Useful tips for time management
In this post, I will show you the result of trying to manage my time in my way and why it is not effective. In addition, I will list some tips that I feel can help me to work more efficiently. As I mentioned in my introduction. I will try to manage my time by separate tasks into daily life and turn off my cell phone to avoid distraction. After I tried, I found that planning does help, but there are more things I need to work on.
Planning is a good way to start, it helps me to keep track of my work. However, I still can’t finish all of my work, the time required to complete the work is longer than I expected. Also, I always believe I have enough time to finish the work but end up not finishing the work. Waste time on small stuff and loss of concentration are the main factors and here is some tip I will try.
Find the your working time
The first tip is to find the best time to work or the time you are most awake and ready. I usually wake up early and have 2–3 hours before I go to my class. However, I never really finish any work in the morning. My work time is afternoon when I can be most productive. So, find the right time can help us get most out of the work.
Do it now
My second tip is to do it now. I believe everyone has the same feeling that the time is never enough. That is because we always trying to do things later. We are addicted to the internet and refused to put our phones down. We love to spend our time on those games, Netflix, YouTube, and Facebook. We love to see how other’s life is like but we forgot we have our own life. However, all those entertainments wouldn’t disappear, but if our time is gone we can’t get it back. So, we should start to do the work now, not later, not tomorrow.
Control our thoughts
Even we started working on time, it is possible that we can’t finish on time because of all the thoughts we have. Those flowing thoughts can distract us and stop us from thinking properly, so it is necessary to control our thoughts. In the book, Declutter your mind, the authors, Scott and Davenport talk about the causes of mental clutter and how to release ourselves from those negative feelings by deep breathing, meditation and to reframe our negative thoughts (Scott, Davenport, 2016). Deep breath and meditation can slow down our minds as we pay attention to our breath thereby help us to control our thoughts and stay focused.
Break time
The last tip is to give yourself some break. Working a long time can distract you that you cannot be focused. So, it is okay to have a 10-minute break for every hour. Listening to some music or give yourself a massage to relax. If you don’t want to waste the ten minutes, you can do some housework that doesn’t need to use too much of your brain like laundry or cleaning the floor.
Reference
Scott, S.J., Davenport,B, (2016). Declutter your mind. Oldtown Publishing LLC.
