Research Assessment #2

Date: September 16, 2019

Subject: Cardiology - Time Management of a professional

MLA Citation:

Kashyap, Vartika. “12 Time Management Tips to Achieve Your Goals By Working Less.”

ProofHub, 24 May 2019, www.proofhub.com/articles/time-management-tips-for-work.

Analysis:

Of the numerous jobs in today’s world, one of the most time consuming job happens to

be that of a doctor. Doctors, especially cardiologists, may spend up to 65 hours per week

meeting with patients, having conferences and other work related activities. With such a

restricted schedule, making the most of your time is a very important skill. In order to set

yourself up for success, being productive with the little time you have away from work could

prove beneficial. Work related stress could lead to health problems that many professionals

suffer from. Problems such as these are often related to the lack of time management skills

within individuals. In this article, the tips provided by the author, Vartika Kashyap, provides

assistance on how to best manage one’s time which will yield the best possible results.

Although these tips might seem like they are obvious, not many students or professionals follow

abide by these rules. An overload of work could be the cause to someone’s stress, however it is

important to realize that organizing your work and setting time limits for each assignment will

reduce the amount of pressure on the person. Methods like these will set people up for success,

but it is important to visually realize that together, these tips offered in the passage will prove

beneficial by reducing your workload and increasing your effectiveness in the workplace.

The author starts off the passage by asking a series of questions. “Do you often have to

sit beyond 9 to 5 working hours? Do you end up missing deadlines every week? Do you find it

difficult to manage work-life?”. These questions should sound familiar to a lot of people. They

depict scenarios that every professional, and aspiring professionals, have been in at a point in
their careers. By asking relatable questions like these, the attention of the audience has been

directed towards the possible solutions that could increase their productivity. The first tip is

“learning how to say ‘no’”. Distractions are meant to divert your attention away from what is

important, into something that is more preferable and requires less effort. If you have a project

you need to work on that is due next week, but your friends are asking you to watch a movie

with them, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you lean towards avoiding your work. The effortless action

of hanging out with friends is something that will give you joy in the moment, but has taken away

the time you could have used to be productive, such as working on your project. The second tip

is the importance of “focusing on your highest value activities”. Organizing your day by starting

off with the highest value tasks is an important factor of time management. Because your

priority tasks are expected to take the most amount of time, completing them first and moving

on to assignments of less importance will release the pressure set on an individual to complete

their tasks in a given time frame. The third tip is sleeping 7-8 hours everyday. The optimal

amount of sleep that is healthy for a working adult is 7-8 hours. Sleep gives the body and mind

the rest they need in order to function at a preferable level during the day. Sacrificing sleep will

only lead to an imbalance in one’s sleep schedule and will lead to an unproductive day due to

the body and mind not receiving their rest and therefore functioning at a low level. The fourth tip

is defining your purpose. If you do not have a goal or purpose that you have set for yourself, you

will not have a reason that motivates you to wake up every morning and work. Having a goal will

set you on the path to success, and will help you get there through self motivation. The fifth tip is

to find out where you are wasting your time. Time is a valuable component to success. It is

limited and you can never get it back once you have used it. Pointless activities such as social

media and video games do not help you in anyway, but in fact harm you, and takes away

valuable time which could have been spent on a productive activity. The sixth tip is simply using

time management tools. Calendars, activity logs, and planners all play a role in organizing your

tasks throughout the day, and proves effective. Having a visual of what needs to be completed
will always help. The seventh tip, which may seem childish, is keeping your energy up through

short naps. Major companies are starting to take the initiative of creating nap spaces for their

employees in order to raise productivity. Taking naps has proven to be beneficial as the body is

reenergized and is ready to perform at a high level. The eighth tip, which is a reiteration of the

fourth tip, is to set a goal for yourself. The ninth tip is to get rid of the habit of procrastination. As

simple as it may seem, it is very difficult to get rid of this habit. The body will always choose

leisure over work, and will therefore push you to put off this work for another time. However,

finishing the assignments before hand will allow the body an opportunity to rest and gives you

extra time in the day to complete other tasks. The tenth tip is to follow a healthy diet. Eating

healthy food is extremely important for the body to stay focused throughout the day and

provides the body with energy to operate at a consistent level during the entirety of the day. Tip

eleven is to stop multitasking. Multitasking is another way to describe distractions. Move

distractions away from yourself in the time you have set for yourself to complete work. This will

shorten the time being spent working and increase the quality of your work. The twelfth and final

tip is to “find your productivity zone”. Finding the time of day where you function best to

complete your work will obviously lead to better results in a shorter amount of time. Consistently

doing this everyday will eventually turn it into a habit and will yield greater results. Together,

these 12 tips offer methods to increase the quality of your work by eliminating the deficiencies

that cause the loss of time.

These tips can not only be applied to professionals, but students and aspiring

professionals such as myself. Over the course of high school, one thing I have found to be

helpful is to avoid spending time on unproductive activities that take away time. Like tip one

says, I have developed the ability to say “no” to distracting activities that lead nowhere and

instead use that time to do something productive. As the second tip says to focus on high value

activities, I tend to organize my assignments by their value. If I have a major grade assignment

due the next day, but I also have notes to take, I will make sure that I first complete the
assignment before I move on to a less time consuming activity such as taking notes. The third

tip, which says to sleep for 7-8 hours, is something that I believe is very important. If I stay

awake until midnight to study for a test just to wake up at 5:30 to go to tennis practice, although

I studied excessively for the test, I cannot expect to do well on it due to the lack of rest I have

given my body and mind. They will function at a low level and the results may not be the

greatest. That is why I believe getting an appropriate amount of sleep is important. Next, tip four

says to define your purpose. The purpose I have set for my life is to save other’s lives. Through

being a cardiologist, I believe I can satisfy my purpose and impact entire families and

accomplishing the achievement of saving another person's life. I believe nothing beats the

feeling of helping others, and that is my main motivation in life. Finding out where I am wasting

my time, which is tip 5, is also an important factor if I want to be successful. I saw that social

media and watching sports was where a large amount of my time was being spent on.

Therefore, I took the initiative of deleting apps such as snapchat and instagram, and limiting the

time I had to spend on sports. This action had a positive result, as now I have less distractions

and more time to focus on my work. The sixth tip of using time management tools also played a

great role in my life. I found out that listing all my activities for each day on a white board was a

great method to managing my time. It allowed me to set certain time frames for each task, and

led to greater results than before. Overall, having the ability to visually look at the tasks I needed

to accomplish in the day proved effective. The seventh tip of taking naps to re-energize myself

is something that could possibly prove effective if I can find a way to implement that into my

schedule. Especially because I play tennis everyday, taking a 30 minute nap after coming back

from school could possibly set me up for success as I will then have more energy to complete

my assignments with greater quality. As I have stated before, tip eight mentions setting a goal

for yourself, and mine is to be a cardiologist. In the future, I hope to start my own practice and

work with other cardiologists. Tip nine, which mentions the idea of getting rid of procrastination,

is a huge component to saving time. My mindset is if I am able to complete my tasks in a set

amount of time, then I will be able to have more time to complete other activities and gain some

more sleep. Tip ten is also an important factor of my daily life. Every before school, I make sure

to eat a breakfast that will supply my body with the appropriate amount of energy. Also, I drink a

protein shake everyday which gives me enough protein for physical activities such as tennis.

Moreover, tip eleven states to eliminate multitasking. I always finish the task at hand before I

move onto the next, because if I am attempting to complete two tasks at once then I am not

putting 100% effort and attention on that task, which will decrease the quality of it. The final tip,

tip twelve, says to find your “productivity zone”. My productivity zone is limited because of the

fact that I am a student and my work can only be completed after school, however I try to make

the most of my time at home to complete my work in the most efficient way possible. All of these

tips can be applied in my life and relate to me and my hopeful future career of cardiology.

The tips the article provided us with were surprisingly impactful in my school life.

Although these tips seem easy to implement, it is very difficult to become accustomed to these

rules in your everyday life. Although it took me a long time to get used to following these tips,

the result was positive and has motivated me to be more productive and execute my tasks

effectively. The tips of organizing your day using time managing tools and finding the source of

your distractions have proved effective in my life. It led me to take the correct initiative and has

in return given me more time to be able to complete the tasks I have been assigned. Also, the

fact that these tips that were meant for professionals but also applied to me made me realize

that implementing these rules in my life currently will allow me to take these habits with me to

the next level, which will set me up for success in the workplace. These time management tips

also provoked my curiosity, and led me to ask myself questions including “how does a

cardiologist prefer to spend his or her personal time apart from their job?”, and “do cardiologists

use the same organizational skills daily, or do they have to adapt to the various scenarios that

may show up?”. The basis of these questions all rely on organizational skills, which can be

gained through experience within this specific work.

 In the end, these tips have allowed me to set myself up for success. Along with the new

tips I learned, I will be able to apply these rules to my school life in order to complete my

assignments with maximum efficiency and quality. Furthermore, these tips will also impact my

life in more ways than educational, such as ISM. Through various interviews with professionals

and events such as final presentation night and business symposium, I will be able to gain the

experience I need and apply these organizational skills in the assignments I receive from ISM

and preparing for interviews with the professionals. ISM will help me mimic the professional

setting as an aspiring cardiologist, and will therefore give me the opportunity to apply these tips

into these scenarios. I will be able to grow as an individual with the various real world scenarios

I will be exposed to throughout my ISM journey. Developing and capitalizing upon these traits

will be key to succeeding in ISM, school, and the workplace. These skills will eventually all lead

to a path which is best suited for me to become successful in the workplace.

Article Transcript:
**Annotations will be marked in blue font**

12 Time Management Tips to Achieve Your

Goals By Working Less
Do you often have to sit beyond 9 to 5 working hours? Do you end up missing
deadlines every week? Do you find it difficult to manage work-life? These are all
questions that are relatable to all people, no matter what profession or goal. If
you can easily relate to these questions, it simply means you are unable to
manage your time. Managing time can be simple to ensure better time
management to achieve more for more productivity. This is the main goal to
having better time management, to gain more productivity.
Time management will make or break your career. It is the recipe for success.
Luckily, there are ways that you can learn to improve your time management
skills.

Here are a few time management tips for your

career:
1. Learn to say “no”

Every time you say yes to something that is unimportant, you say no to something
that is important. – Robin Sharma This is a very relatable quote which explains
the consequences of these distractions.
Learning how to say “no” nicely is a powerful skill that is important to set
boundaries for yourself. By saying yes often to everything that comes to you will
make it difficult for you to make a lot of time commitments. You will have to
juggle with various pages and managing time will be a challenge. It is probably
good to take up challenges for your short-term career, but it becomes a curse
when you fail to manage them.

So, at some point, you will have to learn to say no for your time management.
Know your goals, know your priority and over the coming months, you will feel
you have taken the best step for yourself. It is important to keep in mind your
priorities, whether it is to waste time or be productive. Say yes when you know
you have time for and it will not drain your productivity.

2. Focus on your highest value activities

Look at the goals you have for the week. Probably, not all the goals you have will
be of high value. So, make sure the first five activities you pick for the day are of
high value. Focus on less stuff and see how smoothly the needle moves. When
you spend your quality time on a set of high-value activities you will better
manage your time and be more productive. Spending quality time on more
important activities is crucial to your success. Time management starts from the
minute you wake up and it depends exactly on how you focus on accomplishing
your priority tasks.

3. Sleep at least 7-8 hours

The science of sleep says that a healthy amount of sleep for the average adult is
around 7-8 hours each night. And there is no point in sacrificing this minimum
amount of sleep for achieving your goals. It will not do any good to you. When
you sleep for 7-8 hours your body and mind will function optimally. Tired people
tend to usually procrastinate more and you know procrastination is a foe to time
management. Staying up late then procrastinating the next day will end up
backfiring on you and you will not accomplish what you hoped to have
accomplished staying up late.

4. Defining your purpose

You may have a lot of goals; some of them of your own and some set under the
influence of others. Whether you have goals or you have none, having a purpose
is important. One effective step to time management is having an eye on the
prize. The more clear you are, the more fulfilling life you will live.

Ignoring purpose is becoming quite common that makes it difficult in the

accomplishment of your goals. This sentence highlights the main problem of
ignoring your main purpose. This means you have no motivation. So, start with a
purpose by giving a bit of deep thought about what actually you want to unfold in
the future. Once you define your purpose, this will prepare you for the roadmap to
success and time management.

5. Find out where you’re wasting time

Many of us are engaged in pointless activities that just eat up our time and
frustrates us to burnout. You might be wasting a lot of your time without even
realizing what you are doing in things like web browsing, reading email, texting,
having same updates again and again or making personal calls. This is
something I can relate to as I have no consciousness that I am wasting time. If
you think you are doing things that waste your time, keep a track of your time on
a time tracking software. Track all your daily activities so you have a clear picture
of your time on various activities.
 6. Use time management tools

If you are constantly missing on your deadlines with a bad track on your time,
using a dedicated time management tool should be a must step. A time
management tool will manage your time through a time tracking software and
will plan for you how you spend your time in various activities. Using a white
board and writing down your activities will also help. It will let you schedule
events easily so you can get more done, making your time management easier.

7. Keep your energy up through naps

We all have a Circadian rhythm, a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. A short afternoon
nap can make you more alert, perform better, reduces stress and boost cognitive
performance. Companies like Google, Uber, and Zappos have dedicated nap
spaces for their employees to get an energy boost whenever they need it. These
major companies are setting examples of how to get the best results from your
employees, which will start a trend other will start to follow. Maintain your
naptime schedule and regain back the energy to work.

8. Set a fixed powerful goal

Before you start managing your time, do you know what are your goals? Only
when your learn the importance of your goals and you fix them, you will be better
able to manage your time to achieve those goals. Make that big picture of your
fixed powerful goal that will create a huge impact on you and with time you will
learn to allocate time judiciously. The powerful goal you set for yourself will be
your motivation to work hard.

9. Procrastination is the enemy of productivity

Procrastination is an enemy because it diverts us from our goals. Often we lose
our battle because of procrastination. If you want to become perfect at what you
do by being good at time management, start doing the things right now rather
than procrastinating it. If you put off work, then you will never end up doing it.
The day will never come. So, combat procrastination and make the most of the
day.

10. Follow a healthy diet to retain focus

At times we have problems staying with our plan because we lose our energy and
focus on maintaining a track of things. You can also notice that whenever you
have a heavy meal like fatty food you get drowsy and think slower. You simply
lose the motivation to stay focused on your long-term and short-term goals. Your
eating habits have a huge impact on your productivity. A study published in
Population Health Management shows that you risk to losing 66% of your
productivity if you eat unhealthy food. The use of that statistic clearly shows the
impact nutrition has in your work life.Consume brain foods blueberries, avocado,
green tea, leafy green vegetables, nuts and consume a lot of water. You will
regain your energy level and stay focused. Different foods are processed at
different rates by your body, so consume vegetables and fruits help your body
produce dopamine.

11. Stop multitasking

Our brain is designed to focus on one thing at a time and when you combine it
with multiple things it will surely give you poor results. You will end up wasting
much of your time and result in zero productivity. When you multitask you are
making your brain rapidly switch from one task to another that negatively impact
your efficiency. When you try to complete two or more task at once it takes
longer to complete each task compared than when you focus on them
individually. Completing one task at a time will have greater results for both than
combined.

12. Find your productivity zone

Find the time of the day when you are most active. Some people are most active
in the morning while some after lunch. During this time pick the important tasks
and use all your energy to complete them. You will be in full momentum and save
a lot of your time for other tasks. You can cut down on the time by identifying
when you work best. You can boost your productivity even more during this
focused work time. This is the time of day you are most focused and will
efficiently complete your work with high quality.

If you are particularly serious about achieving your goals, improve your time
management abilities with these tips and adopt the superpower of time
management.