Ms. Lauren Time: Time Management
An Elusive but Imperative Soft Skill
Time management is something with which I personally have great difficulties. That makes me very passionate about trying to help young people master it; I believe it is easier to master when you are young, before the bad habits have become deeply ingrained. I also believe that it could make a big difference in the level of success you experience in your Pre-U studies, so it could be very “timely” for you to pay attention and put some effort into improving yourself in this area.
There are many aspects to time management: procrastination, punctuality, prioritizing, dealing with distraction, learning to say no, accuracy in estimating how much time tasks will take, and more. I am guessing that at least one of those will resonate with most of you. Let me share with you what I have learned about these over many years of struggling with them.
1) Procrastination involves postponing the inevitable. You know you have to do something but you do many other things instead, waiting and waiting and letting time go by until you are under extreme pressure, and then the task gets done. Though some people claim to work best under pressure, this does not tend to be a formula for producing your best work. You often end up rushing if you leave things to the last minute, and rarely allow time for checking and re-working details that are not as good as they could be. Procrastination is particularly common when you have a large task ahead of you – a big essay, research for a presentation, a long homework assignment, and it is very difficult to get started.
Here are two ideas for dealing with procrastination. One is to re-work your schedule so you start with tasks rather than fun things. If you have a few hours after dinner every night and don’t get down to your schoolwork until the last of those hours, try STARTING with your schoolwork right after dinner. Force yourself to knock at least one task off your TO DO list before allowing yourself the distraction of Facebook, or television, or video games, or chatting with friends. If you generally do a few hours of schoolwork and studying on the weekend, and often save it until Sunday night, try getting it over with on Saturday morning. Spend from 10 am – 2 pm on Saturday doing schoolwork before any of your other weekend plans, and see how good that makes the rest of your weekend feel. (Or if that seems too difficult, spend from 10 am – noon and get one big task out of the way.) This is called “delayed gratification” and it is a very important skill demonstrated by successful people. There is some concern that your generation is not very good at it. Prove it wrong by developing this powerful approach for yourself!
The second idea, which applies to those large tasks you are having trouble getting started, is called “time boxing”. You choose a ‘box’ of time that you can (a) afford, and (b) face working for, then set a timer and get on with it. How long for depends on the amount of resistance you feel. Can you work on it for 30 minutes? If not, make it less, maybe even much less – 10 minutes? The length of time you choose has to be less than the resistance you feel to starting. When the time is up, stop. You now have two choices: come back to it later or keep going. Often, once you have got started, you will decide to keep going. If not, that’s okay. Promise yourself another box of time for this task tomorrow … I have used this time boxing technique to talk myself into going for a run also. If I feel unmotivated or like I don’t have enough time, I promise myself I will change into shorts, T-shirt and running shoes, then jog for 5 minutes only. Once the 5 minutes is up, I almost always keep going because it feels good and I’m already out there and past the mental resistance I was setting up for myself earlier. However, if it doesn’t feel good or I really am worried about the time factor, then 5 minutes is enough. You have to believe that quitting after the small box of time is a valid option; otherwise it’s just like you’re trying to fool yourself.
2) Punctuality is about being on time for events, classes (!), appointments, AND about handing things in, or paying bills, by the due dates. Not being punctual shows a serious lack of respect for the person you are meeting, or the person who set the due date you miss. It appears that you value your own time more than their time. Obviously this is not a good habit to carry into your adulthood. Work on it now …
I truly hope you try at least one of these ideas if you have a procrastination or punctuality problem. I love coaching people on time management. Feel free to send me a FB message stating your new resolution, and I will give you a couple of hints, and monitor and nag you a little if you need it. Breaking your bad habits in this area now, while you are still young, will make a positive difference to your whole life. Good luck!
Ms. Lauren
