Time Management, Prioritization, and Productivity

Name: Time Management, Prioritization, and Productivity
Author: Charles Shambry

Increase your productivity by managing your time and prioritizing tasks

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Course: On-Demand

(bright intro music) Welcome to Time Management, Prioritization, and Productivity. In these lessons, we'll focus on time management and task prioritization as processes that are essential to our professional and personal lives, and how these skills are related to productivity. Let's begin with discussing Covey's Quadrants to help you prioritize your tasks and increase productivity. Stephen Covey is a famous self-development pioneer. For years, he has hosted seminars and lectures on the idea of self-improvement. Covey is also the author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." In this best seller, he presents the Covey's Quadrant, which is a prioritizing process featuring four different areas. There are two sides to the quadrant, urgent and important. Urgent, in this context, can be defined as a task that requires your immediate attention, like an upcoming deadline at work. Fulfilling these duties will require present work rather than future work. Important refers to long-term goals that direct you to the future you want to pursue, such as being promoted to an executive position. To achieve your goals in the important quadrant, you can cultivate certain skills. Here is what Covey's four quadrants look like. Important and urgent tasks, your first priority. Important but not urgent tasks, your second priority. Urgent but not important tasks, your third priority. Not important and not urgent tasks, your last priority. Quadrant one, important and urgent tasks. These tasks are your main priorities because they may have deadlines or pressing problems. Putting off tasks in this quadrant can cause major consequences. It's best to do important and urgent activities as soon as possible. Quadrant two, important but not urgent tasks. Your second priorities are important but don't have major deadlines like those in the first quadrant. The tasks in this quadrant are important because they focus on the most valuable things you want in your personal and business life. These are long-term goals that require scheduling and planning. Quadrant three, urgent but not important tasks. This is your third priority. This quadrant often doesn't include any long-term aspirations. Tasks in this area are usually reactions to daily events. For example, emails and calls that are not majorly important to you, but could be priorities for other people. Many of these tasks can be delegated. Quadrant four, not important and not urgent tasks. These are your last-priority tasks. They are usually time-waster activities without much importance to your life and goals. Most of these tasks can be eliminated from your life. But some, like recreation and relaxation, can still be performed after you've completed more high-priority tasks. Focusing on tasks in quadrants three and four may not lead you to high productivity. Instead, try focusing on those in quadrant one. Completing these tasks first can improve your productivity, so you can work on the tasks in the other quadrants without stress.

Beginner Provider : Charles Shambry 6 Lessons · 16m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

Most of us want to be a more productive worker. The ability to do high quality work in a short amount of time can benefit your career as well as your company. You can do this through better management of your time and proper prioritization of your tasks. There are a number of different factors that can affect these areas, like multitasking, environment, and technology. Depending on how they are implemented, these factors can have a negative or positive effect on your productivity. How can you increase your productivity?

In this course on Time Management, Prioritization, and Productivity, you’ll learn about various techniques and technologies you can use to become a better manager of your time, assign the proper priority to each task, and make yourself more productive. You’ll discover the benefits and disadvantages of multitasking and how focusing on one task at a time can help you become more productive at work and beyond. After completing this course, you’ll have the knowledge you need to become a more valuable worker.

What You'll Learn

Demonstrate how to become a better time manager
Identify and prioritize tasks effectively
Recognize the factors that are helpful and harmful to productivity
Determine when to multitask versus when to focus on a single task
Apply techniques and technologies to manage your time and increase productivity

Key Takeaways

Doing high quality work in a short amount of time can benefit both your career and your company.
Productivity can be improved through better time management and proper prioritization of tasks.
Factors such as multitasking, environment, and technology can have either a negative or positive effect on productivity depending on how they are implemented.
Focusing on one task at a time, rather than multitasking, can help you become more productive at work and beyond.
Completing the course gives you the knowledge to become a more valuable worker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn various techniques and technologies to become a better manager of your time, assign the proper priority to each task, and make yourself more productive. The course also covers the benefits and disadvantages of multitasking and how focusing on one task at a time can help you become more productive.

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone who wants to be a more productive worker by improving their time management, task prioritization, and overall productivity.

What topics does the course cover?

The course covers prioritizing to benefit productivity, identifying and pursuing tasks, time management and identifying tasks, learning when to multitask, and learning when to focus on a single task, followed by a Test Your Knowledge lesson.

What skills will I gain from this course?

You will gain skills in prioritization, time management, productivity management, productivity improvement, and task management.

Does the course address multitasking?

Yes. You will discover the benefits and disadvantages of multitasking and learn when to multitask versus when to focus on a single task.

Professional Certifications and Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Project Management Institute (PMI®)

Professional Development Units (PDUs): 0.5

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