The Activity of Choice : Cleaning the house
Description : Nothing stirs my love for cleaning our house than the old axiom “cleanliness is next to Godliness” (Franklin, 2007). I have made it a routine to do the cleaning in the kitchen and dining areas every morning before leaving the house. I have detailed below a description of the attempts made to realize time management excellence when carrying out the exercise.
How many steps did it take you to complete the activity?
The cleaning process entailed 4 major steps, right from arranging the dining table and bookshelf, dusting the furniture and electronics, washing the dishes, and mopping the floor (Strauss, 2010). I got up at around 5.45 am and ensured that the exercise was done by 7.30 am.
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What time did each step take and how much time was delayed between steps?
Averagely, each step took me about 20 minutes with an approximate delay time of 5 minutes between every two successive steps.
What was the average time between steps?
As mentioned above, the average time spent between two consecutive steps was 5 minutes.
What was the average time each attempt took?
Whereas the first attempt took me 1 hour and 45 minutes, I spent about 1 hour 18 minutes in accomplishing the same tasks in the last attempt, recording a 27 minutes improvement.
Differentiate the main actions between doing and improving your activities.
During the usual daily cleaning exercise, as well as in the first attempt, it seems I was not so keen on minimizing the delay time in between the steps. However, on carrying out the improvement exercise, I actually realized that I could even complete more tasks in a lesser span of time (Wyma, 2012).
Determine the overall manner in which variation has affected your activities.
I improved so much on time management, especially on cutting down on the delay times
Overall, how much time were you able to cut down on when engaging in the same activity while implementing the new changes?
I was able to save up to 27 minutes
Activity: Cleaning the house
| STEP | Time (1 st attempt) | Time (2 nd attempt) | Difference |
| Step 1: Arranging the dining table and bookshelf | 22 minutes | 18 minutes | 4-minute reduction |
| Step 2: Dusting the furniture and electronics | 19 minutes | 14 minutes | 5-minute reduction |
| Step 3: Washing the dishes | 32 minutes | 20 minutes | 12-minute reduction |
| Step 4: Mopping the floor | 32 minutes | 26 minutes | 6-minute reduction |
| Total time | 105 minutes total | 78 minutes | 27-minute reduction |
References
Franklin, B. (2007). Poor Richard's Almanack . New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Strauss, R. (2009). Household cleaning: S elf-sufficiency . New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Wyma, K. (2012). Cleaning house: A mom's twelve-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement . New York, NY: WaterBook Press.
