Time tactics
Careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG)
Part of the BPN Boost provision
AIM & OBJECTIVES
Aim
To develop practical strategies to prioritise effectively, protect focus and manage workload
Objectives
•Identify common time drains and analyse their impact on workload and priorities (S2, S13)
•Apply practical tools and techniques to organise tasks and manage activity effectively (K9, K12, S5)
•Use strategies to protect focus and make intentional decisions about how time is used (S2, B3)
•Develop personal approaches to working flexibly and adapting to changing operational demands (B5)
Time
What gets most in the way for you?
Identifying time drains is about awareness, not blame
Effective time management starts with understanding WHY time slips away
This is the ‘identify the problem’ stage
Time drains often distort priorities and pull attention from key goals
What patterns do you notice – do you get pulled into reactive work more than you realise?
Sharing challenges helps normalise them…you are not the only one experiencing these pressures
Time drains (S2 and S13)
The Padlet has the KSBs in full Breakout room 1
• Introduce yourself to the group
• Discuss the following prompts and prepare to give feedback
When managing your time, what gets most
in your way?
• Which time drains have the biggest impact on your ability to prioritise effectively and why?
• What patterns do you notice between your own time drains and the Padlet contributions from others?
• How do these time drains affect your team or stakeholders, not just your own workload?
For reflection: why time drains matter…
• Reduce productivity and increase pressure
• Create decision fatigue
• Take attention away from strategic tasks
• Encourage reactive rather than proactive working
For reflection: why time drains matter…
• Increase stress for you and your team
• Contribute to inconsistent performance
• Lead to rushed decisions
Objective 2 Apply
to
practical tools
and
techniques
organise tasks and manage activity effectively (K9, K12, S5)
Eisenhower Matrix
MITs (Most Important Tasks)
The 4D Model (Do/Defer/Delegate/Drop)
The Eisenhower Matrix
Separates urgent vs important tasks
Highlights where time is being ‘swallowed’
Helps reduce workload
Steers workload towards strategic priorities
The Eisenhower Matrix
MITs: most important tasks…what are they?
The tasks that matter most today… …and…
…have the biggest impact
…move the key goal/s forward
…must be completed, even if nothing else gets done
How to use the MITs tool
Each day, list 1-3 tasks that make the biggest difference
Protect time to complete them before lower-value tasks
Treat your top three as non-negotiable piorities
Everything else is optional, flexible or can be scheduled later
Examples of MIT planning
What is the 4D model
Helps you make quick, intentional decisions about tasks
DO: complete it now
DEFER: schedule it for later
DELEGATE: someone else can do it
DROP: remove it if no longer needed
How to use the 4D model
Sort your current task list as follows:
DO: high impact, time-sensitive
DEFER: important but not urgent
DELEGATE: tasks that do not require you
DROP: low-value or unnecessary tasks
Discussion
Breakout room 2
• Introduce yourself to the group
• Discuss the following and prepare to give feedback
Which of the three tools do you think would be most helpful in your current context and why?
What types of tasks or situations would each tool be best suited to?
How might using these tools change the way you prioritise, plan or protect your time?
1. Which of the three tools do you think would be most helpful in your current context - why?
2. What types of tasks or situations would each tool be best suited to?
3. How might using these tools change the way you prioritise, plan or protect your time?
The
Objectives 3 & 4
Use strategies to protect focus and make intentional decisions about how time is used (S2, B3, B5)
Develop personal approaches to working flexibly and adapting to changing operational demand (B5)
Strategies to protect focus & reduce distractions
Time blocking
The 80% rule
Managing interruptions
Reducing ‘task-switching’
Time blocking
Plan protected time for important work
Helps reduce switching and ‘reactive drift’
Signals to others when you are available
Works best when combined with MITs/4D
The 80% Rule
Schedule only 80% of your day
Leave 20% for interruptions
Reduces pressure and overwhelm
Makes plans more realistic and flexible
Managing interruptions
Turn off non-essential notifications e.g. your watch/phone
Use ‘office hours’ for quick questions
Check emails in blocks i.e. not each time you get a notification
Makes plans more realistic and flexible
Reducing ‘task switching’
Group similar tasks together
Complete tasks in batches
Avoid monitoring multiple demands
Protect ‘deep focus’ blocks
A
summary for your reference…
Discussion
Breakout room 3
• Introduce yourself to the group
• Discuss the following and prepare to give feedback
Which strategy would make the biggest difference to your week?
How do interruptions currently affect your ability to focus?
Which is the one time habit you would like to strengthen?
Breakout room 3
1. Which strategy would make the biggest difference to your week?
2. How do interruptions currently affect your ability to focus?
3. Which is the one time habit you would like to strengthen?
Reflection…
• Time management is as much behavioural as is it tools/techniques i.e. make your tactics a ‘habit’
• Leaders model time practices that their teams tend to unconsciously copy
• Being adaptable/flexible is an essential leadership skill/behaviour
Taking this forward… …reflection prompts
• Which time tactic could make the biggest difference to your workload, if you applied it consistently?
• What one change in your time habits would your team notice most quickly and why?
• How will you protect time for the tasks that matter most in your role over the next week?
• What will help you stay adaptable when priorities or pressures shift?
AIM & OBJECTIVES
Aim
To develop practical strategies to prioritise effectively, protect focus and manage workload
Objectives
•Identify common time drains and analyse their impact on workload and priorities (S2, S13)
•Apply practical tools and techniques to organise tasks and manage activity effectively (K9, K12, S5)
•Use strategies to protect focus and make intentional decisions about how time is used (S2, B3)
•Develop personal approaches to working flexibly and adapting to changing operational demands (B5)