Time management is the most useful tool that any person can possess. The skill to manage time is needed everywhere from the workplace to one's personal life. It's understandable
to gain some form of utility out of time management, but this requires some form of strategy. Strategy is key in time management because there are only 24 hours in a given day. And within those 24 hours, you're supposed to be able to find time to juggle school and/or work, AND sleep, AND free time while somehow managing to remain sane. Often, people give up one to find time for other things, like school or free time. When thinking about which thing to give up for success, usually sleep is the first one to go. Here at TEDxOhioStateUniversity, we understand how essential sleep is to being able to function normally.
TED's mission is about ideas worth spreading, and a well-rested mind can cultivate the best ideas. So, here are the top 3 ways to stay organized:
1. Time is highly elastic
It often feels like we are in a constant war with time. There are a million things to get done, and there are only 24 hours in a day to tackle our never-ending to-do lists. It can feel debilitating trying to fit everything that needs to be done in a given day. Finding time to check things off your list to gain fulfillment leads to extreme mental exhaustion. Students barely feel like they have time to finish necessary classwork, let alone work requirements and free time. While time may feel finite, a way to conquer the exhaustion of time management is to rework our understanding of time.
Time is more elastic than it is inelastic. In Laura Vanderkam's talk titled "How To Gain Control Of Your Time," she elaborated that "time will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it." When something needs to get done, you will find the time for it even though it feels like there isn't time to get it done. Changing our relationship with time will allow us to work with time in new ways, and this will enable us to be productive with the time we have.
2. Want to get stuff done? Prioritize and conquer
Sometimes, the best way to manage your time is to prioritize that long list of to-dos that you have. Understanding that not everything can be done in one day is a powerful tool in your time management toolkit. Prioritize what needs to get done first, then figure out the rest. Have a bunch of homework assignments that need to get done? Strategize! Create a list that prioritizes your tasks from most important to least important, and start checking off your list starting from the most critical sections. Once you prioritize, that daunting list that seemed endless becomes doable and more comfortable to find time for it.
Curating a routine that is centered around prioritization is one of the many tools that can cultivate your time management master kit.
3. Set Some Goals and Get to Where You Need To Be
Time management is a skill that can allow you to succeed beyond the realm of academics. A facet of time management that is often overlooked is goal-setting. Looking at beyond what is needed to get done "in the now" is the first way of making use of your time. Take time management from the present to the future, and begin to ponder what goals you want to achieve in the next few years. Build a plan that theorizes what success looks like in the future, creates goals on how to achieve that success, and elaborates on what needs to be done in order to tackle those goals and gain success necessary for your fulfillment.
At the end of the day, time management is a skill that needs to be cultivated on a constant level to gain value from it. You won't see the entirety of the impact good time management skills can have without gaining experience in using your time wisely. Vanderkam's talk explores how "we build the lives we want, then time saves itself." When we understand how to gain value from the lives we lead, time won't feel like a never-ending battle. For college students, viewing time as a concept that "saves itself" is difficult to grasp. Time management is not about compensation, it's about how to use various skills to make better use of our time and gain success by being productive.
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