Common Misunderstandings About Time Management
What is time management?
In recent years, managing time seems to be a common task for people working and studying. Many people know time management is essential. However, does everyone know what time management is?
Based on the words, time management is an ability to make plans and make use of your time efficiently among various tasks. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. During this period of time, people have different duties, which depends on their personalities, occupations, ages, and so on. At the same time, tasks can be divided into different levels based on their importance. Some things should be done immediately, and some can be delayed. Thus, managing time basically is to managing tasks.
The answer is simple, isn’t it? However, it is not a perfect answer. Before explaining, let us think about the goals of managing time.
Why do people want to control time?
I know most of you would regard the question as a joke. You may say that people want to control time because they want to be effective. Uh, the answer is not wrong. But, please allow me to dig deeper.
Why do people want to be capable?
Some people may hope they could be a better person. To be a better person, they want to learn more skills, develop more hobbies, utilize more social networks, and get more money. At the same time, they think they should be superman, who can handle everything including working and living.
Unfortunately, time is limited. Thus, many people fetch the tips of managing time tightly to dream that they could make a perfect plan and be a capable person. As for these people, time management is like a drug which can cure their anxiousness. Because people believe the limited time is the main barriers for them to be better. Who can control time actively, who can own the bright future?
However, this is a misunderstanding.
Time doesn’t need to be managed.
Let’s use a running river as a metaphor for. The speed and direction of the river usually depend on the environment and the shape of its channel and riverbed. In sloping areas or in a smooth channel, the river’s velocity is usually quicker than a river running in narrow and rough channels.
As for time, the environment doesn’t need to be explained too much. In daily life, it is usually hard for everyone to do what they want to do at a specific time, all the way. People’s plans are often interrupted by other people and all kinds of emergencies. The channels and riverbed are like people’s physical conditions including their energy, emotion and so on. We know it is not a smart method to move a significant mountain for a river. Similarly, we couldn’t ask other people to follow our time behaviors. Thus, time management basically is a way to reshape our riverbed and channel. In other words, when we talk about managing time, we are actually talking about managing our energy.
The perfect plan is not the main issue, but becoming a flat and smooth channel.
How can you do it?
- Don’t focus on making plans again and again, especially for plans that are cemented in each hour, even in minutes. For example, I ever make a schedule like this: wake up at 6 a.m., eat breakfast at 6:30 a.m., and so on. Remember, we are not robots. Plans should simply be a blueprint to guide us to complete our tasks.
- Learning your body. This means we should have a clear recognition of our body. For example, when do we usually feel tired? When do we have the best energy? Then, we could arrange our tasks based on our physical conditions. If we are early birds, we could do the most difficult things in mornings. If we are night owls, we shouldn’t push ourselves to see the beautiful dawn.
- Don’t have blind confidence in your willpower. Willpower is a limited power like time. Nobody could keep his or her stimulation all day. When willpower is run out, we should stop our working and have a rest, even when it isn’t our original plan.
- Of course, willpower can be trained like our muscles. Before making an ambitious plan, making our willpower stronger is our main issue. The easiest thing we could do is to gradually extend the time of working or studying, be it 25 mins, 40 mins, or 1 hour. At the same time, reducing possible interruptions is also significant. When we start to be used to staying in a quiet atmosphere and enjoying our learning and working time, the usage of willpower could be reduced. In other words, transferring willpower to be a behavior is the most effective method for us to manage “time” or ourselves.
Next time, when you sit down in front of your computer and decide to manage your time please ask yourself, what kind of river are you now?
