Time Management System

I've really been working on my schedule lately. I feel like I just have all these things floating around in my head all the time that I need to work on… and I can just never find the time. The unfortunate part is that I spend so much time thinking about what to do and when to do it and how long to do it for that, a lot of times, I never get around to actually doing it!

*sigh*

I’m pretty sure this is the struggle of all slightly obsessive people, like myself.

(or just pretend like it is so I’ll feel better, k?)

Here are some steps to create a more efficient time management system:

STEP 1: Write down everything you need to do each week

These are recurring tasks {studying, volunteering, internship days, etc.} that have to be accomplished.

STEP 2: Break down the time you have 

This is only the time you have control over; leave the time you spend at work or school out. This is just a super-visual way to compare how much free time you have with the tasks you need to complete.

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*Side Note: 

I chose to break my time down into minutes because I’m bad at math they are just easier for me to divide across the days. Here are the amounts of time I used for this step:

360 minutes OR 6 hours

180 minutes OR 3 hours

90 minutes OR 1 1/2 hours

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STEP 3: Prioritize tasks by importance 

So, the things that are the most important to you will, obviously, go at the top. Those are the things you want to spend the most time doing because you actually care about them. 

STEP 4: Rearrange tasks until your schedule just “fits"

Having the ability to shuffle the cards around was SUPER helpful! It was so interesting to see how much I over/underestimated the amount of time that things took.

STEP 5: Write out your new plan on paper

Once you decide how much time to spend on each task per week, write it out on a piece of paper. This will help you see if it is actually a realistic plan for your week. USE A PENCIL because you will need to erase (more than once).

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*Side Note: 

I am a total perfectionist-freak who uses a timer for EVERYTHING (or else I would never stop). So, I actually found out how many minutes I would spend doing each task per day. 

For example, whether I choose to clean my house 12 minutes a day for 7 days a week or 45 minutes for 2 days a week, I’ll meet my goal either way. 

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Doing this helped me realize which things needed to become part of my daily schedule and which things could just go on a to-do list. Another thing that was helpful was to think of the time in minutes rather than hours. It made it a lot easier for me to find a way to divide it up across several days.

By the way, see where it says whenever right there in the middle?

That’s me being spontaneous.

:)

Do you have a system that works for organizing your time? 

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all of your “to-do’s”? 

How do you deal with it? 

{Shared on A Life in Balance}