A few people have asked me how I manage my time. Specifically, they wanted to know how I could upload lesson handouts regularly, blog, tweet, hold down a full-time job and still find time to watch Arsenal’s Premier League games live on the tele.
So here is an answer – 10 Tips:
Time Management 101 for webmasters, bloggers, tweeters, teachers (and Arsenal supporters) – Part 1
1. Ask for help
I’m surrounded by the friendliest and most helpful people in the world. They are called teachers. They never seem to tire of helping. I frequently post a tweet on Twitter that says: “Will start making news lesson in 30 mins. Suggestions for topics?” The replies I get save me about two hours a week looking for stories. I’m so grateful for this help.
2. Wear a shirt with a pocket
For several decades I have been filling my shirt pockets with little notes to myself - ideas, things not to forget, whether my wife told me to buy milk or bread on the way home. This saves me at least an hour every week wracking my brains for those great ideas. Add to that another hour for having to get changed and go back to buy the milk I forgot to buy (or bread). Warning: Make sure you remove small notes from shirt pocket before putting into washing machine.
3. E-mail yourself
For several years I have been e-mailing myself. It’s not because of a lack of friends. No… the e-mails are digital notes in shirt pockets. This is especially great when the pencil technology breaks. This usually saves me time because I have got into the habit of immediately actioning the messages when I next open my mail. Great for preventing procrastination.
4. DropBox.com
I joined the wonderful Dropbox.com a while back and have never looked back. Now this is a timesaver. The number of hours I’ve spent looking for my Flash-memory-USB thing that I lost, I could have spent making seven new sites. I haven’t needed a Flash since joining DropBox. In fact, I’m not sure I know where it is.I work on three different computers at work and home (Apple and PC) and putting everything in my DropBox does actually save me hours every week transferring files from work to home / Apple to PC. And it’s really difficult to lose a DropBox.
5. Don’t sit down… yet
Whatever it is you do when you get home from work, school, a restaurant, don’t do it…. yet. Spend ten minutes doing a few things on your mental to-do list. And then do whatever it is you do when you get home from work, school, a restaurant. I’ve got into the habit of doing this and it really does get things done.
6. Follow Confucius and Nike
I think it was Confucius who said “A thousand mile journey starts with a single step.” And it was Nike who said “Just Do It”. I love and pretty much live by both of these adages. No matter how huge a project looks, it’s not…. really. Just… start it. A little bit each day and then hey presto you have a thousand-page website. This has saved me about a decade in time. Had I not just done it or not taken that first step, I would be still mulling things over now things that I started ten years ago.
7. Really hot drinks.
Every time you sit at the computer, take a really hot drink with you. It means you have to sit at the computer until the really hot drink cools down and you can drink it. This is the perfect time to do a few of those things you often put off. For me, this means writing birthday cards, paying bills online, tidying your desk area, sorting out photos, etc.
8. Watch only Arsenal’s live games.
This is a real timesaver. Instead of wasting my time watching Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, I only watch Arsenal. Two reasons for this: (a) because Arsenal are better to look at than the other teams and (b) it releases at least 4 hours a week for you to sit at your desk with a piping hot drink. I guess it doesn’t have to be Arsenal… Could be the Shanghai Hamsters or the Sao Paolo Gogetems.
9. Tab management
Save the links you open often as a tabbed group in your browser – I open 10 websites with one click and then start typing in passwords as each site opens. I put the most important sites at the beginning of the group. The most important one is the mail account I use for my e-book – I always check that first in case I need to upload the book, which can take place while I check the other sites. You can turn this into an orchestrated art from. If you really want to, that is.
10. Design a Twitter application
Twitter is fantastic. I love it. Digital equivalent of sliced bread. But, if you invented an app that only gave you access to Twitter for three minutes an hour…
So…
Part 1 of my Time Management techniques means a saving of a decade here and four hours there and trips to get milk elsewhere. Usually the convenience store.
Tune in next post for more tips. And, not to be missed… Time Management tips that could get you into really hot water.
Tags: Confucius, Nike, saving time, Time Management, Timesaving tips
This is the blogpost I’ve been waiting for – how Sean does it! To read these tips from someone with such amazing productivity means much more than from some author who for all I know only writes books on how to be productive.
I particularly like the Dropbox idea and the Really Hot Drink is great as long as you don’t spill it on your computer and spend several days sorting out the damage!
Thanks, Sean. Looking forward to part 2 when you have time.
Great tips! I like to set an online stopwatch http://www.online-stopwatch.com/
Helps me manage time and prevent marathon computer sessions.
Thank you Johanna,
DropBox is a must for me now – Don’t know what I’d do without it.
I use Really-Hot-Drink-Spilling Management Techniques too. My favourite is my wireless keyboard. Never afraid anymore to hover anything in a cup above it because it won’t fuse my hard drive (if that’s what happens when piping hot tea gets inside your computer??).
Thanks Kim,
The online stopwatch looks like a great idea. Will definitely try it. Wonder if I can link it to a stopcomputer app
Great set of tips. The really hot drink doesn’t work for me, because I really enjoy really really hot drinks, and hate when they get merely warm. And I can better tip number 8 – support a team who is never on TV (and anyway support of Arsenal is something that ought to be banned anyway)
Fantastic ideas Sean. I love the drop box one as I have about 6 different USB sticks and three computers (one home, one work and laptop) so thing are going out of control! Will definitely be using your tips this week and seeing how I get on. Nice post.
Hi Sean,
This is such a great post and I enjoyed reading it very much (with a smile on my face:))
Thanks 4 the gr8 tips.
Eva
I love your ideas and am going to look into Dropbox.com right after I post this comment. That’s where I’m going to start and then I’ll come back and read your post again and try (or rather “do”) another tip. Thank You!
Thanks Andy,
What a terrible thing to say about the masters of Time Management on the football pitch
Thanks Sara,
The thing I dislike about memory sticks is they are prone to forget everything. I think I’ve had the data wiped on three different flash drives. That’s annoying. I carry one in my wallet for emergencies but haven’t used it for months.
Thank you Irene,
Good luck and please come back and let me know how much time you’re saving
Merci! Love the tips, and thanks for sharing the dropbox idea!
Awesome tips Sean. Now we know your time management secrets! Really helpful indeed. Could try quite a few like 1, 2 and most definitely 6.
Of course, if you really want to save more time then you could support a team like Brighton – we’re never on the telly!
Thanks for the tips – dropbox is truly the best thing to happen to time management since tabbed browsing.
Great tips, Sean – and I say that as a fellow teacher and as a Spurs fan!
Haven’t tried Dropbox yet – I’ll be giving it a trial run.
Already using online-stopwatch. It’s great for putting a limit on tasks.
Talking of limits, I’ve found that one of the best time management tips as a teacher is to think of my time in three zones – see http://www.time-management-success.com/time-management-for-teachers.html for details – but the general idea is that, as a teacher, it’s easy to let unscheduled work time (i.e. that which isn’t dictated by bells and buzzers) eat in to evening and weekends.
Anything that helps limit unscheduled work time is good in our job.
I’d say that every teacher should have a smart phone. This can help them manage their time with calendar, task list, email, web browser, and more.
I also tell colleagues to get an Evernote account (evernote.com). This is a great free service to keep track of notes and much more.
I use Evernote, Google docs, Google Calendar and a Palm Pre to stay organized.
Here are some articles on how I use technology to be organized and efficient:
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-technology-i-use-on-daily-basis.html
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-palm-pre-and-pixi.html
Nice article by the way!
I have to agree with Dave. Google Docs & Calender are great. I have a Driod and it is linked to my school mail, school calender, gmail, google calender, facebook, and twitter. The phone organizes it all into a single place and merges the calenders together and gives notices and updates. I can also use it to review documents/files and forward them to a colleague if I want to share it or if they ask for it.
This has helped my time management, but any advice on how to get motivated to do lesson plans? (other than just forcing yourself to do them)
I get really into planning the next couple of days, but I rarely stay on schedule for more than 3-4 days so I do not see the point of planning that far ahead, but my administrators want them to be turned in.
Thanks for this, Sean – really useful, especially the Dropbox! Just need to substitute Spurs for the Gunners and I’m with you all the way!!
Thanks Andrea,
I usually don’t allow the Sp**s word on my site. I’ve made an exception here