People Shared Their Most Useful Time Management Tips To Cure Your Complacency

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Complacency. It is the number one killer of time. I know I’m not the only one who has burned countless hours of time by burning down countless joints and wondering why I’m flipping my undies inside out because I don’t have time for laundry. My dad used to tell me, “You’re going to be late for your funeral,” which was kind of ironic because I’m not really ever busy enough to excuse myself for being late to anything.

But the harsh reality is that I don’t hold myself accountable for much–financially, productively, and socially. As a creature of habit, it’s nearly impossible to break out of without actively setting up some rules and guidelines for myself. That’s why when Redditor sleepandfood posed the question below, I was desperate to find out how others have succeeded in time management.

People who have time for studying, meeting your friends, sleeping enough, working out, what’s your secret? What time-management tips can you give?

Here are the smartest responses.

TheBFD:

Meals and meal planning. It’s easy to burn a lot of time each day just cooking and eating. Meal prepping (or at least preparing large enough portions to last you multiple meals) is a huge time saver.

Make a daily and weekly list of what you NEED to get accomplished. Obviously, there’s only so much you can accomplish daily. Decide what needs to be done today and use whatever free time you have to work on the longer term goals once you get through the daily list. Often, chipping away at the weekly (or longer term) list pays dividends later on. If you’re studying 20 minutes or so a week out from a big test, you’ll find you don’t need multiple hours the night before.

Be good with down time. Find ways to be efficient with those awkward blocks of time in your schedule that often turn into browsing reddit or zoning out.

Find ways to do something you enjoy while working on the things you don’t want to do.. If you like a podcast, listen to it while you do the dishes or fold your laundry.

Plan time for you. If you just grind all day everyday you can easily burn yourself out. Find time to do the things you enjoy, just moderate it. For example, if you’re a gamer, limit yourself to a reasonable amount of time. Watch an episode or two of your show, but don’t binge. Check Reddit while you’re on the shitter instead of dedicating large chunks of time. Moderation, not elimination, is key.


DangerousMilkMan:

In the morning, do the things that piss you off. In the afternoon, do the things that are no big deal. At night, do the things that make you happy. Then get some fucking sleep.


Ike_Snopes:

Find reasons to do it now, not reasons to do it later. You will be surprised at how much you can do in not too much time. The left over time is great.


the-eighth-dwarf:

It’s about being realistic with how long things take.
Example: I’m going for a one hour run. That’s 15 minutes to get dressed and find all my stuff and get out the door, then an hour to run, and 20ish minutes to stretch and cool down after.
If you don’t account for all the extra bits of time you quickly end up over scheduling and not “having time” to do things you’d planned to.


Walknasty:

Don’t let yourself veg out until you’ve accomplished what you need/want to that day.


billybuford:

Actually manage your time. Like most things if you write it down and plan ahead it works. If you “hope to find time” throughout the day you won’t.

If I write down that I will be at the gym at 12:15 and stay for 45 minutes it’s almost a lock that I’ll do it. If I just say “try to go to the library tomorrow afternoon” I know myself and I’ll get distracted or say I’m tired and I won’t go.


You can read the whole thread HERE.

And hey, good luck out there.

Matt Keohan Avatar
Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.