Revista simpozionului Eficiență și calitate în educație - 19 mai 2017 Eficiență și calitate în educație | Page 33

you want to go, you can manage your priorities, time, and resources to get there. Goals
also help you decide what's worth spending your time on, and what is just a distraction.
Mistake 3. Not Prioritizing
Sometimes, it's hard to know how to prioritize, especially when you're facing a flood
of seemingly-urgent tasks. However, it's essential to learn how to prioritize tasks effectively
if you want to manage your time better.
Mistake 4. Failing to Manage Distractions
Whether they come from emails, IM chats, colleagues in a crisis, or phone calls
from parents, distractions prevent us from achieving flow, which is the satisfying and
seemingly effortless work that we do when we're 100 percent engaged in a task.
If you want to gain control of your day and do your best work, it's vital to know how
to minimize distractions and manage interruptions effectively.
Mistake 5. Procrastination
Procrastination occurs when you put off tasks that you should be focusing on right
now. When you procrastinate, you feel guilty that you haven't started; you come to dread
doing the task; and, eventually, everything catches up with you when you fail to complete
the work on time.
Mistake 6. Taking on Too Much
Either way, taking on too much is a poor use of your time, and it can get you a
reputation for producing rushed, sloppy work.
Mistake 7. Thriving on "Busy"
Some teachers get a rush from being busy. The narrowly-met deadlines, the
endless emails, the piles of tests needing attention on the desk, the frantic race to the
meeting... What an adrenaline buzz! The problem is that an "addiction to business" rarely
means that you're effective, and it can lead to stress. Instead, try to slow down, and learn
to manage your time better.
Mistake 8. Multitasking
So, the best thing is to forget about multitasking, and, instead, focus on one task at
a time. That way, you'll produce higher quality work.
Mistake 9. Not Taking Breaks
But it is impossible for anyone to focus and produce really high-quality work without
giving their brains some time to rest and recharge. So don't dismiss breaks as "wasting
time." They provide valuable down-time, which will enable you to think creatively and work
effectively.
Mistake 10. Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks
All of us have different rhythms, that is, different times of day when we feel most
productive and energetic. You can make best use of your time by scheduling high-value
work during your peak time, and low-energy work (like returning phone calls and checking
email), during your "down" time.
Children learn from adult modelled behaviour. Is it any surprise then, that children
like adults almost always list time as a major stressor? Among the teens, time or the lack
of time always makes it to the top five list. Many of us know that we could be managing our
time more effectively; but it can be difficult to identify the mistakes that we're making, and
to know how we could improve. When we do manage our time well, however, we're
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