Managing time like a machine

Managing time like a machine

I recently crossed paths with a short TedEd lesson on time management that taught me a few things about how machines manage priorities (video at the end). I personally manage my daily routines with a higher degree of human touch, but it doesn’t hurt to learn new ways of doing things. Here are some strategies you can implement to manage your time and become more productive. Maybe not exactly as a machine but hopefully in a simple and efficient way.

1. Organize as much of your time as possible

It’s impossible to control every minute of our lives. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. Start with a traditional weekly planner or fixed calendar. Based on your number of credit hours, the recommended time you should commit to school work is twice that number. If you are enrolled in 12-credit-hours, you are expected to work a minimum of 24 hours a week beyond your scheduled courses. It feels overwhelming but it’s more manageable than it seems. The following graphic presents an example of that scenario:

traditional weekly planner of college student

In this example, twenty-four blocks of “study time” (the time required to complete readings, write papers, do assignments, prepare and study for exams, etc.) are broken down in one-hour increments and distributed as evenly and consistently as possible over the entire week. While nothing prevents you from doing it differently, my personal recommendation is to avoid scheduling more than two hours of your academic work back-to-back and while trying to be consistent with your routine.

another sample weekly planner

This second example is fairly similar to the first. The main distinction is that on the second one the study times selected by the student contain pre-assigned subjects. Which one works best for you is just a matter of personal preferences.

2. Create a daily (or weekly) to-do list ahead of time

A calendar by itself will not make you more productive. The fixed calendar is just a tool that helps organize your work effectively. The key component of a productive day is your focus and you are more likely to stay focus on a task when you write it down as a goal. Here’s an example:

  • Monday:
    • Read Physiology Chapter 2, Pages 45-68
    • Math homework #4, problems 1-7
    • Philosophy paper, page 1 (first draft)
  • Tuesday:
    • Review lecture notes for History Class
    • Finish Biology Lab Report
  • Thursday:
    • Math homework #4, problems 8-15
    • Philosophy paper, page 2 (first draft)
    • Read Physiology Chapter 2, Pages 67-102

Be as specific as possible and to the best of your ability try to constrain your task to the amount of work you could achieve in a single hour.

3. It’s OK to be imperfect

One of the biggest triggers for procrastination (and guilt) is a false sense of perfectionism. Don’t aim to create and follow a perfect plan. There’s no such thing as a perfect plan. Both in normal times and in times of emergency it’s OK to do the best you can as long as you are making an honest effort. More often than not, getting things done on time is more critical than creating a perfect product (there are always exceptions, of course). And in the end, everything in life and life itself is always a draft.

Take a look at this TedEd lesson on How to manage your time more effectively: