Lesson notes, exercises, downloads, and recommended reading are below the video. On mobile, the video will rescale when you play it.


Activity Log: Logging Your Time and Activities

Don’t know where your time goes? The first step is to keep an eye on it. And that means keeping an activity log – a record of how you use your time.

What gets measured, gets managed!

Watching this video is worth 2 Management Courses CPD Points*.
(See below for more details)

This video is part of course module number 1.6.2
Program 1: Managing Yourself
Course 6: Personal Productivity
Section 2: Time Management

Relevant videos in the same section as this video include:
==============================================
– The Power of Habits: Productivity through Effective Working
https://youtu.be/kXmz_E8yUGw
– Organization: How to Enhance Your Productivity by Being Organized
https://youtu.be/2eUYH0z2yiQ
– Planning, Preparation, and Follow-up: Effective Working for Better Productivity
https://youtu.be/XZUCfd9xov0
– Use your Energy Cycles for More Effective Working and Greater Productivity
https://youtu.be/q_s0FkWISLo
– Failure of Multitasking: The Multitasking Myth
… https://youtu.be/IEN_hP9dtIM
– Special Time: and How to Use it to Work Effectively
… https://youtu.be/PNN0ybt32TA

LESSON NOTES
=============
Throughout the working day, note your activities and the time you spend on them, as accurately as possible. This should include interruptions, conversations and breaks.

record if each activity slot is planned, unplanned, or interrupted planned and your energy levels. Also classify the types of activity you do in each time slot as A, B, C, etc. For example:
A. Core role
B. Projects
C. Planning and thinking
D. Social and pleasure
E. Reactive response
F. Time wasting

This will tell you precisely how much of your time you spend in different areas of work. However, much of the value of your time log will be in a careful inspection:

• Do the proportions of time you spend on different types of activity seem right?
• When do you most often get interrupted – and what by?
• When are the peaks and troughs of your energy – and what do you do then?
• How much time do you spend on planned or unplanned activities?
• How much time do you spend in big blocks and how much is fragmented?
• Do things seem to get done in a random order, with no sense of logic or priority
• How long do regular jobs take you – and how does it compare with the time you allow?
• Are you constantly trying to juggle lots of different things
• Do you seem to get things started and then move on to other things?
• Do you spend a lot of my time doing things for other people that are not what you want to do for yourself, nor a part of your job?

RECOMMENDED EXERCISE
======================
1. Create your own activity log or download our templates and customize one of them to your liking (https://gum.co/XLziD)
2. Maintain your activity log for 3 to 5 days (2 MC CPD Points per day)
3. Review the outcome of your records of how you use your time. What do you learn about your priorities for improving how you use your time and achieve more productivity and better time management? (2 MC CPD Points) The notes in our download will help you to interpret the patterns an the videos in this course will help you address the issues (https://gum.co/XLziD).

DOWNLOADS
===========
Free Resources
– CPD Tools – https://gum.co/MC-CPD
Paid resources
– Management Courses Onboarding Kit – https://gum.co/MC-ObK ($3)
– Download our Activity log templates – https://gum.co/XLziD ($2)

RECOMMENDED READING
=====================
I’ll be as modest as I can. I’m something of an expert on effective working, personal productivity, & time management, with 4 best-selling books by 3 international publishers:
– The Time Management Pocketbook
https://geni.us/gHa4
– How to Manage Your Time
https://geni.us/Cpvp
– Powerhouse: Turbo Boost Your Effectiveness and Start Making a Serious Impact
https://geni.us/H7GDizc
– The Yes/No Book: How to do less… and achieve more
https://geni.us/yhF90n

And here are my picks from the thousands of other books on personal productivity, effective working, & time management:
– The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
https://geni.us/Zulp
– The Power of Habit: Why we Do what we Do, and How to Change
https://geni.us/vNtXd4
– Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
https://geni.us/JxTY
– Eat that Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating
https://geni.us/48Y1LlC

Management Courses Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points
===========================================================
You can record your Management Courses CPD points on our free, downloadable CPD record log.
Download it here: https://gum.co/MC-CPD

Each video has two levels of MC CPD points. For this video:
– If you simply watched the video, record 2 MC CPD points
– If you also carried out all of the recommended exercises, score up to a total of 14 MC CPD points
___

Note:
Links to our book recommendations are affiliated through Amazon

#Productivity #TimeManagement #ActivityLog

source

How to Manage Your Time Efficiently: Management Primer
Strategic Time Management: What and How
How to Use the Kanban Method for Time Management
How Does the Chain Method of Time Management Work?
How Does the Autofocus Time Management Method Work?
How Does the Getting Things Done Time Management Method Work?
What is the Pomodoro Technique? Working in Sprints
Eating Frogs: A Solution to Procrastination
How to Handle Interruptions and Distractions
How to Say NO: Noble Objection – the Ultimate in Time Management
How to Handle Overload: When Time Management is Not Enough
How to Clear a Backlog – The 4 Rs Method
Prioritization with the Pareto Principle – the 80-20 Rule
Prioritization: Understand Urgent and Important
To Do List and 7 Other Time Management Lists You Should Use Instead
Time Management with The OATS Principle
Goal Setting: The Start of Your Time Management
Email Wrangling: How to Manage Your Email for Greater Productivity
Monkey Management: How to Deal with a Monkey on Your Back
The Flow State… and How Flow Can Help You Work Effectively
Special Time: and How to Use it to Work Effectively
Overcome Overwhelm: Dealing with the Feeling of Being Overwhelmed
Conquer Procrastination: How to Avoid Putting Things Off
Three Types of Procrastination… and Why 2 are Good
Failure of Multitasking: The Multitasking Myth
Milestones and Deadlines for Self-Motivation and Greater Productivity
Wellbeing: What to do to Increase Your Productivity
Use your Energy Cycles for More Effective Working and Greater Productivity
Planning, Preparation, and Follow-up: Effective Working for Better Productivity
Organization: How to Enhance Your Productivity by Being Organized
The Power of Habits: Productivity through Effective Working

Mike Clayton

About Mike Clayton 

Dr Mike Clayton is a (former) Project Manager and now a management educator. Having trained thousands of people at live workshops, seminars, and conferences, he now delivers training mainly via video. He has 14 books with international publishers and runs two successful YouTube channels. He is also the founder of OnlinePMCourses.com

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