Time management is something I think I do decently, mostly because I have a lot of things I want to do, and the only way to actually do them all is to have a good feel for time management. My schedule for this class I think will work just fine, so I'm going to stick with it for now.
One of the articles I read was Eat the Frogs First Thing in the Morning. I have two main thoughts on this article.
First, I actually disagree with the idea that you should do the task you're least looking forward to first thing. I don't want to start my day focusing on the worst part of it. I want to be excited to get out of bed in the morning, and in my experience, thinking about everything you have to get done is not the way to do it, and thinking in particular about the worst task to get done doesn't sound any better. Yes, I see that it is a good feeling to have undesirable tasks out of the way early, but to me the happiness tradeoff isn't favorable.
Second, I like the division of the to-do list quite a lot. I did some reading about a very similar matrix awhile back and have since forgotten about, but that I think could be worth trying to incorporate into my to-do list building. The matrix I found divided as tasks as follows:
The article suggests to divide the list a little differently: instead of the metrics being "importance" and "urgency", they're "desirability" and "necessity". I think the first set is a little more practical, but that the second good be a useful way to see what you're actually spending time on, and making sure a healthy amount of it is tasks you're looking forward to completing.
The second article I read was 11 Ways Unsuccessful People Mismanage Their Time. I enjoyed going through the list and seeing which items I was guilty of, and which ones I think I do well. Most of them were unsurprising, but one that stood out to me was "They don't plan fun time." I agree that it's important to schedule more than just required tasks, and that if you're busy and don't allocate time for fun, you'll run out of time for it. Personally, I'm good at doing that when it comes to spending time with other people, but I don't for just myself. That's something I'd like to be better at this year, so that I have more time to read, workout, or just hang out by myself and reset, because that time is the time that gets de-prioritized the most quickly in my life.
Scheduling and to-do lists are what helps me keep track of everything-- I use an agenda extensively, as well as a white-board in my room that gives me a broad overview on what my week looks like. Like everybody else, I can fall victim to procrastination, which usually stems from my assessment on how urgent a task is, and I tend to be optimistic in how long assignments will take me (8 hours on a 4 problem homework assignment is just depressing to put into your schedule, however necessary it may be). My time would be spent more effectively if I stayed more focused when I worked, which I can definitely improve by putting my phone away more often. The challenge for me this semester is just that there are a lot of really different things I'm trying to juggle, and making sure I give the right amount of time to each of them and maintain a balance.
Abby
One of the articles I read was Eat the Frogs First Thing in the Morning. I have two main thoughts on this article.
First, I actually disagree with the idea that you should do the task you're least looking forward to first thing. I don't want to start my day focusing on the worst part of it. I want to be excited to get out of bed in the morning, and in my experience, thinking about everything you have to get done is not the way to do it, and thinking in particular about the worst task to get done doesn't sound any better. Yes, I see that it is a good feeling to have undesirable tasks out of the way early, but to me the happiness tradeoff isn't favorable.
Second, I like the division of the to-do list quite a lot. I did some reading about a very similar matrix awhile back and have since forgotten about, but that I think could be worth trying to incorporate into my to-do list building. The matrix I found divided as tasks as follows:
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| The 4 Quadrants of Time Management Source |
The article suggests to divide the list a little differently: instead of the metrics being "importance" and "urgency", they're "desirability" and "necessity". I think the first set is a little more practical, but that the second good be a useful way to see what you're actually spending time on, and making sure a healthy amount of it is tasks you're looking forward to completing.
The second article I read was 11 Ways Unsuccessful People Mismanage Their Time. I enjoyed going through the list and seeing which items I was guilty of, and which ones I think I do well. Most of them were unsurprising, but one that stood out to me was "They don't plan fun time." I agree that it's important to schedule more than just required tasks, and that if you're busy and don't allocate time for fun, you'll run out of time for it. Personally, I'm good at doing that when it comes to spending time with other people, but I don't for just myself. That's something I'd like to be better at this year, so that I have more time to read, workout, or just hang out by myself and reset, because that time is the time that gets de-prioritized the most quickly in my life.
Scheduling and to-do lists are what helps me keep track of everything-- I use an agenda extensively, as well as a white-board in my room that gives me a broad overview on what my week looks like. Like everybody else, I can fall victim to procrastination, which usually stems from my assessment on how urgent a task is, and I tend to be optimistic in how long assignments will take me (8 hours on a 4 problem homework assignment is just depressing to put into your schedule, however necessary it may be). My time would be spent more effectively if I stayed more focused when I worked, which I can definitely improve by putting my phone away more often. The challenge for me this semester is just that there are a lot of really different things I'm trying to juggle, and making sure I give the right amount of time to each of them and maintain a balance.
Abby
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