manage my time more efficiently

spontanous acts of kindness, spending time with friends who pop in…and how can i answer the phone ever? If it is someone i know and love and miss who happens to be GU (Geographically Unavailable) do I let it go to voicemail?

what to do…what to do…

I am waking up naturally mad early, particularly for an undergrad in college (6:45am)—having my slow soy latte mornings, reading, working/class until 1pm ish, then I eat and sort of zone out until 5-6pmish when I realize I have a ton of shit to get done. I do some of it and fall into complete exhaustion around 9:30pm. Sort of ridiculous. I have got to find a better way to live my days and feel like I am accomplishing more. Suggestions welcome :)

Well, I really have a problem with time management. Ok I have a quite busy day but I´m sure I´m able to rearrange things in a way I can have more time to do things I´vebeen procrastination for ages.

I’ve been skimming through Tim Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Workweek” for the section on time management. He suggests, before leaving work for the night, coming up with a short list of tasks (short enough to fit on a small note card) that must be completed the next day and then to set aside strict time limits on completing each task and to get them done during the allotted time no matter what. I’ve been trying this during the past couple of weeks. Making the list isn’t so hard; the very difficult part is getting each task done under a tight time restriction. One thing I’ve gotten out of this exercise so far is an appreciation of how easy it is to waste time pondering all the potential problems of proceeding with a task and all the peripheral issues surrounding it that little progress is made at all. I’m getting more comfortable with the idea of jumping into a project with simplifying or imperfect assumptions and making it perfect with time after the groundwork has already been laid.

I often ask myself now in the middle of a task, “What needs to happen to get this done? Am I doing or thinking about things that support that goal or distract me from it?” This way, I’m more likely to catch myself when I’m wasting time. Also, if I’m working on something that’s complex and just can’t be done in the time I initially allotted for it, I’m better able to document the issues that are causing the delays. I’m not saying I’m good at this yet, but this is the direction I’m working toward…

My approach at work is first thing in the morning to write down and prioritize all the tasks I need to complete or make progress on, and at the end of the day before leaving to check my list to see what I accomplished and understand where I fell short and what to improve on the next day. This has been kind of hard, and it takes discipline.

My approach at home is similar but less rigid (because after all life isn’t fun if everything you do is strictly scheduled). There are things I’d like to get done and personal activities I need to set aside time for, and I hope by monitoring how I spend my time more closely, I can do more of the fun and rewarding things I want to experience.

My problem is either I am not very efficient at managing my time or I take on too many things and learning to say “no” from time to time might eliminate my time management problems.

I think i will start to keep a daily to do list. We’ll see how long that lasts…heh.

Believe it or not, I’m actually getting better at this, not in any great way yet, but better. I’ve been trying my hand at multitasking and i’m getting good at it. I think also not putting things off til the last minute helps too.

i used to be really good at this. it has never been an issue. but then again, i have never wanted to do so much. i need to really take some time and organise myself. i can’t believe i can’t even get down to exercising regularly!

I don’t know how successfully I’ve been doing this. I have done most of my homework this year though. But I’m progressively waking up later and later.

aparently i try to cram too many things into too short a timespan. so says the boy. he’s right, though: i woke up at noon, had brunch with friends near home, helped another friend with her hair dye across town, and tried to be on time for dinner at my folks’ on the northwest end of the island by five. i made it to their place at 7.30.

on a positive note, i’ve been using my phone’s organizer feature to my advantage. it’s helping immensely.