fifth and final rule: Do not waste other people's time. Respect your colleagues' time as much as you wish your time be respected. An added benefit is that if you do not waste their time, you are not wasting yours. Following that last rule above, I kept this short. If you forget everything else, remember this: At its core, time management is a constant evaluation of your personal and professional priorities. If you cannot manage that, someone else will do it for you.