Tips for time management?
Plan things with a time limit and then set an alarm. At least thats what I do. I decide to study for an hour and then have a break then I set my timer. At the beginning its annoying but after a while it works great. At least for me. Hope it helps.
Personally, I have found writing every to do item down (in a place where I can remember where I wrote it..) And then try to put a reasonable time frame on it. So if I get distracted, I don't beat myself up on it and get back on track and try to get it done before that point.
My to do list for today looked like:
Wake up between 9-10
College 10-12 and 1-2:30
Work from 3-6
Try to get done pages 1-2 for neurology paper by the end of the day.
Before going to bed try to get a walk in and a few moments to reflect about all of my positives of the day
One of the biggest tips that I have found successful for myself personally when mangaging my time is learning to write effective, conscise lists. I read somewhere that one of the reasons items on lists never get done is because the jobs themselves encompass a variety of tasks in themselves. People get overwhelmed by all the vagueness and then procrastinate because they don't know where to start. And from there, said list is never successfully completed.
So, here's my suggestion. When writing things down that need to get done, be very specific about what exactly needs accomplishing. For instance, say you need to clean out your car. Break it down into steps and write those steps down such as follows. (1) collect all the trash and throw away 2) take certain items and put them away where they need to go 3) vaccuum out car and wipe down any surfaces, etc) This approach breaks down the process into a concise, achievable, endeavor where you can look back and accurately view what exactly it is you accomplished with said task. I have been implementing this strategy in my own to-do lists and my productivity levels have skyrocketed. Hope this helps!
One of the best (if not the best) resource on time management I've ever found was a lecture by Randy Pausch.
You can find his lecture here: https://youtu.be/oTugjssqOT0
Who is Randy Pausch?
He was an American professor of computer science, human–computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: "3 to 6 months of good health left". He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and led to other media appearances. He then co-authored a book called The Last Lecture on the same theme, which became a New York Times best-seller.
Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.
His lecture is inspiring and who could better explain how to manage your time than a person who only has a few more months to live. I has the outmost respect for Randy Pausch and his final lecture has made him immortal.
Create a routine. Make sure you do many of the same things at the same time every day (i.e. shower, grab your morning cup of coffee.) If you have a structure for your day that you operate within every day then you'll have less anxiety about your day to day activities, which leaves you with more mental energy to deal with everyday challenges of work, etc.