I have, within the context of my job, things to do that will take various lengths of time and are of various priorities. If I get blocked on one it’d be useful to know what to switch to, and on.
I have, within the context of my personal life, things that I want to do that will take undetermined amounts of time and are of various priorities.
It’d also be nice to have a record to go back and reflect on when I did what. And it’d be nice to plan a little ahead so that I can decide what I hope to do next.
So… how do you do it? I am so bad at time management. Is there a useful software I can use (if so, is it foss)? Is there a way to keep consistent with my planner so that I don’t fall behind on managing my time management, without falling into the trap of spending much effort on creating a time management system that all my time is spent managing my time.
Send help :(
Tbh I find strict scheduling and the like to be too much of a time drain to be effective. I just plan my day in my head, e.g. before lunch I will work on X then between lunch and dinner I will work on Y then after dinner I will work on Z is a common “schedule” on an off day. Occasionally I write down a todo list just to keep track of tasks but that’s about it.
I have a notion setup organized around tasks, calls to organize, and clients.
I have several view and attributes to fit the tasks to my workflow.
I have a daily routine and a weekly routine template that gets added to the task list regularly with custom views for each action. This includes reviewing the email inbox, the calendar, the long-term backlog, and many other things. I then end the daily routine by estimating among the open tasks, the most important and setting a workload for the day.
I use Outlook at work, and a former co-worker showed me her trick which is to create calendar reminders for time-sensitize things because there is always too much to remember. And you get the benefit of appearing busy (red) in Teams so people are less likely to interrupt. It’s like a meeting but you are the only one invited.
One of my tools is a never- ending to-do list (pen&paper). It’s a substitute for having a memory, it’s always on me and I have to write things down as soon as I realise it’s a task I need to complete. Ticking items off helps me stay motivated, so if it’s a longer process I’ll break it down to get more ticks (eg think about x, outline plan for x, spend 1 hr on x).
Then on a given day I can make a separate list of things I need to get done that day and stretch goals, with the must- haves split into hard and easy columns (based on how they feel to me, psychologically). Ideally I try to start with the hardest thing first, then reward myself with an easy one, and repeat.
I designed my own weekly planner, updated and printed once weekly, that lets me visualize my time, list unstructured tasks, and journal a bit, all on one page a day:
Upper box are tasks I must finish today and the lower box is for tasks I’d ideally get to, but don’t have to, or just random notes. Tasks and dates beyond the one-week span just get thrown in a mostly-unstructured notebook, which I reference after printing a new weekly planner.
It hasn’t solved everything, but it at least frees my working memory from having to keep a to-do list.
That’s slick in how straightforward it is. I like the offline element you get from printing it, too.
0 projects when I’m working full time. sorry but it just feels like work to me.
I have the same problem. Got a teaching job while in the middle of my phd and now i just end up doing preparations for the following classes, grading exams and so on, and never get around to working on my phd. Ive found no good solution though. If I work on my phd I leave my students waiting and with more improvised classes, if i work on material for the students I forget about my phd subject.
Ive tried using an app called superproductivity, which is on fdroid and works fine, but it didnt help me as much as i hoped…
Send help :( Also got long term personal stuff id like to work on, like at least an hour a week, but theres always something urgent from work that shows up and takes my time or leaves me too tired.
For both our sakes, I hope we can find something that works for us. I don’t need to be on my productivity grind 24/7. I don’t desire that at all. But I really don’t like the feeling of completely misspent time. I want the balance of doing what I want to do AND totally relaxing (physically+mentally) when I feel it’s time to relax
Personal experience, obviously:
- enforce time limits on apps (like 45 min messaging/social per day), e.g. using built-in tools => frees a lot of time
- streamline communication, i.e., do not be available 24/7 for mail, chat, etc. Instead, define time windows to check and answer your channels
- Use some Pomodore timer
[]to focus on specific tasks for a few hours. Minimize distractions as far as possible in that time window. - Sleep. Working tired is a black hole for time management.
- Do sports/seek nature to keep the stress level down.
- Plan honest to your capabilities, sometimes the 80% solution will do (yes, this can be hard to accept)
- A simple hand-written checkboxed ToDo list per day is helpful, take 5-10 minutes to compile it before your day starts.
