1st Week Learning Log - Time Management & Personal Goal Setting

31/10/2014

Right after a successful introduction students were guided into their first lesson, which included improving of many important personal skills such as Time management & Personal Goal Setting.

Time management is when performing certain goal directed  activities effectively, while controlling human behaviors to achieve more productivity, worth during the given time. (Claessens, Eerde, Rutte, & Roe, 2007) Basically it means that achieving whats most important to your life without wasting time, in order to gain it people follow many ways of methodologies and educators have identified accepted techniques among them. It is also vital for a person to select a method of TM which is more suitable and adaptable for themselves, due to different capabilities of human beings.

After a simple discussion students were then asked about their own methods of time management when engaging in day to day activities, and below are some of the revealed answers:

• Set up mobile reminders  
• Arrange weekly timetables 
• Write down a morning to do list, daily
• Prioritize work identified in the above list
• Allocate appointment times in diaries 

 Apart from that the lecturer pointed out some other techniques of time management, which was not mentioned by the students. Such as:

• Delegating work to others (especially in team working, all the members should engage in different work & also in industry fields delegate work to experts to gain higher quality and also to save time) 
• Multitask whenever suitable and possible  
• Complete urgent matters rather than important tasks 
• Not to allow any impromptu events after you made a to do list (avoid unscheduled tasks/ say "NO")
• Identify your energy cycle and plan more tasks where you may perform well 
• Tackle Harder tasks early in the morning (preferable for majority) 
• Choose working environments that are comfortable & peaceful (that avoid disturbances) 

The main reason identified for poor time management among students is "Procrastination" this happens when people put off or delay urgent tasks that requires higher attention, and complete less urgent tasks which are either pleasurable for them to do or easier to complete. (Chapman & Rupured, 2014) To overcome this issue educators such as University of  Pennsylvania suggest a guiding framework to be used in tasks such as "Project Management" following are the steps to be followed:

1. Preview - this is the stage which is most crucial for students, due to their less knowledge about the task in hand. To pass this level one must get a thorough idea about the task and understand what actions are needed for completion
2. Plan - brainstorm & write down a to do list consisting with short term goals to be achieved
3. Schedule -  allocate uneven time slots for the tasks identified 
4. Get Started - begin your work with the highest attention needing task segment 
5. Get it done - arrange a reward system to appreciate your effort when completing each level so that motivation push you towards the end completion point. 

Then the lecturer introduced another important technique of Time Management, "Mind Maps". These maps can be used to evaluate tasks on hand and helps in brainstorming, summarizing, effective learning, improving info-recording methods, solving problems creatively and memorizing theories. (Mindtools, 2014) This technique was popularized by Tony Buzan who consider "Learning how to learn is life's most important skill" and mind map easily simplify your problems and make it easier to learn (understand) the task. CAMP Tool and FreeMind are few software that can be used to draw mind maps.  

                                                How to make free mind map by Tony buzan

Thereafter the students were asked to create their own to do list first, then identify the important, not important, urgent & not urgent tasks among them and to prioritize the list according to their goals and consent. Then to come up with a mind-map accordingly. Finally to organize time slots for the day and notify interruptions that can occur when engaging in work. Also to draw an Energy Cycle sheet afterwards to observe the time periods which students work the most and to identify those peak times so that students may gain advantages by working accordingly. Below shows my work at class:

After working out above activities I realized that prioritizing work and creating mind maps are very useful techniques to manage time and i wish to continue these skills in my life in order to minimize my procrastination habit that always block my creativity and capabilities when doing studies. Therefore its clearly proved that, proper time management determines the success rate of the goals which can be achieved by a person.

Then the Personal Goal Setting topic was brought in to the limelight by the lecturer, this term refers to developing an idea of a person to become a solid plan/objectives and how they are going to achieve it. By setting goals in your life plan you can easily take the wheel to drive your life and reach the desired destination. According to Mind-tools, 2014 goal setting will increase your self-confidence & make you realize your own ability and competence level. Goal setting is a step-by-step process where you first decide the goals, then plan ways to achieve to it by breaking goals into different levels of time laps and finally working towards the end result.

Benefits that can be gained by Setting Goals:

• Convert mere dreams into realities 
• Maintain direction in life towards achieving what you want
• Give awareness about strengths and weaknesses 
• Improve interpersonal skills & decision making ability
• Supply a purpose to life & give motivation
• Increase the ability of accepting both pros and cons in life
• Make one self confident enough to take responsibility for their own life

Lecturer then introduced a popular technique that can be used to set goals, which is SMART goal setting methodology. The following diagram depict how to set goals using SMART option (Extension, 2014)

After aligning your goals with the above five dimensions, now start breaking them into 3 different levels such as:

1. Long term goals  (5 years or more than) 
2. Intermediate term goals (1 - 2 years) & 
3. Short term goals (months up to 1 year) 

Below picture will depict my working at class:

Although we do not realize, people always set small term goals in their heads without even knowing, this clearly proves that Personal Goal Setting is a important skill to expertise that allows oneself to take control of their dreams so that those can be convert into realities. One can use different methods like SMART or GROW models to set their goals and to work them out accurately, while eliminating the risk of setting unrealistic and unplanned goals. Finally I would like to declare that its important for a person or an organization to have their own set of goals and to know how to achieve them effectively in order to ring the success bell.

                         
                    I hope you enjoyed my 1st-week learning log :) Have a nice day, Thank You!!!


References:-

• Chapman, S. W., & Rupured, M. (2014). 10 Strategies for better time managemnt. Cooperative Extension , 1-8.
• Claessens, B., Eerde, W. V., Rutte, C. G., & Roe, R. A. (2007). A review of the time management literature. Personnel Review , 255 - 276.
• Extension. 2014. What are SMART Goals?. [online] Available at: http://www.extension.org/pages/11229/what-are-smart-goals#.VFeuPvmUeud [Accessed: 31 Oct 2014].
• Mindtools. 1996-2014. Mind Maps - Mind Mapping Training from MindTools.com. [online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm [Accessed: 31 Oct 2014].
• Pickford, M. (-). Goal Setting and Decision Making . Baylor Universityís Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development , 76-88.
• University Of Pennsylvania. n.d. One of These Days I’ll Stop Procrastinating. [e-book] Spruce Street: University of Pennsylvania. Available through: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/lr/PDF/procrastination%20(W).pdf [Accessed: 31 Oct 2014].