Organising Your Time

I'm a lot better than I used to be, but there's still room for improvement.

let me check the statscock...oh! total crap, obviously!

prior to starting my uni course we all went off on a residential field course to the Forest of Dean. there wasn't really any proper work, it was more of a chance to get to know other ppl on the course. there was a talk given by one of the lecturers in which he mentioned the importance of organising one's time effectively at uni. "Don't sit watching the washing machine go round and round!" he said. And everyone laughed, thinking "How preposterous! Who does *that*". I wish he'd actually given a slightly less silly example coz I think he 'lost' his audience at that point. More practical advice would have been better.

Useless.

I don't think I really try and organise my time at all.

like, fpor example, there were a number of occasions when i read whole books when i could/should have read excerpts, or skimmed.

I'm always thinking about what I should be doing, and putting it off.

but if your talking about doing the bare minimum to get by, I'm good at that! :)

When I have stuff to do, I'm pretty good at organizing my time. The problem is that I never know what i SHOULD be doing.

Mark: why do you need to know? Are you doing a study or something?

And, how are you at organizing your time?

I'm bad at organizing my time in general, but for short term things, I'm very good at a small bursts of intense concentration. So why bother trying to, y'know, be good at the other stuff?

Huck OTM.

I'm just curious, but Markelby for one seems to think that I'm planning my sociological meisterwerk.

I don't know, maybe I'm overly self critical and should just chill, but there's always so much stuff I want to do (books i want to read, music I want to listen to) and always insufficient time.

"I don't know, maybe I'm overly self critical and should just chill, but there's always so much stuff I want to do (books i want to read, music I want to listen to) and always insufficient time."

If it's YOU, and only YOU, who is putting the pressure on yourself, than it signifies that you DO want to do something about it. However, if it's a parent, lover, or boss that is accusing you of being a 'slacker', than you have to decide if it's Guilt or Desire to Change that's making you feel this way.

Now, if it is indeed YOU who wants to make better use of your time, make a list of what you need to accomplish.

Such as:
Pay bills; clean house; see film; visit friends; read book; exercise.

Then, break down each week. If you find large projects hard, such as cleaning your home for 4 hours, break it down to one room or one hour per day. By the end of the week, you'll accomplish it. If you like to read, then pick a time per day, that you can do this. I MUST read, so I always chose bedtime for this pleasure. Since I need to sleep each day, I'm always in the position to give myself this luxury.

Combine tasks: plan to invite friends over for dinner and a film. This allows you to clean your home, shop for groceries, visit with friends, and see a film together. Also, cook way more than you need to eat, freeze it, and you'll have meals ready for yourself in the days ahead.

Finally, give yourself permission to have "Free Time". This is a designated time that you set per week, to do...nothing. If you want to sleep...do it! If you want to read for 4 hours straight...do it! When you allow yourself to have the luxury of unscheduled time, it's amazing what you can do to fill it.

Hope this helps. I follow this system and it allows me to do it all.