A Lesson in Time Management

The month of December was an extremely busy one for me. I had at least one event scheduled for every day of every weekend. This is the list of events that I attended in December

• Cirque du Soleil performance
• Jackie Evancho in concert
• Christmas at the Corner (my high school's performing arts Christmas showcase and performance)
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass
• Advent prep concert
• Christmas party for homeless kids and teens, put on by my church 
• White elephant party
• Best friend's graduation party
• 5-year high school reunion
• Brother's graduation party

Between all of these events, I still had to go to class, study for an exam and a final that were within two days of each other, finish my microbiology lab notebook, take an online quiz, write a 4-page paper for microbiology, write two essays for my ballet class, bake cupcakes as extra credit for microbiology, and perform onstage for my ballet class. I was pretty busy and stressed throughout the better part of December. But, it was a blessing in disguise because I had to refine my very rusty time-management skills. So if you find yourself in a busyness such as this either periodically or constantly, here are some strategies that I found helpful during the month of December.

1. Set a schedule for each day

        One of my weak points is that if I do not plan what I am going to do with my day ahead of time, I will get little to nothing done on said day. Looking at everything I had to do, it was imperative that I set a schedule for the next day. Most of the time, this meant waking up earlier than usual and getting out of the house to do my studies. 

      Corollary 1: start your day as soon as you wake up. Yeah, I know this sounds pretty obvious, but I like to lay in my bed for a while before actually getting out of bed. Even then, my day doesn't start. For me, the day doesn't start until I take my shower. So by setting a schedule for myself, I gave myself a restricted amount of time to lay in bed and had to get in the shower as soon as I got out of bed. This meant that I was showered, dressed, had my hair and make-up done, made my bed, and had eaten breakfast within an hour-and-a-half to two hours of waking up.

      Corollary 2: Find a study spot where you can actually get work done. Again, another seemingly obvious one. I have found that I do not study well when I am at home. So when I find myself with a heavy load, I know I need to schedule time to get out of my house and actually get work done. For me, these study places are the youth room at my church or a library. These places are ideal for me because it is quiet and there is minimal distraction from both life and the Internet. Let's be real; the Internet is a horrible distraction in this day and age.

2. Make a list

        Whenever I have a lot to do, I find that making a list helps me prioritize. By list-making, I have an organized way to look at what needs to be accomplished. After I write my list, I see what is going to take the most time and the least time and decide from there what I am going to do first. I usually end up doing the things that take the least time first so that I can have the satisfaction of crossing something off my list ASAP. 

3. LADIES: If you have an event to attend in the evening, do your hair in the morning. 

         I found this especially helpful because could cut out a good chunk of getting-ready time by showering and doing my hair in the morning, which was already part of my schedule for that day (refer to point 1.1). Showering and doing my hair in the morning meant that I only had to do/ touch up my make-up and get dressed in the evening, which took a grand total of 25 minutes at the most. I shaved a good hour off my getting-ready time just by doing my evening hair in the morning. The styles I chose were ones that were versatile and could go from day to night without a hassle. 

4. Take some time for yourself. 

         If you are doing a million things every day feeling like a chicken with its head cut off and don't schedule any "me-time", you are going to suffer from a case of burn-out. Take an hour throughout your day to do something that is not on your list of things to do (read: something to temporarily take your mind of your busy life). This could be anything from exercising to watching a favorite show to mindlessly browsing Pinterest. 

The strategies I mentioned really helped me get through the month of December. At the end of it all, I was physically exhausted and took a good 4 days to be a hermit and recharge myself. But I managed to go evenly distribute my time between events and studies mainly by making and sticking to a schedule.