If you’re like me, you’re tired of receiving time management advice from little miss (or mister) perfects. I have good news for you: I am not a little miss perfect. Here are some time management tips from a girl who’s not great at time management.
1.Get a calendar. Write all the big projects and tests you have this semester on a calendar. This is a simple thing you can do in order to see what you have coming up, and to be able to see at a glance when you’re most busy and when you’re free. If you want to take it a step further, you can write down the weekends you are most free to go to major social events or have family and friend visitors.
2. Get a planner. A planner would obviously help you manage your time in a more detailed manner, week by week instead of month by month. In the beginning of the year, I like to go through my syllabus and write all of the assignments due each week on post-it notes for each weekly page. Then, usually on Sunday nights, I put each assignment on each day I plan to get it done. If you’re not doing SOMETHING for each class each week, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t get tripped up by those major projects due at the end of the semester.
3. Get a timer. Honestly, I’m using this time management strategy to write this article right now. Set a timer, maybe for an hour or longer depending on the length of the assignment, and don’t let yourself work on any other assignment, or go on social media or do anything else until the timer’s done. It holds you accountable to making sure you’re setting aside sufficient time to work on each assignment.
4. Get a time management software. I have http://www.bumblebeesystems.com/wastenotime/WasteNoTime installed on my computer. This software allows you to set “work hours” and block certain websites during those hours (I usually block Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.) You can adjust the hours on this particular program which can sometimes be good (if you find that you have use for a blocked website during the work hours) but it can also let you “cheat” by allowing yourself on blocked websites during work hours. Thankfully, WasteNoTime has an Instant Lockdown mode in which you can set it to block certain websites for a period of a time (such as an hour or two or longer if you feel confident you don’t need those websites) and it won’t let you go in and change the settings so there is no way to cheat. WasteNoTime is just one example of a time management software and can be installed on Safari or Chrome.
Hopefully these tips will help you improve your time management. They've certainly helped me. What time management strategies do you use?
