I have always had a love-hate relationship with time. It seems that it either works with you or against you. As someone who likes to procrastinate, I have experimented with different time management systems. Here is a couple that I find particularly useful. You have probably heard of many of these.

Pomodoro Technique

This is the twisty-tomato time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s.  In essence, each full twist is a twenty-five minutes timer. The idea is to break study or work into twenty-five-minute intervals with a maximum five-minute break in between each new twist. Every four full twists lead to a long break. Although I find the ticking of the timer to be very distracting, I use my phone as a timer, which has the added benefit for me of not looking at my phone.  I find this most useful when I have a lot to get done in a day.

Eat a Frog in the Morning

Mark Twain once said, “eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Now vegan readers: please don’t get offended. By “eating a live frog” he is implying the act of doing something unpleasant task. The idea is that you get the most gruesome task done with first. This way the rest of the day would be a piece of cake. I, for example, find doing my French composition to be a huge challenge that I always do grudgingly. So, I did in the morning, and the rest of my day was a lot more carefree than usual.

Plan your day the night before

Before I sleep, I like to take five to ten minutes to reflect of what I have accomplished that day and what I have tomorrow. I record them both. The former makes me feel accomplished or know what I need to do more. The latter helps me start my day tomorrow. It is always easier to know what is ahead of you. This has also helped my morning panic.

Label the Weeks

As we ease into a semester, the weeks sometimes becomes to feel repetitive and our enthusiasm wanes. I have found that labeling my weeks on my planner to be very helpful. Since a semester is usually 15 weeks long including spring break, knowing which week one is on can help one get perspective. This will remind me to start studying for my mid-terms and finals too.

What time management skills have you find to be helpful? Unhelpful?