Why are there so many different organizational systems and time management methods out there?

The answer is simple: it is like any other personal challenge, like weight loss or money management. There is no simple, one size fits all answer. You must build a solution that works for you.

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What will I learn over the two day course?

Over the course of this two-day workshop, we will explore various time management and organizational tools and techniques so that you can build a customized productivity plan for your personal and professional lives. At the end of the course, you will emerge with a plan that works for you, so that you can start regaining control of your life!

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What are the outcomes of this course?

This two-day workshop will teach participants how to:

• Identify what personal efficiency is, what skill sets can improve your personal productivity, and what attitudes we should cultivate

• Explain why multi-tasking is a myth

• Describe what role long-term goals play in short-term efficiency

• Share a personal vision and develop dreams and goals from it

• Apply the 80/20 rule and learn how it should affect planning

• Identify the characteristics of a good organizational system

• Develop a plan for an efficient workspace, including a customized information center and a filing system

• Apply a system that will allow you to process any type of information that crosses your desk, including e-mail, electronic files, paper files, voice mail, text messages, and drop-in visitors

• Use the Eisenhower principle to prioritize work

• Say no

• Use routines to simplify your life

• Understand why you procrastinate and develop methods for tackling tasks

• Apply ideas and tools to make your household more productive and efficient

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Course overview structure and key elements of the day

 

1. Arrival / First day

You will spend the first part of the day getting to know course participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

 

2. Understanding Personal Efficiency

To start, participants will explore what personal productivity means to them and others, and what it might feel like. We’ll also discuss how personal productivity is similar to (and different from) basic time management.

 

3. Developing the Right Attitude

This session will give participants some useful attitudes to cultivate and some skills that they might want to work on. You will also discuss why multi-tasking is a myth.

 

4. Laying the Foundation 

Your daily and weekly task lists are in fact only the tip of your personal to-do list. This session will show participants how to create a strong foundation for their daily plan: a vision statement, dreams, and goals.

 

5. The Building Blocks of a Good Organizational System

After the lunch break, participants will brainstorm a list of characteristics of a good organizational system. You will also explore Pareto’s principle, also known as the 80/20 rule.

 

6. Creating the Right Environment and Setting Up Your Virtual Environment

This session will focus on how to purge a workspace, design it for efficiency, and re-organize it. We will also introduce our filing system and our daily information management system: the incubator. Next, we will take a closer look at organizing electronic files and e-mail.

 

7. Setting up Your Information Management Center

Day Two will begin with an overview of the four components of an information management center: calendar, to-do lists, communications log, and project notebook. To reinforce learning, participants will review three case studies and then create their own.

 

8. Managing Information in Six Easy Steps

This session will introduce the GOPHER model of handling information. Participants will then apply the knowledge to a case study.

 

9. Prioritizing Your Tasks

Next, participants will learn how to prioritize work with the Eisenhower principle, also known as the urgent-important matrix.

 

10. Saying No

In this session, participants will explore different ways of saying no.

 

11. Creating Routines and Stopping Procrastination Now (Not Later!)

Participants will discover the importance of routine through an exercise and a large group discussion. This session will give participants some ways to tackle those tasks that they have been putting off. Participants will also complete a Challenge to Change.

 

12. Applying Our Lessons at Home 

The final session of this workshop will give participants to organize key areas at home, including chores, exercise, and meals.

 

13. Workshop Wrap-Up

At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.