Print

6 Crash Course in Time Management for Library Staff at how you are using all of your time and how you want to be using your time. Our perceptions, strategies and feelings about time are subjective. While there are plenty of books and methods that promise to be the answer to your time management woes, it really is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Tracking time usage and becoming aware of time wasters may be a game changer for certain people, while using a timer for focused peri- ods of work will work for others. A bullet journal may be life-changing for your friend but may not be a good fit for you at all. This book seeks to help you devise the systems and plan that will work uniquely well for you. It is very likely that two people doing the same job will not man- age their time in the same way. Carolyn is a technical services assistant at Library A and her workspace, workflows, and daily routines are dif- ferent than Laura, who is a technical services assistant at Library B. Although their job duties are similar, the structure around their work is different. Our individual circumstances impact the time management strate- gies that work for us. It is ill-advised to make assumptions or judgments about how other people spend their time without better understanding their perspective and circumstances. Significant cultural differences exist and impact time manage- ment. Research time and cultures around the world and you will dis- cover that there are essential differences in perceptions of time. Some cultures emphasize long-term thinking, while others are focused on the short term. Strict adherence to schedules is important in some cultures, while others are more flexible. For example, researchers have found that some cultures may have a monochronic orientation to time, while other cultures have a polychronic orientation. In a monochronic culture, time is money and a schedule is strictly adhered to. In a polychronic society, however, time is more fluid and the focus is on relationships, rather than the clock. An in-depth exploration of these cultural differ- ences is beyond the scope of this book, but it demonstrates that our usage of time is a complex topic and we need to accept anotherÊs ori- entation. If we look at cultural differences related to time, it becomes even clearer that time is merely a construct. There is not one right way to manage time. Believe it or not, time and time management are fascinating top- ics of conversation. Ask your friends, family members, coworkers and fellow dinner party guests how they manage their time and you will be surprised at the variety in responses. Even if you start with lighter questions, such as, What apps do you use? or How do you keep track of to-dos? you will find that almost any discussion about time quickly shifts to richer conversations about the things that matter to us most. At a recent workshop, I asked participants to talk to their tablemates about calendars, asking one another questions such as: How many calendars do you use? Do you use a digital or a print calendar? What level of