At some point in your life, you’re going to struggle with managing your time and balancing all of your responsibilities and fun activities. This path will not only help you see how you are actually spending your time, it will give you tools to make sure that you are using your time in a meaningful way that makes you happier and freer to do what you love.
Weekly Tracker
Take a few days to fill out the weekly planning tracker with data of how you use your time. Try to make notes throughout the day and use information about your cell phone usage as well to understand more clearly the way that you use your time.
With another person, discuss the outcome of the research you did about your time management. Record your discussion, making sure they ask you to reflect on these answers.
What positive things did you notice about the way that you spend your time?
What is positive about the way that you manage your time?
What are some things that you notice that you can do differently? And how do you make those changes?
What is something that you would change about the way that you manage your time?
Post your reflection on the path. If you would like to make a video about a day in your life like the one above, go ahead and show us what your day looks like!
Time management tools
If you feel great about the way that you use your time and have a good system for managing your projects. Great work! Keep it up.
If you would like some tools to help you manage your time and are up for a change, take a look at a few ideas below.
Quiz Time!
Take the short quiz to see which of the time management tools might work best for you.
Practice
Choose one of the tasks to learn about (can be the recommended version or you can choose another).
Complete the assigned task.
To Do List: A to do list is helpful when you have few tasks and can get them done in order.
At the beginning of each day, create a to do list. Think about all the things you NEED to get done. Give each item a date to be completed.
If a task is large, break the task down into smaller tasks. And then give these a time frame.
By each task, decide when the task needs to be completed – today or at a later date.
Complete each task according to the date given. Make sure to check or mark off the task once completed!
Work on this to-do list for a week and then complete the reflection.
Eisenhower Matrix: An Eisenhower Matrix can be really useful for choosing how to prioritize your tasks, especially when you are feeling overwhelmed.
To start, make a to-do list based on the following questions:
What are the urgent things that have to be done this week? Any homework that needs to be completed, or family in town, or activities scheduled? Make a note that these need to be considered when deciding how to allocate your time.
What are the long term projects that need to be completed? Break them down to smaller tasks and add those to the to do list.
Consider the long-term goals that you have set for yourself. What are your priorities based on these goals – school, social, balance? Make these into tasks and add them to the to-do list.
Make a square quadrant on your paper. Delegate each task to the proper quadrant. You can read the article if you want more information on how to sort each quadrant.
Complete the tasks as designated on your matrix and then complete the reflection.
Calendar: A calendar is helpful for people who are more visual and want to see their tasks broken up into different days.
Find a digital or printed calendar for the upcoming month or two weeks. Write down anything you have scheduled, not including regularly scheduled school (for example: sports, clubs, meeting, appointments, visits from family etc.)
Make sure that you make your to-do list. Next to each item, write down the length of time you expect the task to take.
Place the to do items on a calendar so that you can visually see when they need to be completed. Include the amount of hours you plan to work on this assignment.
Put up your calendar somewhere you can see it and continue to add to it for at least two weeks. Once done with the two weeks or module, complete the reflection.
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