Self-Management: Increase Your Productivity and Overcome Procrastination (306)

15th and 29th November 2019

Dr Ulrike Rapp Fitchett

Managing yourself and working productively is a valuable skillset that can be applied right from the beginning of doctoral research. If you do not find enough time to work on your PhD project because there are so many other things you have to do, and you tend to procrastinate in view of your overwhelming workload, this productivity workshop is right for you.
Self-management & productivity are also vital abilities that prospective employers highly appreciate - both inside, and outside, the university environment. Self-management leading to productive work has become a critical operational style required for successful and high-performing professionals. Having an overwhelming number of things to do and still work priority-steered and efficiently with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control is possible. The gained time can be used to work on priorities, but also to increase your available recreational time and so help to create a good work-life balance.
 
The period as a PhD candidate presents an ideal context in which to learn and apply the basic processes, tools and techniques of self-management and productivity. Skillfully applied, they will help doctoral candidates to increase their effectiveness & efficiency and to overcome procrastination, and so help them to produce maximum long-term beneficial results in the scope of their PhD research, and in other prioritized fields of their activity.
 
This very interactive 2-day workshop introduces successful self-management & productivity methods, tools and techniques, and gives the doctoral students the opportunity to apply several methods to their working environment during the workshop and the transfer time.

Note:

This Self-management & Productivity workshop is complementary to CUSO's Project Management workshops, which gives you the knowledge, methods, tools and techniques to manage your PhD project.

General Objective:

After this course, participants will have proven and successful self-management & productivity methods, tools and techniques with which to optimize their effectiveness & efficiency and to overcome procrastination, and the experience of having applied a choice of them during the workshop and transfer time.This Self-Management & Productivity workshop does not cover Project Management concepts and practices. For the latter, please refer to the CUSO workshops in Project Management.
 

Specific objectives
:

After this workshop, the participants will be able to:

• Build and update their personal mission statement

• Define their work roles with their respective objectives, and commit to them

• Explain the difference between effective and efficient

• Increase their confidence, energy level and focus on successful self-management & productivity through positive affirmations and visualization

• Organize and execute around priorities: distinguish with the help of the Time Management Matrix between urgent and important activities and say "No" more easily to less important workload

• Use their prime time wisely and create a weekly schedule

• Describe the mental state of "Flow", the "Pomodoro technique", and the "Sawblade Effect"

• Explain why to avoid multitasking

• Evaluate whether calendaring/personal organizer or time management application software are useful tools for them

• More effectively & efficiently handle daily mail and requests

• Overcome procrastination more easily. 

Target Group:

The workshop can be attended at any stage of doctoral research. The greatest advantage would be during the first half of the doctorate. Before attending this workshop, we highly recommend that the participants will already have participated to a project management workshop where they will have created a schedule (= have planned dates for performing schedule activities and meeting milestones) for their PhD project. In case of doubts or questions regarding this condition for admission please contact the trainer Dr. Ulrike Rapp Fitchett at "[email protected]".
 

Preparatory and Transfer Work:

Participants will be asked to prepare for the workshop by answering four questions and returning three of them to the trainer one week ahead of the workshop.
Participants will also be required to complete a transfer work in the interval between the two days of the workshop (estimated duration 3 hours), which includes putting the first day's learning into practice and actively monitoring their self-management, as well as reading some publications.

University of Lausanne

Date: Fridays 15th and 29th November 2019

Schedule: 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

Location: University of Lausanne

Trainer:

Dr. Ulrike Rapp Fitchett studied pharmacy at the EPFZ, and did her thesis at the Institute of Medical Microbiology of the University of Zürich, in parallel to a full-time University assistant position. Thanks to the latter position, and in addition to the PhD, she earned a Diploma as Specialist in Medical Laboratory Analyses FAMH.

From 1994 to 2010 Dr. Rapp Fitchett worked in the field of project management in the pharmaceutical industry, initially as a leader for Swiss and EU projects, and then for over 10 years in charge of global development pro-grams. In 2011 she received her PMP (Project Management Professional) license from the PMI (Project Management Institute, PA, USA) and began in 2011 a training program as an Adult Trainer at the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Institut Fédéral des Hautes Etudes en Formation Professionnelle EHB IFFP IUFFP) in Lausanne. In 2012 she obtained the Certificate of the Swiss Federation for Adult Education SVEB/FSEA, and in 2014 the Swiss Federal License as an Adult Trainer.

Dr. Rapp Fitchett has completed her studies at the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training with an applied research project. In January 2016, she earned a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS) "Specialization in Vocational Education and Training for Adults". Dr. Rapp Fitchett currently works as an independent adult trainer and quality auditor in the field of education and vocational training.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the city of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class).

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