Managing your time is a crucial skill to have whether as a high school or even in college or grad school. There are only so many hours in the day to get stuff done. But there is usually a lot to do and a lot on your mind. The people who can manage their time wisely and get the most stuff done with good quality will have a valuable advantage over those that wait until the last minute and have to drop projects. In this blog, I will be tackling how to manage your time wisely and get more done with less time.
Table of Contents
Tips to Manage Your Time Better
What is Time Management
In essence, time management is pretty simple as it is the ability to use one’s time effective or productively in completing work or projects
Why is It Important
I think that most people reading Impromental can recognize that getting work done with less time and more effectively can be very important especially if you are trying to be the best at your school or field.
Tips to Manage your Time Better
Use a schedule
I find that it is really difficult to try to manage your time well if you have to actively exert effort to know what you have to do at the moment. This is where using a schedule comes in handy. For me I use a simple set up of a table in google docs, with one one row for the time and one row for the activity I need to do whether it be work, lunch, or travel time. You need to try to be reasonable with the amount of time you allot to complete different projects. On one hand you do not want to allot too much time to an activity. Say for example a chemistry worksheet, you would not allot an hour when you could complete in 20 minutes. You also do not want to allot too little time when it is not realistically possible to complete a task in a certain time frame. Like trying to complete an extensive 5 page paper in only an hour can only lead to failure and you might end up discouraged. This is why it is crucial to make your time allotments reasonable. Think about how long it will take to complete a task and then add an extra 10-20% time to give you a reasonable amount of time to complete a task.
Prioritization
In managing your time you also need to figure out what tasks are due the soonest and which ones are the most important. You should also try to consider what tasks come first and the most important to completing your goals. Say if you have a low grade in one class you should try to prioritize bringing it up without letting your other grades suffer too much. It is also important to prioritize the most important tasks in order to not waste effort on less important tasks.
Focused work
When you are working you need to really be in the zone and avoid losing focus. In my other blog, I discuss strategies to avoid procrastination. https://impromental.com/simple-tricks-to-beat-procrastination/ Try using timers while you work to try to stay in one place and really focus. As you practice focused work you will get better at getting in the zone, staying in it, and lasting longer in the zone. Really getting good at focusing on work is what you need to focus on.
Flexibility
While it is important to try to stick to the strategy you created in the first tip, it is also important to be flexible when unforeseen circumstances arise. Maybe you become stuck in traffic or some event you completely forgot about turns up and completely messes up your schedule. This is also why it’s important to expect unexpected things to happen and plan extra time to complete your goals.
Establishing Routine
When the top runners race their bodies move almost on their own because of the muscle memory they developed from practicing day after day. This is the same for time management. The more you practice sticking to a schedule and following it you get better at focusing for long periods of time and getting your work done even if you don’t feel like it. It is also important to establish a routine around the work. Maybe you always get a fun treat before your work to set your mind into the routine. For me I would also get a bubble tea before studying for the SAT and it made it easier to start the work.
Blocking out distractions
I covered this topic in another blog in more detail (https://impromental.com/are-you-in-control-easy-methods-to-stop-phone-addiction/), but to sum it up you need to avoid the most distracting things. This can be distracting environments such as your room, or it can be your phone that has a million different apps and websites that can suck you for hours. You should also try to work during times that don’t distract you, say maybe you are more focused during the morning rather than at night.
Rest
The last tip to make sure you can manage your time well is to get a good amount of breaks. You do not want to work so constantly that you have no focus or ability to work for the rest of the day. Try to do your most productive work for 4 hours a day as they efficiency to do work sharply drop offs as you try to get for 8-10 hours.
Conclusion
Time management is an important skill for those looking to progress these goals on packed schedules. People who want to succeed need to be able to do a lot in a short period of time and managing your time is key to doing that. Thank you for reading Impromental and stay tuned in for the next blog.