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Posted: 20th November 2014

Getting the most out of your time
Carolyne Crowe
Caroline Crowe BSc BVetMed
Does time manage you, or do you manage it?

Carolyne Crowe's lecture in the Business Theatre at the London Vet Show was all about coping with the pressure of time and being more effective in the work you do and the life you lead. Caroline asked "does time manage you, or do you manage it?"

We need to know what we want to achieve and need to achieve each day, week and month if we are going to regain control of our time and life.  Lack of time management causes stress, which often eventually leads to underachieving and poor well-being. However, we should always be aware that stress and pressure are two different things. Stress is always bad but some pressure can be an advantage to how we work, it's only when the pressure gets too great that the stress kicks in.

A work-life balance is important to everyone and involves deciding what is important to you in both your personal life and your professional life. So you need to consider in your personal life the importance of career, finance, family, relationships, home, health and recreation. In your professional life, assess the importance of HR consults, CPD, management, paperwork telephoning clients etc. The key is to "Live your life by design not by default" and success in this is achieving a life that is right for you.

It is vital to prioritise your time prioritising tasks into important and urgent, important but non urgent, urgent but not important and finally those which are not important and not urgent. Ironically it is often this last category that we spend a lot of time on.

Caroline stressed the importance of 'To do lists'. She recommended the keeping of two types of list - long term and short term. The long term being for the concepts and the short term for immediate actions. Also important is to have a time frame for all that needs to be done, not just by you, but also by those to whom you have delegated.

Also discussed were the 'Four Ds' by which your time management should be carried out - consider each task and then:
  • Do it
  • Defer it
  • Delegate it
  • Ditch it
Sound advice for the busy vet, nurse or manager.

The message from the lecture was to get off the hamster wheel, know what is important, know what you want, prioritise your time, make your to do lists and above all plan your time effectively so that you can create a lifestyle at suits you.

Carolyne's final message was: "Do something today that your future self will say 'thank you' for."



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