VIPs - Very Important Ponies 

Some of our VIPs this month are:

Sharla Roderick - has worked tirelessly for the past three weeks to ensure the Federal Pell Grant electronic Disbursement File has been correctly transmitted to the Department of Education. The Federal Pell Grant is a very important part of the student's Financial Aid package, and an even more important Financial Aid program for SMU.  This year marks the first for SMU being a COD Full Participant, which meant many setup changes in the PeopleSoft database.  Sharla has worked on getting SMU up and running this year working at home after hours, on weekends, and during her busy schedule as the Financial Aid Module Lead.  I would like to commend Sharla for her significant role in the Division of Enrollment Services.

Time Management/Organization Skills

Common Myths about time:
No one ever has enough time (Everyone has all there is) There are many ways to save time (Time passes -- it can't be saved)
The longer you work, the more you accomplish (The smarter you work, the more you accomplish)
Productive people work harder than others (Productive people work smarter than others)

There are 5 techniques that Top Achievers have
Record Control
Calendar System
Team Orientation
Vendor Management Plan
Personal-Development Strategy

Small changes in your work habits can make a big difference.  There are 6 steps for developing good time managements habits.
Recognize Time Robbers - telephone interruptions, crisis management, lack of planning, drop in visitors, ineffective delegation, attempting too much, meetings, personal disorganization, inability to say no, lack of self-discipline.
Develop a better way
Build a new, more effective habit into your daily management
Involve others in your solutions
Focus on your effective actions
Allow no exceptions to your planned effectiveness

Save time by self-examination of your personal barrier of perfectionism and reduce perfectionist tendencies. 

Think progress, not perfection
List advantages, and disadvantages of trying to be perfect
Strive for good performance, instead of best performance
Tackle tasks in small increments
Set up your systems to be functional, not perfect
Give your self a break, delegate when possible
LEARN TO LAUGH
Keep track of notes/discussions

Increase your time utilization by knowing and using your peak productivity time.  If you are going in the wrong direction, speeding up doesn't help.

Once you know your peak productivity time
Respect it - plan important activities during this time
Protect it - block off your calendar and minimize interruptions
Schedule the three things you least want to do during your first hour of work
Schedule the most creative/important work during your personal best time of day

When priorities collide
Treat others with respect, clarify and discuss problems with the person involved, ask for what you want, say no without feeling guilty or selfish, maintain your dignity, ask for information, make a request of another person as long as you realize the other person has the right to say no.

Conquering Interruptions
Schedule regular meetings with frequent interrupters
Be assertive
Say "I am busy now, can we meet at . . ."
Say "I have a couple of minutes, how can I help you. . . "
Say "Let's meet in three hours and please have two possible solutions we can talk about."
Position a clock in the visitor's line of sight
Stand to talk to visitors

Managing your workspace
Clean off your desk at the end of every day
Schedule time each day to do paperwork
Throw away outdated or things you no longer need
File, Image, or put away items that you need to keep but are no longer using
At least once a month, clean out your files -- paper and computer -- tossing old versions of information or materials no longer needed.

This was taken from a workshop attended by Damon Wilkins.

  
DON'T FORGET
NO Division Meeting in January