TIME TIPS FROM AN EXPERT
Are you always in a hurry?
Do you spend hours wasting time before realizing that there is something vital that you need to be doing and then rush to complete the entire endeavor?
If that sounds like you, then chances are you have poor time management skills. But don’t worry — SCC’s wellness counselor, Carrie Bayless, has a few tips for those of us who are too busy to research it ourselves.
The first tip is simply to write down everything you need to do.
According to Bayless, the human mind was not made for short term memory, but rather for long term memory, and trying to remember everything that is going on in your head is sure to take an unnecessary toll. Chances are you could use that brain power elsewhere.
The next tip is to overcompensate in your planning. If it takes you twenty minutes to get to class, plan the trip thirty minutes before class starts. This way, if you run into any trouble on the road, you’ll still arrive on time.
Bayless said this also applies to tasks you want to accomplish every week.
For example, if you want to work out two days a week aim for three days, that way if you end up missing a day you won’t beat yourself up about it.
Bayless said prioritizing is necessary for all the other tips to work.
Basically, in your day-to-day life you’re going to have tasks that you need to perform, like mowing the lawn or studying for a test.
Now of course you can’t do both of these things at once, so in order to better manage your time, you need to decide which one is more time sensitive and which one is more important to do first. You can mow the lawn any day but that test is tomorrow, so it might be a good idea to start studying now.
The final tip is also pivotal, according to Bayless: Make time to schedule out the rest of your week. The other tips don’t help much if you don’t set them up ahead of time.
Don’t be afraid of failure. If one method doesn’t work, don’t throw the whole idea out the window. As Bayless said, “The important thing is to try different things and come up with a system that works for you.”
If you have any more questions about how to manage your time, you can visit Carrie Bayless in Room 5203 in FOSS.
