Time Management Tips For Busy People

Amended Give-Away Section

We are always watching it, asking it to speed up or slow down, complaining we don’t have enough of it or don’t know what to do with it when we have too much. It’s the muse of poets, lamented when taken too suddenly, a burden, a gift, an excuse, a social construct as well as a biological regulator. What is it?

Source

Time.

Two things are prompting this entry — 1) My September goals and lack of time, 2) my desire to respond to the excuse I often hear, and often mutter under my breath, “I don’t have time to exercise.”  The thing with #2 is this:  It’s partly true and partly false for anyone who lives a hectic lifestyle. It’s true in the sense that if we do not make exercise a priority, we are sure to find things that are equally urgent and imperative to do.  It is also true that we really will not have time if we are wasting it instead of managing it more efficiently.  I am by no means an expert in time management (I am striving to improve each day) — but, here is my list of some tips I’ve learned so far that have really helped me out.

• Act on Priorities First. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I was recently reminded of this as I was going over an “Intro to College”-type course I’m tutoring.  We first need to be honest and acknowledge what our priorities are.  These are things we have to do and things that will get us closer to our goals in life.  They also tend to be the most time-consuming and difficult.  Don’t opt to do the more fun things on your to-do list first because, at the end of the day, you’re just screwing yourself and slowing progress towards your goals.
• Be a Smart Social Butterfly. As my life and my friends’ lives get increasingly jam-packed, we have found that instead of playing phone tag for two weeks, it’s better to set up a phone date. We’ll consult our schedules and choose a day and time to chat.  I know that sounds impersonal and of course we can, and do, call just because and whenever we just want to chat, but for those weekly long chats in which we truly dish about our lives, we make the time in advance.  Do I still go out and have fun?  Absolutely, just not 4 times a week like I used to when I was an undergrad (oh the good ol’ days of partying  until 3 a.m. and then dragging my butt to an 8 a.m. class still reeking of the night’s booze.  Wow that paints a classy picture, doesn’t it?  And the Student of the Year Award goes to Annabel!)
• Have multiple e-mail accounts. I know it may seem counterproductive to have multiple e-mail accounts, but it works for me.  In addition to your work e-mail address, I would recommend that you have two additional e-mail addresses.  You will probably check work e-mail most and it would probably be #1 in importance and urgency.  This e-mail address should be reserved for work-related correspondence only. Personal e-mail you will probably check just as frequently (let’s be honest lol) and should be for e-mail from friends and family, for personal invitations, etc.  The third will be your least priority, least checked e-mail (ideally you can set this aside and check once a week).  This is the e-mail address you will use when you subscribe to e-newsletters, to websites, and whenever you have to opt-in to receive an e-mail for something.
• Keep a Physical & Virtual Calendar. I have both a virtual calendar and a physical calendar.  The virtual calendar I use via my G-Mail account.  I have all appointments entered, my class schedule entered with repeats each week until the semester ends, my work schedule, birthdays, anniversaries, my gym’s schedule, etc.  Basically everything I want to remember on a particular day is in that calendar.  Instead of printing it out, I review it every morning and make notes in a little notebook I carry with me each day.  Carrying around a calendar can be cumbersome, so I prefer this method.  Through Google you can also set-up free text message reminders for events on your calendar.  In terms of the physical calendar I do have, it’s that giant calendar I talk about and it stays at home.  This is simply my daily fitness and food log and it doesn’t need to be transported anywhere but it’s good that it’s so big as it’s an unavoidable tell-all of where I stand in terms of my health goals.
• Keep a Physical & Virtual Notebook. As indicated above, I carry a little notebook with me wherever I go. If I remember something I need to do, I write it down.  If inspiration hits for a blog post or if a brilliant argument for my school paper pops in my head (Eureka!), I write it down.  This is where I also write down the day’s appointments from my online calendar if I fear I will forget them.  I also use a virtual notebook which is fancy way of saying I have, and continually update, a “draft” e-mail in my G-Mail account in which I list out all of my to-dos and my grocery list.  In the morning, I review my to-dos from the draft e-mail and revise as necessary throughout the day.  I then transfer all of the ones I want to accomplish that particular day into my notebook.
• Manage your E-Mail with Categories. We’ve seen that I have multiple e-mail accounts, but for the 2 most important accounts — work-related and personal — I use a color coded category system.  All e-mail programs should have this.  I use G-Mail primarily but know that Yahoo and Outlook also have this option.  In my G-mail I have six main categories.  One is for band-related e-mails, the other is for passwords/login info., another is for school-related e-mails (which come to my G-Mail) and so on.  This makes it much easier for visualization and search purposes to see all e-mails related to a particular category of your life at once.  You can then “star” e-mails you want to follow up on and create tasks and deadlines associated with a particular e-mail, etc.  The possibilities are endless to keep you on top of your hectic life.
• Multi-Task when Safe. I don’t believe we should be applying our eyeliner while we drive, ladies!  But I do think it’s smart to carry your notebook so that you can review and check off items for your to-do list whenever you find yourself in line at the post office or grocery store.  I always carry a school book with me, too.
• Save Internet Bookmarks. I have my Internet bookmarks categorized extensively to save me time when I’m looking for something specific.  Some of the categories I have are:  Top Health Websites, Top Health Blogs, Top Recipe Sites, Favorite Vegetarian Recipes, General Fitness Sites, Running Sites, Restaurants with Healthy Options, School-Related/Academic Progress Sites, Top Marketing Sites, Top Marketing Blogs, etc.  How do bookmarks differ from Google Reader?  These are sites that either do not have RSS Feeds or are sites/blogs I only read sporadically so would not care to subscribe to.
• Use an Aggregate Service/Google Reader. I use Google Reader to subscribe to all the blogs and news sites I read.  If you have not heard of Google Reader, it’s a service that aggregates all of your subscriptions to RSS feeds and you can organize all the blogs/feeds you subscribe to by categories you designate.  You’ll see when sites have added new posts and you can choose, based on how you’ve organized and categorized, how often to read and check on different blogs/sites.  The three major categories in Reader I have are: 1. “Fave & Must Read Health & Fitness News & Blogs” 2. “Friends’ Blogs” and 3. “General News,” though I do have several other categories.  When you are strapped for time, it always helps to have already predesignated what your reading priorities are.  (p.s. Thanks Marlan for introducing me to Google Reader!)

At the end of the day, your time management system is completely personal.  These methods are tried and true for me.

In the News

• Science Daily‘s, “Towards Healthier Communication: Social Networking Tools To Enhance Personal And Social Wellbeing” (9/2/09) here — The excuse we all needed to spend more time on Facebook
• Science Daily‘s, “Milk Drinking Started Around 7,500 Years Ago In Central Europe” (9/1/09) here
• Science Daily’s, “How Much Omega-3 Fatty Acid Do We Need To Prevent Cardiovascular Disease?” (9/1/09) here — The study parameters are so narrow – 12 healthy men – but FYI the “good dose” amount came out to be 200 mg of DHA/day to prevent cardiovascular disease.
• AOL‘s, “The Cost of Obesity” (9/1/09) here
• Science Daily‘s, “People Who Don’t Own A Car And Live Near Fast Food At Greater Risk For Obesity” (9/2/09) here — Seems like a pretty obvious correlation, no?  It’s like a headline reading, “People Who Live Inside a Donut Shop Tend to be Heavier than those who Live in a Hut in the Wilderness.”
• Science Daily‘s, “Biotransformed Blueberry Juice Fights Fat And Diabetes” (9/2/09) here
• Alternet‘s, “Seven Common Cosmetic Ingredients You Should Avoid” (9/2/09) here

Give-Away Round Up

• Win a Yoplait Delights gift-pack here
• Win a Pond’s Towelettes Giftpack here
• Win a copy of the Eating Well Diet Cook Book here
• Win a Pandora-style bracelet here
• Win a Body Glove Aqua Fitness Set here
• Win an iPosture device here

What time management strategies do you guys use?  Please share!  I am always looking for time-saving strategies!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

<3, The Cranky One

Tags: aggregate services, bookmarks, calendars, fitting in exercise, Google Reader, multitasking, time management