Steve the Owl's Blog

I am not the most naturally organized person. What systems of organization that I do have often seem discernible only to me. However, one of my biggest frustrations in life is wanting to do something, only to realize that I have allowed life to get in the way of my goals. Knowing that, I decided to check out Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern to find out more about time management.

Finally, Recommendations for Me!

One of the big things that I noticed in other attempts at time management was just how much the schedule seemed to be recommended based on someone else: someone who is already neat and has their time management skills together. If that is your fear, I can assure you that that is not the case. Julie Morgenstern gives plenty of suggestions that can be done by anybody.

Perhaps first and foremost is figuring out what works and what doesn’t. As someone who has finished many a paper at just about the last minute possible, but still almost always found a way to meet the deadline, I know that this is something for me where external pressure seems to work very well. I can hammer out a 10-20 page paper in one day, but ask me to do it in five days at a rate of 2-4 pages a day, and I will struggle. Knowing that, in a year or so, I must begin my dissertation process, and that I am allowed up to eight years to finish it, I know that I cannot just sit idly by and wait until the last minute to finish a 200-300 page work that must be regularly reviewed by advisors. So, I am going to look at the fall semester as my chance to practice pacing myself.

Time Maps: An Eye-Opening Experience

One of my biggest surprises in the time mapping process was just how many open spaces there are where I don’t really accomplish all that much. However, the concept of a Time Map is to get good enough at figuring out those basic goals for your time that you can just plug in events relevant to each type of event. There is room for personal things, professional, family, spiritual… you name it. My piece of advice: figure out what you do best and when you do it best, and then work around that.

Putting It All Together

The process does not end with the time map. After the two-week process of developing one’s own time map and refining it, then comes the ways to make the most out of time. This is something that will make it possible to make one’s time much more effective, as the important things are kept, and the distractions are gradually scrapped as one learns another way to set priorities.

Conclusion

This is definitely the time management book for the rest of us. Rather than trying to fit someone else’s idea of what constitutes a good use of time, why not use Julie Morgenstern’s book to learn how to develop a much more personalized approach? Those who are looking for books on time management obviously want to improve on it, and I would be hard pressed to find a better place to start than this book.

Tags: book review, Julie Morgenstern, personalized approaches, time management, Time Management from the Inside Out

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Steve's Book Club. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.