Happy Monday! With today being the start of another work week, I’d like to invite you to join me in trying something new. Merriam-Webster defines “overachiever” as “one who achieves success over and above the standard or expected level. Today I’d like to invite you try and overachieve on your time management skills (OR to help your students overachieve in their time management skills). Towards the end of the 2012-13 school year, we completed an informal survey of students to see what skills they felt they needed more help with to make them successful in nursing school (This was done, in part, to revamp our How to Succeed in Nursing School Seminar which we offer for free to nursing schools and in online workshops too). The number one answer received in surveys from multiple schools was—surprise, surprise—time management. Now we know that you talk to your students about this, especially during orientation, but it doesn’t seem to sink in until they get their first test back and see that they didn’t study enough and that they need to change how they manage their time in order to study more efficiently.
Here are some tips from the nice people at MayoClinic.com to help you help your students:
- Plan each day. Write a to-do list, putting the most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.
- Prioritize your tasks. Time-consuming but unimportant tasks can consume a lot of your day. Prioritizing will ensure that you spend your time on those that are most important.
- Say no to nonessential tasks.
- Delegate. Take a look at your to-do list, and consider what you can pass on to someone else.
- Take the time you need to do a quality job. Doing work right the first time may take more time upfront, but it saves time in the long run when you factor in making corrections.
- Practice the 10-minute rule. Work on a dreaded task for 10 minutes each day.
- Evaluate how you’re spending your time. Keep a diary of everything you do for three days to determine how you’re spending your time; then look for time that can be used more wisely. For example, could you take a bus or train to work, and use the commute to catch up on reading?
- Limit distractions when necessary, and during that time close your door and turn off your phone, email, etc.
- Get plenty of sleep; eat a healthy diet; and exercise regularly. A healthy lifestyle can improve your focus and concentration which will help improve your efficiency (stay tuned for an upcoming blog on healthier living).
- Take a break when needed. Too much stress can derail your attempts at getting organized. When you need a break, take one. Take a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation. Take a day of vacation to rest and re-energize.
And most importantly—this one is courtesy of me, not Mayo—don’t forget to laugh! I know I said I’d like you to join me in trying to be an overachiever, but we’ll all have more fun if we pretend to be an “Ova Achiever” as the picture suggests or when you men-folk should remember to “Have a Ball” after efficiently managing your time.
We know that life as a Nurse and Nurse Educator can be challenging at best, and even more so if it happens to be when Aunt Flo visits the ladies OR when the gentlemen come down with a case of Irritable Male Syndrome (also called Del Syndrome or Andropause).
Just remember that you can always turn that frown upside down with some organ-themed goodies, such as these cliparts of the ovaries and testes from http://iheartguts.com. And course, never forget that you too can be an Ova Achiever (over overachiever) as long as you plan your schedule the right way!
Author’s note—if you want a refresher on the downside of poor time management, check out our blog on Nurse Fatigue, and for any new Nursing Faculty members, feel free to integrate the above tips, as well as our Survival Strategies part one, part two, and part three into your own personal lesson plan for teaching!
