I have been receiving so many questions from my friends like:
“How can I manage my time so well?”
or
“How da hell can I survive when I am taking 4 courses, working as an executive member for 2 organizations on campus, founding another organization, working a part-time job, doing grocery, cooking, working, meditating, etc… AT THE SAME TIME!?”
You want to know what I said..?
Well…
It’s simple enough… my answer is….
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
I am such a conscientious and self-discipline one that for me, time-management comes naturally. But I know a bunch of my friends including YOU who is reading this, have been struggling to balance life just because they do not know how to organize their time. Which leads to the following:
- Procrastinate to do something tomorrow instead of today.
- Postpone something because you think it’s not READY.
- Not prepare for something beforehand and end up wasting time and money.
- Let tasks sit until the last minute and end up stressing out to catch up.
- Sacrifice the quality of your work for speed.
In fact, it is not easy to be disciplined with one’s self in order to maintain a habit.
Time-management is
measured by how many tasks you accomplished in a certain amount of time.
This includes, but not limited to, completing your assignment, your weekly reports, showing up on time for the meetings, balancing between school/work and life, and having enough time for yourself to relax while enjoying working.
And here is my formula:
Time management = Effective Goal-Setting + Effective Time-Setting
But in this article, I will just focus on the “Effective Time-Setting”. And here are some tips that I have been using for myself:
1. Track your Time
Step 1: Calculate the average number of hours you spend in a week on each of the categories below:
Try to estimate longer durations than what you think, because most of the time, our assumption is less than the reality, and we end up having less time than we thought!
Step 2: Calculate the total hours you spend on in a week for all of the categories.
Step 3: Is the total hours equal, less, or more than 168 hours (total number of time in a week)?
Once you finished, you will have a better understanding of where your time goes in order to:
- Direct your focus into the important tasks that match with your initial goals
- Rearrange your time slots around to
- Schedule breaks for yourself and balances out your time.
2. Say NO to Multi-Tasking
According to research summarized by the American Psychological Association, shifting between tasks can cost you up to 40% of the productive time.
WHY?
When you are working on task A, but jump to task B, when you get back to do task A, your mind needs to reset to get back to where it left for task A.
Even if you get things done, the chance that you don’t get them done well. Here is believed to be quantity > quality.
More tasks can also mean more mistakes and anxieties.
So you can try to avoid multi-tasking by maximizing your window by turn off your email pop-up, close tabs that you don’t need anymore, etc.
3. Remember to Save a Slot of a Week…
to RELAX!
For me, I always make sure to spend time for myself and completely cut off working and studying on Sunday, but during the weekdays, I make sure to complete everything.
Sometimes, you just need a day for yourself to reflect on the past week.
-> It’s important to sometimes reflect on yourself to track on your path again.
No matter how busy you are, if you worry that the time you spend on relaxing and taking a break is unnecessary and wasted then you are wrong.
You will be more productive and work more efficient if you give your brain a break than constantly working or multitasking without focusing.
*For more tips on how to live in the present
4. Prioritize your tasks
Which is more important to you?
For example, if you work on 2 projects/ organizations at the same time, which one is more important to you? Which one can develop you more? Ask yourself Qs.
Put them in order. Instead of having a long list that overwhelms you rather than motivates you.
By doing this, you will know where to put full force and what not to put a lot of time on.
5. Plan out ahead…
on what you are going to do in a week or the night before tomorrow. It’s okay if you cannot complete whatever the tasks you planned. Be flexible and have a contingency plan.
But, are you enjoying?
Always ask yourself: “what can I do to feel enjoy on whatever I am doing?”
- You don’t like working out because you are sick of the repeating exercises? How about playing sports or dancing?
- You don’t like going to networking events because you are introverted? How about changing your perception and stepping out of your comfort zone?
- You don’t like where you are working because the tasks are boring? How about taking initiative and asking for more challengable tasks? Or thinking of a way to make your tasks more efficient? Or leaving the job to find a better one?
There is always a way for you to make yourself enjoy working on something, it’s all about changing your perception from being impossible into capable.
There is no one-size-fits-all formula, and it’s okay if you cannot apply everything above but at least, choose one and try it step by step.
How to work on it step by step? Stay tuned for my second one on “Effective Goal-Setting” :)
