5 practical tips for my time management
Currently I am a business law student in a master program, work more than 20 hours as an employee, organize a non-profit organization, write articles regularly and learn about data science. In order to be successful in all those areas it's very important to enforce a tight schedule and always make decisions in line with my priorities.
This is also designed as an overview for all my friends and family, since they often feel neglected. Also I got asked many times about it.
📄 Table of contents
“It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for 'realistic' goals, paradoxically making them the most time and energy-consuming.”
― Timothy Ferriss
Trying to optimize
This is always the most important step. Try to optimize as early and often as possible. There is no optimal solution for time management because your day and routines are always changing and evolving.
Routines are the key for any success. Therefore I try to get into a routine and then keep improving it until I am at an efficient level.
Note that this is subjective. Your improvements have to work for you and not someone else. Hence take time to revisit your progress and past experience.
Some practical tips
Work
I want to start with work because most people are dependent on income and therefore naturally have to weigh work as very important.
It is key to know your worth in the company you are working in. Identify your core value for the firm and build around it. In case you are a software developer, focus on your code. Are you a project manager? Focus on the process around projects. It's nice to provide additional value for the company, but always make sure your core competence is covered.
Again, try to optimize as much as possible. When you are faster and better in you job chances are high your employer likes your changes. Try to improve all the time. Revisit past process, change and build up from it.
University
For me university is additional knowledge. Unfortunately in Austria many universities require physical attendance, which is often good for your learnings, but can be too much if you have many other things to do. Therefore I invest more time at the start of a semester to plan everything accordingly.
- check all social platforms for summaries of classes
- download everything and organize with folders
- attend all first classes to get an overview of the course and what is necessary to get the most out of it
- 80/20 pareto principle - I learn only what's necessary for the course.
As a practical example this can be to merely being physically present in each class but working on other things. P Preparing only for the exam is most of the time sufficient. I stick to basic literature with principles. All in-depth books are great but not necessary to get through a course.
Private Learning
Now learning is the most important part of all your activities. It separates you from the crowd. Allows you to step out of average and ultimately enjoy life much more. I try to spend as much free time as possible on that. This is pleasure time. While others enjoying entertainment in movies I enjoy learning new things. Not only will I be able to combine it with established knowledge, but also acts as a gateway for further improvements.
Since private learning is the most flexible of all your areas, I fit it in my schedule whenever possible. This can mean, 1 hour before your class starts, lunch breaks or right before you go to bed.
However, with this flexibility comes temptation. Be sure to remind yourself how important and interesting your desired learning material is in order to stay motivated and avoid distracting consumption.
I try to incorporate as much real life as possible in line with my learning goals. For example when I started to code I tried to surround myself with programmers, contributing to open source and applying for a software engineer job. In addition to that comes my writing. I try to document as much as possible and aim for publishing it. Not only does this improve my learning, but also gives me credibility.
Sport
Sport is vital.
I always schedule 2-3 times of sports activity in my week. Currently this is 2 times strength training and 1 yoga session. I love sport and therefore force myself to not overdo it. I consider this the bare minimum. As I am working as a developer and sitting at university and learning the whole day, my body needs movement.
I could really write a book about why sport is so incredibly important for a healthy happy life, but let's focus on the most important thing here: balance. Sport balances all your sitting and thinking with movement. It allows you to give you the extra ability to see everything different and use your body to the best possible.
Others
Everything else falls into the category "others". This is the hard truth. Everything else I schedule behind behind my main goals. This can be very unrewarding and unsatisfying, but it is necessary since every day has only 24 hours and my body is just a human body as everybody elses.
Especially socializing, friends, relationships, family often come too short. That's why I try to fit them into breaks. Whenever I don't need to think hard or focus deliberately on tasks I get some socializing in. This can be a phone/video call, Whatsapp text, or a meeting scheduled for the break like lunch or dinner.
The next months
I will keep this schedule for the next 6 months and review it's fruits afterwards. In the time of writing I expect it to be a little bit too much pressure due to some deadlines but I am happy to push my boundaries. I already see the lack of "non-thinking time" or "relaxation time" to be a problem for the future. Especially when exams are coming I see the lack of breaks risky for achieving all goals. It will be a great experience to see how I react to the rise in pressure and obligations.
The reason why I try to push the limits as much as possible is because I fortunately was able to experience great achievements in the past. It is really true: If you want to have results like nobody else has you have to do things differently than most people.
Thanks for reading my article! Feel free to leave any feedback!