# Welcome to SMIRK Unit
1 - Organising your time

- Goals
- Be realistic
- Making plans
- Action planning
- Prioritising
- Motivation
- Time management checklist
- Summary and feedback form
- Module planner
- Daily diary
- Time management grid
- Back to main index

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Goals

Time spent planning your learning can greatly benefit your studies on two levels. Firstly, you are more likely to avoid last minute rushes and to participate in a wider number of activities if you have developed a realistic overview of your commitments. Secondly, if you approach a piece of work in a planned way you are more likely to carry out each stage efficiently and effectively, producing higher quality pieces of work.

This unit will help you look realistically at your priorities and organise your time effectively.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Be realsitic

Being aware | Being realistic
--- | ---
What broad activities take up your time? It will be useful to develop an overview of all of your time commitments. You may like to make a list of all of your main activities. This should include your: course commitments spare time activities work and family commitments don't forget time for relaxing, shopping, eating, drinking, sleeping and so on Consider all of your activities that take up time. Once you have an overview you will find it easier to move on to the next stages of prioritising your workload and drawing up work plans. | How can these activities be broken down into tasks? Once you have listed all of your main activities, you might find it helpful to analysise each of them task by task. What will you need to do to fulfil all of your commitments? More information on task Analysis: Procedural Task Analysis Hierarchical Task Analysis If you produce a list of tasks involved in each of your activiities you can assess how long each of them will take and allocate time accordingly.

###### Cartoon reproduced by permission of Dave Walker. 392 x 637 - 12k - gif www.cartoonchurch.com

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Making plans

Once you have developed a clear idea of your key activities and their related tasks you can begin to make plans.
A plan or timetable needs to suit your personal needs. It is pointless spending time and money on producing a plan in glorious technicolour if it doesn't suit your preferred way of working. Many people find it useful to plan their time on a variety of levels:

- A Long Term Timetable indicating regular and predictable events in your week
- A detailed Week Plan highlighting your workload over a seven day period
- A Daily Diary, deciding first thing in the morning what is to be done that day. This list can be checked throughout the day, ticking off tasks as you complete them.

When making your own plans, you may find it useful to consider your regular or timetabled commitments. For example - every Tuesday you have a seminar.
Identify all such regular commitments and put them into some sort of plan. With a clear picture of these fixed points you can arrange the rest of your activities around them.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Action planning

Once you have written a task sheet, detailing all of the tasks in the order in which they will need to be done, you can develop an action plan by assessing how long each task will take and giving each task (or stage) a deadline for completion.

Action plans can cover a range of time periods from a matter of hours to weeks, months or years. They only take a few minutes to construct but will be invaluable in helping you plan your time. Your ability to break down a key activity into tasks, and subsequently to accurately estimate the time needed to complete them, will develop with time. However, you should always be realistic; be wary of allowing too short a time which will only result in your missing deadlines, or too much time which is simply a waste.

Mindtools have more in depth information on action planning.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Prioritising

Actions | For consideration
--- | ---
Prioritise your workload | Personal motivation or interest Oncoming deadlines Confidence with the task or skill Difficulty of the task
Relate individual tasks to each other and put them in the wider focus of all your commitments and responsibilities. | what is urgent? what is routine? What can be prepared in advance
Be aware | some things demand immediate attention some things can be predicted and routinely planned for some things can be prepared in advance
Be organised and know what is urgent and important. | Time management grid
Where does each task fit? Is it urgent and important? Or important but not urgent? Now apply this to your planning sheets, tackling urgent and important things first and allocating time ahead for important but non-urgent work. Your ability to prioritise time will be helped by the process of subdividing activities into tasks and drafting action plans.

Listen to a personal view of managing time

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Motivation

A clear focus is important for your motivation, so is some indication of when you will be finishing.

- Take real breaks
- Leave your work area completely
- Have a stroll outside, make a cup of coffee
- Avoid being drawn into something on the television or a conversation that you will find difficult to break away from
- Introduce variety so you are not always doing the same activity and vary the type of task that you are doing
- Tackle tasks that you find uninteresting at the start of a work period. Get them out of the way and reward yourself with more inspiring work

#### Evaluating your progress

Finally, you should assess how effectively you are fulfilling all of your commitments at all stages. Once you have developed an initial overview of your activities and tasks you will need to reassess them as your priorities and commitments change. If you have produced an action plan for a project, keep this with you and tick off areas of completed work.

- Are you ahead of schedule?
- Are you behind schedule?
- How can you resolve any difficulties?

The next page shows a time management checklist to help your planning.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Time management
checklist

Question / task | Think about
--- | ---
Establish your regular commitments | What will you be doing each week?
Put this information into a weekly plan | Photocopy enough of these to last a term
What broad activities are you involved in? | Study? Spare time? Eating, sleeping, shopping?
What tasks are involved? | Break down the major activities into their constituent parts
Establish priorities | What is urgent? What can be done over time? What is routine?
Relate tasks to time | What types of tasks are they? Do they need consecutive time? Can they be done in small breaks? Where do you need to be to complete the task?
Make work plans | Plan each week – be prepared, get an overview Plan each day – be active, use checklists
Stick to these plans | Make sure they're realistic Try not to develop a backlog
Get motivated | Be focused – always know what you want to achieve
Stay motivated | Introduce variety – don't slog away at one thing. Take real breaks but avoid distractions
Complete tasks | You'll feel better in the end
Reward productivity | You've earned it!

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Module planner

Week No. | Module | Module | Module | Module | Module
1 |  |  |  |  |
2 |  |  |  |  |
3 |  |  |  |  |
4 |  |  |  |  |
5 |  |  |  |  |
6 |  |  |  |  |
7 |  |  |  |  |
8 |  |  |  |  |
9 |  |  |  |  |
10 |  |  |  |  |
11 |  |  |  |  |
12 |  |  |  |  |
13 |  |  |  |  |
14 |  |  |  |  |
15 |  |  |  |  |
16 |  |  |  |  |

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Daily diary

Day_______________________ Date_____________________
To do list
Time | Study Tasks | Personal Tasks | Other
08:00 |  |  |
09:00 |  |  |
10:00 |  |  |
11:00 |  |  |
12:00 |  |  |
13:00 |  |  |
14:00 |  |  |
15:00 |  |  |
16:00 |  |  |
17:00 |  |  |
18:00 |  |  |
19:00 |  |  |
20:00 |  |  |
21:00 |  |  |
22:00 |  |  |

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Time management grid

Firefighting Important and urgent Crises Pressing problems Deadline-driven projects Meetings Preparations | Quality time Not Urgent but important Preparation Prevention Clarification of values Planning Building relationships Recreation
Distractions Not important but urgent Interruptions Non-relevant Meetings Non-relevant activities Overload of small tasks | Time wasters Not Urgent and not Important Trivia Gossip Diversionary activities Junk mail

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.

# Summary

You have now completed this unit. You will now be able to avoid last minute rushes and participate in a wider number of activities because you can develop a realistic overview of your commitments. You can also approach a piece of work in a planned way and therefore are more likely to carry out each stage efficiently and effectively, producing higher quality pieces of work.

Now you should think about how you spend your time, make a note of how much time you spend on:

> leisure activities
> study activities
> sleep
> work
> family time

Look out for time management sessions from your Learning Development Centres!

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/.