Nets for Catching Hours
(Seven Secrets for Stealing Time)
Diane Jonte-Pace, Associate Provost for Faculty Development
1. PRIORITIZE AND ORGANIZE*
- Identify important and high priority projects for the year: ask yourself what you want to accomplish (Be realistic).
2. RESERVE 20%
- Reserve at least 20% of your time for the important and high priority projects.
3. PROTECT YOUR TIME
- Protect your high priority hours. (Close the door; don't answer e-mail; ignore the telephone.)
4. RESIST THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT
- Don't perform tasks that seem urgent (for someone else?) but are not important for you.
- Work on high priority projects before they become urgent.
5. THINK LIKE A LAWYER
- Perform a time-audit. Record your activities every half hour for three days: find out where your time actually goes. Then re-evaluate and prioritize.
6. TAKE RESPONSIBLE SHORTCUTS
- Submit the article when it's "good enough": don't wait until it's perfect.
- Cancel a quiz. Schedule a catch-up day on every syllabus.
- Write only three comments on student papers. Don't write any comments on final exams.
7. DELEGATE
- In some cases, "Anything I can do, you can do better." Consider giving some tasks to an assistant.
*Adapted from Walter Gmelch,"It's About Time," Academe, September-October 1996: 22-26, and Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill and Rebecca Merrill, First Things First .
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