I had
been out of school for almost 5 years (graduated 2015). When I wen to college
then I had a lot less on my plate, and because of that, procrastination was
king. All I had to worry about was getting my assignments done, and done on
time. I hadn’t heard the phrase “time management” until I had already
graduated! Now, I have a lot more on my plate, and sometimes it feels like I’ve
stretched myself a little too thin.
Feeling
like I have too much to do with too little time, is not a great feeling. So I
have been thinking long and hard about what I can do to minimize this feeling. Time
Management is the answer. There are two things I have done to improve my time
management. The first thing I did was buy a physical planner. I know that I
retain information better when I write it down, so I bought a planner from Walmart.
Unfortunately, I somehow bought a planner for 2018 (sometimes there is no cure
for stupid)! That’s okay though, I just crossed out the months and days, to
make them line up with 2020, and now I have a current year planner!
In my
planner, I write down all of my due dates in the Calendar view. In the more
detailed view, I write out due dates, but I also write a loose plan of what I
want to get done and when. For example, if I know I have 3 hours of free time I
will look forward in my planner and schedule myself a block of time where I
will work on that assignment. Writing it down helps keep me honest with myself.
Plus, the feeling of crossing something off a list just can’t be beat
sometimes.
The second
thing I did was recognize that breaks aren’t a bad thing. I’m a slow reader,
and worse than that is I have this amazing super power where I can read
something 5 or 6 times, and not retain any of it! There is not much I can do
about reading slowly. What I can do about not retaining information is recognize
when I am not retaining what I’m reading and step away, take a break. I’ve
noticed that after a break my work is more efficient, and I can get into a flow
more easily. I could spend 3 hours working on something after a long day, and
get less done than I would if I took a 1 hour break and spent 2 hours working
on it. Recognizing this has helped me improve my work ethic. Now if only I
could shake the feeling that I should be working when I’m taking a break, then
I would truly understand what it’s like to be an adult.
