Time management techniques for “busy” people (Yes, let’s pretend to be busy people ahahah). It is always harder to find time to read a book, have a walk or finish your tasks on time. This is not because we have less time than before or because we have more tasks. Often the reason why we do not have enough time to study, to find a shared flat or simply to relax is a bad time management due to distractions and useless activities.
If you learn how to manage your hours, you will have certainly a lot of time to enjoy a pleasant evening with your flat mates. A shared flat is actually a great chance to learn something new such as traditions, languages and so on. This is the reason why we always suggest our reader to look for a shared flat instead of a flat all alone. In order to enjoy this kind of accommodation though, you need some spare time. Some time to close your books and watch a movie with them; some time to forget about your smartphone and talk with your friends face to face.
This month helpMadrid has collected some interesting tips to manage your time and to get the most out of your day. How often have you said that some more hours during the day would be terrific to enjoy some extra activities? How often have you used the “no time” excuse to avoid exercising? The last one is actually our favourite ahahah; we are such a lazy team! By the way, here our techniques. We have tried some of them and they actually work…
1# Track your time
This is the very first step to check when you waste important minutes and the useless activities that take your time. This is the very first technique to improve your productivity. Try to do it for a week, analyse your time management and remove any waste of time.
2# Set time constraints
If you allocate a certain amount of time to a specific task, you are more productive. Therefore, set a countdown timer and work hard to the task trying to finish it. This may be an option. Another technique may be to divide your day in blocks: the block “work” from 09 am to 18 pm, the block “work out” from 18.30 pm to 19 pm, the block “book” from 23 pm to midnight, etc. This will help you manage the time to do the things you like.
3# Do not procrastinate
Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today! This is a very important and wise quote. If you have a task, do it and never procrastinate. Especially if it requires few minutes or seconds! There is actually a rule called the 2-Minutes Rule that says: “If it can be done in two minutes, do it”.
4# Begin with the biggest task
If there is a task, that you know will take time and a good part of your energy, do it first. In this way, you will not have to worry about it all day long and you will do it when you are still fresh (you will certainly save some minutes). Furthermore, it will prevent you from procrastinating it to another day (see point 3#).
5# Single task
Multitasking will make you waste time! Unbelievable ahahah. It is true though: just think of the task switching costs in term of time. In order to force single tasking, many researches provide us with an extremely efficient hack, the Pomodoro Technique. How does it work? Set a timer for 25 minutes and in that time work on a single task. If you want to know more about this technique, check this link!
6# Eliminate distractions
Social media, internet, YouTube… Both loved and hated! They are distractions that should be contained, especially when you have something else to do or when you want to begin a new activity but you do not know when. Distractions lower your productivity and you will waste time twice: the first time checking the profile of an influencer and the second time to get back to the task after getting distracted. Draw your own conclusions.
Social Media are probably the worst distraction ever, such as WhatsApp or Telegram. In order to reduce and manage the time we spend with our smartphone, we use two techniques. The first one consist in leaving the phone in another room: you will realize that nothing will happen if you do not check it every ten seconds. The second one is an app called “Moment”: it will make you notice all the time you waste during your day.
7# Take advantage of gap time
Many times, we use our gap time to scroll Instagram or Facebook. Useless to say, this is the worst way to spend your precious hours and to use your energy. What can you do instead? If you are at home waiting for dinner to be ready and you have to make laundry, start the washing machine. If you are on a bus, read your novel. If you have to send a private e-mail, do it. You can even learn a language that you have always wanted to (Duolingo is perfect with its short lessons). No need to go further with other examples, right? Just use your time and use it properly!
8# Wake up earlier
This is the last resort, but it is actually a good way to begin productively your day. If you wake up early, you have definitely less distractions: no one will text you, social media still sleeps, etc. Let’s imagine to wake up 1 hour earlier, we could save one hour of our day (it means 7 hours per week). Furthermore, we are more productive because we have rested during the night and we are fresh.
Those are very few of the several techniques you can actually use to manage your time in Madrid and we admit that they work. For example, we have begun to begin with our biggest task of the day. This is what we have noticed: we are fresher and we finish it in less time (1 hour and a half instead of 2 and a half).
If you want to be more efficient and have more time to study or to stay in your shared flat reading a good novel, we kindly suggest you to follow those techniques. If you manage to put into practice some of them, you may even do not need to wake up earlier in the morning (and this fill our hearts with joy ahahah).
Time flies and we have to save time, too… Therefore, we say goodbye and we go on with our daily tasks. Posts and social media are waiting for us and, actually, for you, too! If you are not doing it, follow helpMadrid and stay tuned (moderately).