I don’t know anyone who doesn’t struggle with staying on track at work. While juggling a busy schedule it’s difficult to complete daily tasks. Over the years of completing college and the time I’ve spent in the work place, time management was a crucial element for me to be able to complete each task at hand. I have gone through many different ways to get work done on time and still be able to achieve the top quality work I am looking for. Of course everybody has there own way of managing each day, and completing work on a busy schedule. I’m sure they even went through the same sort of process I did.
During my college years, I tired to manage being social and getting work done at the same time. Like most students this is a week-to-week struggle. I finally came up with the idea to time block my day. Knowing I had a ton of work to complete and still wanting to go out with friends, to me there really was no other way. Going out with friends acted as a reward for my hard work in my room. I told myself if I don’t complete this project, then I don’t go out. That was very difficult to stick with. Especially when your roommates are huge partiers.
This time block consisted of four columns. One column for the project, one for what I had to complete, one for the time I had to complete it, and the last was for the due date. Once I had each project written on paper I felt my head become much more clear. I was able to think clearly about what was asked for each project and the best way to complete them. Before I knew it I was getting projects done on schedule AND going out with friends.
Still today I use a variation of this time blocking system. With multiple projects going on at once is very hard to find time for each one. Sticking to this schedule has helped me get the most out of each day. One big part of time blocking is to give yourself a buffer zone of at least one hour. This is to make it as flexible as possible if projects over lap one another.
This has really helped me stay on track and get projects done on time. Time management is something that everybody does differently. I would love to hear some of your ways of time management.
