My biggest issues with Time Management fall under the categories of Prioritization and Procrastination. I have always had a problem with procrastination but until reading these articles, did I realize that I also have an issue with Prioritizing tasks throughout the day. I have tried an experiment that was not 100% comfortable to me, but I did manage to stick to it for two weeks now and I'm already seeing positive results!
During my school day, I have a 40 minute prep period. Most of the time, I can do whatever I need to do during this time- contact papers, consult with my paraprofessionals or other teachers, contact parents, get lessons ready for the day, long term lesson planning, grading papers, working with students who need interventions, etc. The list is endless. That is where I found my biggest problem. This open-ended time was overwhelming to me. Instead of figuring out what was most important, I would generally just end up spinning my wheels and putting out whatever fires were right in front of me. This resulted in a lot of after school work, both at school and at home. It is very typical for me to leave school and my car be the only one in the parking lot! And my bag was always full every night and every weekend. But this has been my life so it was frustrating but nothing new.
So, my experiment was to use this 40 minutes in a different way and see what happened. It has been eye-opening! According to Charles Duhigg describes a 'habit loop'. I have been in this loop for 18 years (at least with teaching). He states that one reason we get into this habit of procrastinating is because we can avoid a negative, "as when we distract ourselves to avoid feeling feelings or thinking thoughts that we are unwilling to entertain". This is definitely my thinking. If I know I can't give 100% to something that I could do during my prep, I avoid it because I don't want to do it 'wrong'. So I put it off. And I became really good at this! But then on Sunday night, I am bogged down with a million little things that could have and probably should have been taken care of during the week. This is not a good feeling, but normal for me.
I decided to use Steven Covey's Covey Matrix which helped me put things into perspective. Each day at prep, I would quickly put things I needed to do in the 4 quadrants. I only allowed myself to focus on which items were in the Necessity and Quality categories. These are the two most important and most likely what I should have been doing all along. If my mind strayed, I would re-focus and remind myself that the other things could wait or be delegated. It wasn't always easy. However, as I read in the article, when we understand the root causes and make a clear and targetable goal, it helps understand why we are making the changes we are making more tolerable.
My plan wasn't always feasible. I would often get interrupted by a parent walking in unexpectedly, a child would get sick and need my attention, an impromptu meeting, etc. But most days, I kept to my plan. In the past two weeks, my time at home has been much more efficiently spent on school work. I am able to do the more important things, like long term lesson planning, analyzing data, using data to drive my instruction, forming small intervention groups, etc. I am not so cluttered down with smaller things that could have been taken care of during the week. I have also met deadlines easier, which will help me so much as we end the school year when it seems like our tasks and their deadlines multiply daily! I have become much more focused and aware or how my time is being spent (and wasted) and trying to use my limited success to keep going in the same direction. I hope one day that this will be a habit for me and I won't have to keep reminding myself. I would suggest to others who fight Prioritization and Procrastinators for their time, to use Covey's Matrix and set small manageable short-term goals and see if they work or not. Be specific in what you want to accomplish. I'm still a work in progress, but so far, so good!
