Time management (not only) for teachers (book review)

It took me half a year to finish one book – seriously, and it’s not because I’m a slow reader, quite contrary. It’s a book addressing one of my greatest problems (apart from procrastination and struggling with taking over the world) which is time management, something a work-from-home person may have issues with – I sure did.

Now I procrastinate more efficiently.

Brilliant Time Management. What the most productive people know, do and say is a book by Mike Clayton, one of the most popular project management trainers in the UK. To be honest, I bought this thin, unassuming book in yet another attempt to organise my life even better. I have been given feedback on my organisation skills as mad, yet since I started working from home I’ve found new areas requiring more effort and better organisation.

Has this book helped in my endeavours to come closer to the perfection of time management and organisation? Well, I will say more at the end of my note.

Book organisation

You won’t be surprised if I tell you that the organisation of the book is brilliant – and I love well-organised publications! There are three main areas covered that will help you:

know how to prioritise tasks
understand how time gets wasted and how to avoid this
feel ready to tackle procrastination and make more time for self

Each part consists of theory (kept short and simple, my favourite style) and exercises – be prepared to spend some time to observe your own time management skills. Naturally, there are some stories to back up the theoretical stuff which is great as we know storytelling makes everything easier to remember. Plus, there’s a great summary after each chapter to remind you all the good stuff you’ve just learnt (and surely practised).

What’s in the book

If you take time to observe your own time management patterns, you will learn a lot about yourself. Like the multitasking thing – something I thought I had covered, and the book helped me realise I actually didn’t, as I’m more an elephant than an octopus (I’m not blabbering, it does make sense once you read the book, I promise).

Anyhow, after you spend time observing your time patterns, you will analyse the way you actually manage your time (something that was really interesting in my case). You will have the opportunity to experiment with various ways of managing greater chunks of time – and then you will move to something that usually causes problems (at least for me): prioritising.

Being a teacher means a lot of paperwork, tests, meetings etc. It’s not easy to find time and complete all the tasks, but you will learn some nice ways to manage everything, and, as a result, get far less stressed. You will also have the opportunity to use the approach that works great with both big and small projects – It’s called the OATS Principle, which stands for Outcome, Activities, Timing, Schedule.

Recommendations

I mentioned the exercises in the book. Frankly, it’s because of them that I read the book for half a year – I simply did all the exercises, one by one, and moved on with the further reading when I decided I was ready. I guess it was the best approach – you can’t focus only on theory because the book may leave “oh yeah, great idea” impression… and nothing more. Take your time, focus on each activity and soon you’ll see changes in your time management.

Has it helped in my work and general life organisation? Two months after I’d started working on my time management, I got praised for my task management and general task completion. The person that noticed my improvement is someone I look up to when it comes to work organisation, so you may take it for granted: this book has helped me a lot.

If you seriously plan to read the book carefully, taking breaks in order to complete various tasks, you will find this book really interesting, and maybe even potentially life-changing. Highly recommended, not only for teachers – but for all of us who want to work more efficiently and save more time for, well, designing schemes to take over the world or simply petting cats.

Enjoy!