"The basic element of time is an event, so the key to managing time is event control," said Jim Sheridan, senior trainer for Cornell's Organizational Development Services, drawing from the work of time management gurus across the country and synthesizing their insights into a two-hour workshop, March 11, in Olin Library.

As part of the Cornell University Library's "March Is Wellness Month," Sheridan discussed four effective time management strategies:

• Make time to plan;
• Be realistic;
• Delegate; and
• Do not procrastinate.

Planning involves developing effective goals that are clear and align with your core values. Goals should be broken down into manageable tasks that are prioritized and given deadlines.

For his daily work, Sheridan keeps a separate notebook just for planning, taking five minutes each day to write down how he will prioritize his tasks. As he finishes them, he checks them off ("an instant feeling of gratification," he said). When he delegates a task, he puts the initials of the person he delegated the task to next to the task, instead of checking it off, so he can better track that item. If he starts but doesn't complete a task, he puts a dot next to it; if he does not get to the task, he carries it over into the next day's list and indicates that with a horizontal arrow.

On the next day, he makes a new list, carrying over the tasks that were not completed the day before, adding new tasks and reprioritizing the list, using the same tracking system.

Keeping a running daily list not only prevents tasks from being forgotten, but also clarifies how much time some projects take and whether that is proportional to their importance. It also lets Sheridan know if he is procrastinating.

"People usually procrastinate for one of three reasons," Sheridan explained. "Either they have inadequate resources (time, tools, help), or are afraid of the consequences (of either success or failure), or the task does not seem connected to their values. The trick is figuring out the reason and addressing that."

Sheridan also reviewed "time robbers" that cause a loss of control and provided several ways to say "no" to requests: a direct no; a "reflecting no" that acknowledges the content and feeling of the request but refuses nevertheless; a reasoned no ("no, because ...); and a "raincheck no" (not now but later). Sheridan admitted that most of the time, these work better with peers than supervisors.

Controlling time robbers and interruptions is critical to time management but isn't always possible, he said. But interruptions also can be managed with a prioritized task list: "Sometimes recovering from an interruption takes more time than the interruption itself, but if you refocus after the interruption, and go back to your prioritized task list and ask yourself, 'what is the best use of my time, right now?' you can recover and quickly get back on track," he said.