Controlling Time

By En

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​Managing time can be tricky. Whether you’re trying to do work, plan your life or even trying to meet deadlines, time will always continue to tick away. There’s no way to stop this, meaning it can be hard to work with, especially if you have a lot to do. So, what can be done to help with this?

Time management is different for everyone. What might take five minutes for one person may take an hour for another. Following a schedule set by others might be tricky and can cause a lot of stress, so you need to be in control of how you spend your time. There are no set rules to how you spend your time; if you want breakfast at 3am, who’s going to stop you? You’re in control. Trying to conform to the idea of normal can sometimes make managing time harder, so do what’s best for you. 

As someone who has time blindness, procrastinates and hates structure, time management shouldn’t be my strong point. However, with my job and my studies, I’ve had to learn how to get time on my side and manage it efficiently and smoothly. Something that took me ages to grasp was that it’s not going to be perfect. You can’t predict how long somethings going to take, and that’s the hardest thing I find about managing my time. I set unrealistic goals for myself and get frustrated when I don’t meet them, and that’s something I’m still working on. Even though I’ve been doing this for three years, it’s still hard. Getting time to work on your side can feel impossible, but here are some of my tips and tricks to make it work. 

Add twenty minutes
If I have to predict how long something might take to do, chances are I’ll underestimate it by quite a bit. My typical rule is to add twenty minutes. As someone who creates schedules, this is something I keep close to myself, and has definitely helped in those situations. Even if you don’t use the twenty minutes, it allows time to run over if you need it. 

Know when you need structure
I hate structure; I avoid it any time I can. When I force myself to work under a structure, I find I lose focus faster than I normally would and I get very irritable. I find I work better if I give myself a night to do two or three things and as long as I get it done that night, it doesn’t matter how long it takes. Last academic term, I put so much structure into my time which didn’t work- not only because I didn’t like it, but because time is unpredictable and I couldn’t control how everything went. Even though I put the structure and management in place, I was still working on my projects last minute. This term, even though I have a month until my deadlines, I’ll set myself a goal in the morning with absolutely no structure to doing them, and I’m almost done with all my work. I’m letting myself enjoy it rather than forcing myself to do it. 

Know that things will go wrong 
No matter how much time you allow, something will inevitably go wrong at some point. It’s a very frustrating fact of life. Try not to get annoyed with yourself for things that are beyond your control. That’s something I found hard to get around, and I still struggle with it, but things go wrong and that’s out of your control. I tried printing a script yesterday and what should’ve been a ten minute job turned into around an hour full of stress. Technology is unpredictable, and mixing that with using a brand new printer meant that it took longer than what I expected; but on the bright side I got it done and I learnt how (and how not) to use the printer. 

Alarms
Alarms are my best friend. I’m very forgetful, unless I have constant reminders then I forget everything. To help with this, I set alarms. If I need to do something by a certain time, I’ll set an alarm three hours before the set time, then one at an hour and a half, then ten minutes before it’s due. I’ll set an alarm when I’m working to remind myself to take a break. It’s not so much a time management skill but it helps me keep on track. 

Learn from your experience
I know how long it takes me to do things, so I keep that in mind when I’m planning to do something. It normally takes me about an hour to make a cake, so any time I want to make one, I’ll set aside about an hour and ten minutes. Specific, but it allows for time to run over if I need it while sticking to how long it takes me on average. I’ll try to remember how long things take me to do and when I have to plan it out, I’ll give myself just a little bit more time, just like the first point on here. 

Time can’t be controlled, but it can be managed. It’s different for everyone, but I hope I’ve helped a bit. It’s a case of trial and error, but eventually you’ll learn what works best for you. Time management takes time, but that’s what makes it fun.