You see, for the past 4 months, I have been tirelessly working to make myself passive income online. That's a whole other thing that I could blab on and on about, but let's stay on track here.
You see, I spend a great deal of time online (in front of my laptop), and the idea of productivity and just general use of time has been pretty cool topic to learn about and try. I've read everything under the sun about time management and how to work efficiently, so I feel like sharing my findings.
First you should know that I love love love testing out everything in my life. I like trying every new way to organize, eat, work out, talk, and everything in between. So yeah, this is from my extensive trials of test and error.
My "insights":
- A Task Will Take As Much Time As You Plan For It
- This is a BIG ONE. The time you set out in your head to do something, is exactly how much time it will take. If I tell you to write me a 1000 word paper about “how to grow flowers in a garder” in an hour, the odds are it will take you somewhere close to an hour. Now, if I tell you to write the same article in a half hour, it will probably take you the same time. And possibly even better quality.
- I certainly have no stastical proof to show but I have observed it to be the truth. When I sit down in front of the computer in order to do work, oftentimes there has to be strict limits about a.)how much time I am going to spend, b.) what needs to get done and c.) what needs to be finished by the time I'm done. Sometimes I miss the mark, A LOT. Sometimes I have really crappy final products because I needed to spend more time on it. But that's just how it goes. I can usually do a lot more work in less time than I think. It's really just a learning thing.
- Planning Out Every Minute of Your Day Sucks
- Yeah I did that. To be honest it wasn't that difficult. But what began to happen is that I was starting to become a robotic decider that made decisions of going out for fun based on how many leisure hours I had left for the week. This is tough because I was super-productive when I was tracking and planning my days by half hour intervals, but in the end it was killing spontaneity and brought some unexpected anxiety. It just wasn't for me.
- There's a System for You
- There's a million and one books out there about time-management. Some of them have quirky little notepads that you keep with you, others have apps you can download to remind you of meetings and to keep track of your hours. Just know that there is no magic bullet, and you should find what works best for you. I say, try as many out as you can and put in the pieces that work, throw out the ones that don't
- Time is Muey Importante
- Ok duh, obvious point. So it might be more helpful to say that efficient use of time is muey importante. If you use your time efficiently (doesn't mean obsess over it), you can spend less time with more results. Just because you spend two hours in front of a computer doing research doesn't mean you were productive. A lot of time can be wasted if you are easily distracted. So yeah, time = important. Goes without saying, but I'll say it.
- Limited Leisure Time?
- My life currently consists of very little leisure time. I don't get to hang out with friends or go to bars because I live far away all of them and choose to save money on gas (this is changing soon, yay!). But for me this leisure/social time is extremely important for my mental health, because I am a social creature. So what I've learned in this area is that things I really enjoy need to be enjoyed. Does that make sense? In other words, if I am going to go out with friends to let loose, I need to let loose. Not be in the bar talking about strategies to get more traffic to my blog. It means getting into “durrr” state and having actual fun.
- No Bigger Waste of Time than TV
- TV sucks. Anyone who reads this should know my opinion on that. In terms of a time waster I can think of nothing superior. It's not that the actual time spent watching the TV is a waste, it's that after watching the TV, your brain is not in the productive mood. Chances are it's in the “dur” or “caveman” mode, where you are barely above chimpanzee cognition. If you want to toil away endlessly at your goals, keep watching TV. If you want to attempt to reach some crazy goals, turn that shit off.
- Change is Tough
- Love you all but I noticed that whenever I make some big changes I tend to feel certain negative feelings coming from those around me. To be completely honest it's nothing big and I don't resent it, but it's something I've observed. Whether it is saying that I am going to stick my face in my computer instead of hanging out with a buddy, time management can kind of make you seem like an uninterested dick. But shit ain't easy and you have to figure out how to start chipping away at your goals. You just have to be able to say no and figure out how to juggle a normal life with goals.
- Sometimes, You Just Have to Quit
- There are some things I hate admitting and one of them is that “I can't do every single thing I want to do, at least not all at the same time”. It's just not possible to do everything you want to do at the same time.. You have a finite time in which to accomplish goals. Sometimes you just have to decide which are more important, and narrow down your focus to those goals only. It sucks to quit something, but at the same time you have to be able to use as much mental energy on as few tasks as possible.
There's really a million and one more insightful and cool things I've learned about managing my time. I still am not a great time manager and I could definitely be more productive doing work, but I have come a long way, BELIEVE ME. Where I'm at is a win. No doubt about it.
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