In today’s society it is difficult to relax completely, there is always something to do, it seems like life is a continuous race against time. Have you ever felt like 24 hours a day are not enough? If you answered yes, don´t worry, it is all about organizing and creating habits. And even if it seems like an easy task, it is far from easy.
The key to personal and professional success is based on the ability to organize and manage your time, everyone knows that. For this reason, it is important to start changing our perception of time control and start valuing it as it deserves.
Sara Lopez, Computer Engineering student in Denmark and Marketing Manager in Trendhim, a Danish fashion company for men´s accessories, suggests some basic strategies that, with some effort, can help you organize and use your time more efficiently.
Strategy # 1: No Distractions
When it comes to performing any task to involves critical thinking, it is important to create a space free of distractions. Once this is ready, it’s time to start performing.
It is generally believed that learning is based on spending hours in front of the books. But this is not exactly like this, if we are looking to make the most of the time we spend studying/working, it is important to adapt ourselves to our concentration capacity.
This requires learning effectively in 25-minute intervals. Take breaks while studying or working (not the other way around); a break of 5 minutes is motivating and the material studied has time to settle.
Strategy # 2: Distribute Time Well
Recognize that your duties are just as important as your free time. Make a calendar where you can plan work, exams, projects or meetings and separate them by order of difficulty and importance. Prioritize your obligations, doing the most important task first.
To make the most of the time invested in these activities, it is important to know what your peak hours are. Perform all the activities that require more critical thinking in your hours of lucidity and leave the relaxed tasks for later.
This calendar will help you calculate the estimated time for each activity and you will be able to prevent any surprises when the deadline for a project is approaching.
Strategy # 3: Do not overload your day
Planning your activities is essential, but you have to program them consciously. It is worthless to make unrealistic calendars and pretend that it will be fulfilled when you know it is impossible. It may be possible, but it is not advisable. Scheduling too many activities for the same day can make you feel exhausted or even frustrated for not finishing everything you had planned.
Organize your agenda so that it can be adapted to unforeseen events, and in case you have extra free time. you can have other activities prepared. In this way you will ensure your day is productive and you will focus on priorities.
Strategy # 4: Turn off your phone
Practice ignoring the phone even when it’s ringing, or emails when your phone vibrates. Put your phone in “do not disturb” mode and avoid distractions unless it is really necessary for your business or a matter of life or death.
Calls or emails can be excused, but Facebook and other social networks have no excuse. Using social networks while doing an activity that requires effort affects our concentration.
So the time you spend ignoring all these distractions will be time and effort earned.
It is not an easy path, and it takes time to do it correctly, but the secret is in constancy. If we learn to organize our time we will avoid being frustrated and overwhelmed at the end of each day. Gradually you will understand how much time each activity requires and with it your daily plans will be more effective and more importantly, you will be getting closer and closer to achieving your goals.
Organize your time to be happy and do not let time organize you!