The Importance of Time Management
Something that is largely overlooked its time management and the implications of good time management versus poor time management. Obviously there is a finite amount of time in each day, so the trick is to maximize your productive time and minimize your unproductive time. For a lot of people, all of their extra time involves sitting around watching television or engaging in something else that is unproductive. In order to begin the process of managing your time wisely, it’s important that you identify what is important to you and what is unimportant to you.
For some people, spending time with family is important. For others with no family, or no family around, perhaps it doesn’t play as large a role. I personally fall into the second category: I have no family that is nearby and so I have virtually no time devoted to family besides an occasional phone call or weekend visit (which happened this weekend). This leaves me with a lot more time to devote to things like furthering my education, engaging in social activities, and investing my time in developing skills that can push me further towards my goals.
Things that are unimportant to me include things that will not better me or push me towards my goals. This means mindless tasks like watching most television, movies, drinking for the sake of getting drunk, and other things that yield me nothing. I value my time very highly and so I try to spend as little time as possible doing mindless things. That being said, I still am human and need a mental rest every now and then, and so I will spend an hour every few days watching TV or browsing the Internet even if it’s not really helping me.
Now that I’ve identified what’s important to me (bettering myself and moving towards my goals) and what’s not important to me (mindless activities and things that hinder me from accomplishing my goals), it’s time to start thinking about how to break up my day so that I maximize my available time by cutting out the unimportant. I’ve been criticized by my peers for making every morning an “early” one (I say “early” because in college, anything before 9am is considered early), but I find that since I took the steps to make my mornings more productive, I can make my evenings more enjoyable and overall I’m in a better position. I wake up each morning by 6:45 and start my day, eating breakfast and then going to class until 1:00pm every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have no class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but still wake up at 6:45 regardless of what time I have to work, if at all, because I can be far more productive when I’m not distracted by my roommates and friends.
One of my most difficult goals is to be able to retire by the time I am 45 - something that’s relatively unheard of for most people. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually spend about an hour or so reading the news to see what is going on in the business world. This helps me gain a general oversight of what is popular, and it gives me a better general understanding of how the business world is working. I usually then devote some time, either before or after work depending on when I work, to updating my blog and brainstorming ways that I can maximize my spare time and money in the future. Some may see this as generally unproductive, but I’m confident that it’s a worthwhile investment; sometimes I will use this time to read or do homework as needed.
My days are largely sporadic because I’ve got a part-time job without set hours each week; so each week is different. It’s hard to plan my days then until I know when I am supposed to work. But, the latest I work is 8:00pm (retail) which still leaves me a few hours before I go to bed for the night. In this time I read, update my blog if I haven’t found time to earlier in the day, finish any homework I may have, and continue to find ways to move myself towards accomplishing my goals.
By managing my time wisely for the past month, I’ve noticed that I’m far more productive, find myself being bored less of the time, and am happier and healthier. I get a good night of sleep every night, even if I’m only devoting seven hours or less, and in the mornings I usually wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day at hand. Pick out the important things in your life and emphasize those when thinking about how to maximize your time. I suggest waking up early to accomplish things that may otherwise go undone in the day. Avoiding distractions helps you be more productive and being more productive helps you accomplish the things in life that truly matter to you. Don’t let anybody dictate how you spend your time; my friends think I should spend my time drinking and enjoying “college life”, but I know that through good time management I can enjoy college life without drinking and still accomplish what is important to me. The only thing keeping you from accomplishing your goals is how you spend your time. Master your time, and you can master almost everything else you want.