How to Manage Your Time Wisely

Many of us, specially students and parents, wish to make the best out of every minute and not waste time every day. Everyone wants to have a productive day but how can you do it?

You can’t achieve a fruitful and prolific lifestyle without actually knowing and tackling the main reasons we become stagnant or slow in progress.

For many years, I’ve been a master of procrastination. And I’m surprised that all those years, I was still able to have success in my personal life, one way or the other. But life isn’t always as easy as it is when you are younger, or when you have less responsibilities. I’ve been quite an achiever but that doesn’t mean that everything else in my life is also perfect.The implications of daily cramming and stressing may not manifest in your body now but you will eventually have its negative effects. The stress and pressure that you feel every time you need to finish a project that needs to be submitted tomorrow or when you feel burdened by so many chores. The anxiety that it brings can bring and help other health issues develop. According to Mayo Clinic, stress that’s left unchecked can contribute to many health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Stress may also affect your body, mood, and behaviour. So if you want to avoid and prevent this, managing your time can help you.

Managing time wisely is surely a challenge and I know for sure that I am among the millions of people out there who suffer from time management problems.

1. Disconnect from the internet – (unless you badly need it) It is undeniably a temptation that’s really difficult to avoid. Checking your phone every three minutes seems to be very common and typical to everyone but this can actually keep you from being the productive person you want to be. This can slow you down and keep you distracted from what really needs to be done. According to Chron, using internet at work reduces workers’ productivity and can also kill their creativity. Students may also have the negative effects of using internet while studying. This can prevent them from retaining what they studied. So, unless you desperately need it, disconnect from the internet for a little while and get things done.
2. First things first- Put every important thing at the top of your list. Allot more time to the tasks that you think will be harder for you to finish. Prioritize the bigger and more significant activities. I believe that we all know this but rarely do we really try to live by it and follow it. Stephen R. Covey a well-known author once said:

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.”

This is what we should all live by for it is a workable solution to many situations in life wherein we need to make big decisions. This is a universal rule that is applied to other aspects of our personal lives.

3.Stay focused! — Being distracted by clutter, mess, and inappropriate objects around you can slow you down and and make you less focused on a task. Tip #1 also plays a significant role to successfully do this. Keep everything in order and keep in my what you really need to do.

4. To-do list — Make a list of things that you need to finish that day and write the most important ones on the top of it. Allot your time to each task and try to stick to your plan as much as possible. Making a list of your duties for the day can be an effective reminder that keeps you on track. I usually do this and it just helps me save more time for extra things that I want to do in the later part of the day.

5. Wake up early — I know, I know it’s one of the hardest things we need to do. We dread waking up in the morning, especially us (teenagers). This allows you to more time for whatever you need to do and makes one more energetic.

Also, according to Times of India, it has mental, and physical health effects too such as:

• Reduced stress levels
• Better sleep quality
• Higher scores

I know for sure that transforming from being an owl to a morning person can be really tough but knowing all its benefits, who wouldn’t want to try it?

Changing your habits doesn’t happen overnight so one needs patience and motivation to succeed in anything.

I am in no way a lifestyle guru or anything like that but I am certain that these will work for you as well as they worked for me. These are just what I’ve learned that I’ve been using and I know that there are numerous other ways out there.

Thank you so much for reading and please share and recommend it if you liked it! :)