Since my last post was kind of long, I'm going to try to make this one shorter, since I can't imagine you'd want to read a novel in one of these posts. (Actually, I don't know - do you prefer long or short posts?) So, jumping right in...
Time Management. That wasn't correct capitalization. I'm sorry. But I'm not going to change it because that would require me to move the mouse and click. (It's late - I will ramble, and hence this being short might not actually happen.)
In any case, time management is something that I'm generally not very good at, as evidenced by the fact that it is currently 1:00 AM exactly. Not anymore, now it's 1:01 AM.
Even though I'm not very good at time management, I've gotten a lot better in the recent past. (That sounds kind of weird...not sure why.) The reason for this improvement? I had to fit more stuff into the same amount of time.
Everybody only gets 24 hours a day, no matter who they are, how hard they work, or how much money they have. But some people use that time wisely, and others let it slip by without much thought at all.
Of course, if we had unlimited time, we'd be able to do everything and anything we wanted to, but I wonder if we would. Would we simply waste away, thinking that eventually we'd get to the really important stuff? Or would we be super productive? I think personally, I'd be the first.
I work best under pressure - really, I only work under pressure. Some of the things that I'm most proud of came because I was under pressure. In other words, I had a deadline I had to meet. Whether for you that's writing a novel, turning in homework, earning money to pay the rent, or whatever, I believe that it is pressure, or deadlines, that make us do anything. (This sort of ties in with Procrastination.)
Now, I really only have one thing that I can suggest, since I'm not very good at time management myself. But that is prioritize. You've probably heard this before. But I'm going to say it again. Prioritize. Take everything that you do on a daily basis, that you want to do, and that you need to do, and write it down. Or if you have a stunning memory, don't. But pick out the ones that ABSOLUTELY need to get done RIGHT NOW. Those are your top priority. This would be that fifteen page essay that you haven't done anything on that's due tomorrow.
Next, pick out the ones that need to get done, but maybe aren't quite so time sensitive. For instance, personal hygiene. No, I'm just kidding. Maybe. If it's only for that one day when you're writing 15 pages, then yes. Otherwise, probably not. But anyway.
Continue categorizing the things that you need/want to do, right down to the ones that you really want to do, but really don't need to do. Now here's the trick. Normally you'd think that I'd say, "Ok, now your top priority needs to get done first, so do all those, and then you can get to the fun stuff." But that never lasts (unless you have that iron, super power will that I mentioned in my post about Procrastination).
No, what I find works the best is to then figure out which of your "want to do" things take the least amount of time/a manageable amount of time. And then do a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, switch to a "want to do" thing, then back to a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, and back to a "want to do" thing, and so on. That way, you don't burn yourself out with the NEED TO DO list, and not be able to keep it up.
That's probably not the best option when you have a ton of NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW things, but hopefully those days are few and far between, because then you can power through for a day or two, catch up, and get back to doing things that you want to do. Because what is the point of living a life where you don't do anything you want to do? Everybody needs some fun in their life. :)
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I don't actually think that ended up being shorter at all. Oh well. Anybody else have tips for managing time well? I'd love to hear them.
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