This Tip Tuesday reminded me of two things. First, Covey's Time Management Matrix and for those of you who are physicians, Gordan and Borkan (2014) adapted Covey's matrix for physicians with a slightly different layout and examples. I have the time management matrix on my white board, and I find it very satisfying at the end of each week to assess my matrix and move tasks around. This visual display (also color-coded cause I like that) helps me focus on not only the immediate, but also lets me keep an eye on those things that will eventually move from less urgent to urgent... The second reminder is of a weekday post-it note. I was standing in line to check out at at my local office supply store and saw a weekly planner sticky note pad (Amazon has something similar). This is a long, horizontal rectangular pad divided into columns of the days of the week. At that time, I was experiencing a lot of burnout before the week was even halfway over. The first of the week was jampacked with things, and I was rarely completing all the tasks, resulting in some serious deflation by week's end. I started using this sticky note pad to "calibrate" my week. I really like checking off the items and because I do this in pencil, I can erase and move to a different day of the week if I need. I know this sound like a lot of effort but it works for me for a couple of reasons. For one, it's a take on the Ivy Lee Method--which I really like (e.g. 1. At the end of each work day, write down the 6 most important things you need to do the next day--although, I've pared this down to 3 things; 2. Prioritize in terms of importance; 3. The next morning, focus on the first task until it is finished, then start the next; 4. Continue in this fashion and at the end of the day, move unfinished items to the next day. 5. Repeat each day). I get distracted pretty easily, and the combination of the time management matrix, the weekly sticky pad, and the Ivy Lee Method helps me to be much more organized, focused, and efficient!
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T. Gail Pritchard
Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs--Pre-Clerkship
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-16-2022 07:06
From: Nicole Buckley
Subject: Tip Tuesday: How to get more done each day
I love a to-do list. I'm terrible at finishing them. True story: I once signed up for a professional development course through an employer-that-shall-not-be-named based on the book Getting Things Done. "Get done reading this book" was on my to-do list… I never did finish.
So I recently read with great interest an article (subscription may be required) in which time management expert Donna McGeorge, author of The 1 Day Refund: Take Back Time, Spend it Wisely suggests breaking up the day into four 2-hour quadrants, and applying different types of tasks at the optimal time of day. She recommends:
- First quadrant: do high intensity, high impact work during the first two hours of the day because they require the most brainpower
- Second quadrant: do high intensity, low impact work when you still have mental agility but the impact of the tasks might be higher to others than to you
- Third quadrant: use the two hours after lunch for low intensity, low impact work (the most mundane of tasks)
- Fourth quadrant: do low intensity, high impact work when your mental agility drops; you can have the greatest impact by using this time to wrap up your day and preparing for the next.
Do you use something like this? Or another time management system?
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Nicole Buckley
Communications Strategist
Association of American Medical Colleges
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