Managing your Time

I for one am someone who has always does things on the fly, been very laid back when it comes to planning, and have never had a set daily routine. However, lately these are some of the things that have hindered my ability to work effective and efficiently, be able to be there for the ones that I care about, and even have some free time for myself. Recently with my classwork and personal life, I feel as if I have been extremely unorganized which means there is something that I need to change. I really don`t know what major things that I might need to do but there are a few things that have crossed my mind that might help.

I think that first thing that would be extremely beneficial for me would be to get an agenda that has times and dates on it throughout the week so I can write out everything that I need to do on it. I think that writing down and having to cross off the things that I do on a daily basis will allow me to become more organized and will make me realize what I need to do instead of just going through the motions and remembering the day of what needs to be done. Almost everyone I know that owns a planner is always on task and pays really good attention to detail which is definitely something that I lack. I feel as though I am always forgetting to do little things here and there and just being able to write them down to go back and look at will help me remember to do them.

I think that myself, as well as many others struggle with being on their phone too much which is another thing that I need to address/ be better with. My average screen time per day is 5 hours and 15 minutes which is absurd. Just so you know, that adds up to 36 hours per week. The problem is whenever you start to do your homework or any activity, if you look at your phone it totally disrupts the flow of what you were doing. I remember writing an essay last semester that was only 2 pages long that took me almost 7 hours because I kept getting distracted by the constant buzzing of my phone and I could not focus on the task at hand for the life of me. Even as I sit here and write this blog, I constantly find myself wanting to look and get on my phone every little chance I get. I think the solution to this problem would be to turn it off fully until whatever I need to do is done, which I am about to do right now. There is nothing that is so important for me to do on my phone within the next 30 minutes which is why whenever you feel like you are being distracted, just turn it off.

I really need to figure out a good routine as well, I feel like my life is so sporadic and constantly changing that I can`t keep up with everything. I always stress about how much I have to do and by making a consistent routine, I think that it will dramatically change how I view my day to day life. Being able to do the same things over and over will make life easier for me and allow for me to not get so bogged down with stress.

I know that I talked a lot about what I personally need to do to manage my time better, but I want to emphasize that these strategies will also work for anyone who struggles with these things. I think that we all struggle a little bit, especially if you are in college, with how much free time we have and just what exactly to do with it which is why I think these tactics moving forward will really benefit me and maybe even you!