Time Strategies

 

Time Management - Source 

My time management has differed over the years. My mindset has always been like “if I start early then I finish early”, but sometimes I spend too long on one module and forget about the other. For this year I’ll try to manage my time better so that I can work on each module to my fullest. 

Although I know that college is very important, I still make time for my hobbies. Finding the balance between college work and free time is difficult but I believe that in order to sustain a healthy mindset you must also prioritise your time to pick up new hobbies.

I was given a list of articles to read from my lecturer. They all look pretty appealing, but one that caught my eye was The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay. From the title I was able to tell that it was about procrastination. I too also have this problem from time to time and I wanted to know how I could fix this issue.

It was interesting finding out that 95% of the Americans admit to falling into procrastination. I definitely believe that procrastination is like a disease. It hurts you mentally after you’ve faced the consequences. One of the most thought provoking quotes I was able to find in this article was “We’re purposefully hurting ourselves by focusing on short-term pleasure at the cost of the long-term.” and I couldn’t agree more with this quote. I will try to keep this quote in my mind for every time I try to procrastinate.

The article also stated that once you start, momentum takes over and you try to find ways to finish instead of ways to avoid it. This is true as I’ve experienced this in the past. The first step is always the hardest, but once you start it becomes easier.

Another article I read was Time Management Tips Just for Creatives by Amanda Oliver. This article talks about how you must also manage your energy not just your time and I totally agree. Time is fixed, you can’t change it, instead of focussing so much on time, you should focus more on your energy. I’ve had this problem for a long time, especially last semester. I know now to focus my energy on the more difficult tasks rather than wasting my energy with the easier tasks.

This is the same with life in general. Don’t waste your energy on people that don’t deserve it, just focus on the important things and move along.

These articles really made me reflect on my own personal time strategy and now I have a better understanding on how to fix it. I will be reading more articles throughout the semester as I felt that they were very useful. I would recommend you to have a read of these articles also and hopefully it would help you manage your time better.