Essential Life Skill: Time Management
Aaron Moorefield
Think about “the overachiever” you may know in your life. “The
overachiever” is that person who has a ridiculous amount of work on his/her plate.
He or she is employed full-time, a leader in multiple clubs, has an overloaded
class schedule and somehow ends up with better grades than you. He or she must
be a genius and there is no way you could do all of that. And just completely
forget about doing better than them in the classroom, right? Wrong. Everyone
has 24 hours in a day, and what each person does with each hour to be
productive determines the individual’s success in all aspects of life in
general. Below are three keys to effectively manage time with tips that can be
applied to everyone’s professional and personal lives.
Prioritization
Prioritization is the most important part of managing time. It is not until one’s priorities are established that one can effectively manage time and reduce the amount of wasted time in daily life. I’ve previously written about the importance of reflecting on your motivations to understand why you’re in college and what you want out of life. The answers to these questions are essential to establishing priorities that will lead to your idea of success for yourself.
Priorities are simply what you consider more important than other things going on in your life. Once the question of “why?” is answered what’s important to you is easy to articulate. After that, the tough task of establishing which priorities take precedence over the others must be accomplished. Once precedence is established then the productivity of daily activities are clearer, and you can begin to schedule the day with more confidence.
Scheduling
Scheduling is the easiest and simplest part of time management. Once priorities and their order of precedence are established, the next step is to put it all on a calendar. Electronic is fine, but writing your schedule down on a physical calendar is incredibly effective for remembering your established priorities and commitments made for your goals. Once all your tasks are lined up on a calendar, it is much easier to see any conflicts that may have accidentally slipped your mind. Writing out a packed schedule is easy, but it becomes a situation of “easier said than done” if each day’s schedule is completely filled. Remember to plan personal time to recover and re-energize to consistently complete work at high-energy.
Focus
The last, but certainly not least, key to effective time management is staying focused. Writing down what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it means absolutely nothing if you forget to check your calendar. An easy fix for forgetting to check your calendar is to simply make a habit out of checking your calendar in the morning before work or school, once during lunch, and after any scheduled meetings. Procrastination alone is another problem worthy of its own article. But remember to remain focused within your scheduled time and simply plan the time to rest and relax.
Remember these 3 keys to manage time effectively and you’ll become “the overachiever” in no time.
Prioritization
Prioritization is the most important part of managing time. It is not until one’s priorities are established that one can effectively manage time and reduce the amount of wasted time in daily life. I’ve previously written about the importance of reflecting on your motivations to understand why you’re in college and what you want out of life. The answers to these questions are essential to establishing priorities that will lead to your idea of success for yourself.
Priorities are simply what you consider more important than other things going on in your life. Once the question of “why?” is answered what’s important to you is easy to articulate. After that, the tough task of establishing which priorities take precedence over the others must be accomplished. Once precedence is established then the productivity of daily activities are clearer, and you can begin to schedule the day with more confidence.
Scheduling
Scheduling is the easiest and simplest part of time management. Once priorities and their order of precedence are established, the next step is to put it all on a calendar. Electronic is fine, but writing your schedule down on a physical calendar is incredibly effective for remembering your established priorities and commitments made for your goals. Once all your tasks are lined up on a calendar, it is much easier to see any conflicts that may have accidentally slipped your mind. Writing out a packed schedule is easy, but it becomes a situation of “easier said than done” if each day’s schedule is completely filled. Remember to plan personal time to recover and re-energize to consistently complete work at high-energy.
Focus
The last, but certainly not least, key to effective time management is staying focused. Writing down what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it means absolutely nothing if you forget to check your calendar. An easy fix for forgetting to check your calendar is to simply make a habit out of checking your calendar in the morning before work or school, once during lunch, and after any scheduled meetings. Procrastination alone is another problem worthy of its own article. But remember to remain focused within your scheduled time and simply plan the time to rest and relax.
Remember these 3 keys to manage time effectively and you’ll become “the overachiever” in no time.