how I organize my time

I don’t have my whole life figure out, not even a little but I have tried to make a commitment to shape my time as productive as possible and it has been working, for me. I thought I could share what I got and maybe help at least someone.

 Now you don’t need to strictly follow all those things; bend it, move it, shake it and make it work the best way it adjust to your life. 

Let’s begin.

1.    Know what you want and need to do:

So this for me starts with lists. I love lists (for real) they just make my life so easy because I can put anything in there and sometimes remember things I really wanted to try but somehow forgot also they can be helpful to visualize your wishes, responsibilities and goals and the best part is that you can have as many as you possibly want. 

Start making lists about your responsibilities, for example I have start teaching English so I have my “class planning” list and I put video links, exercises ideas, notes I have to keep in mind about my students and so on. Make a list about things you have to get done in your house like buying new light bulbs; you can have one for meetings, your shopping list and anything you know you just have to get done. I also have a blogging list where I write down all sort of ideas for the blog.

Now move on into much personal things; I’m gonna sump up some that can probably work for anyone.

Have a list for books/movies/shows/albums you want to read, watch or listen. For me I have one for each category plus a kdrama and French movies list.

When it comes to books I have my “to read” on goodreads but my list is for books that are like a priority or I’m planning to read in this month.

<Nothing in your lists need to be for the immediate future, just write down what pops in your head you’ll get it down when the right time comes.>

Have a learning list. Example: let’s say you want to learn how to play the drums, write it there. You want to learn a new language, write it there. You want to take a cooking course, write it there. 

Get my point?

A very important one that can be split in two is incomes and outcomes. For me is very helpful to see how much I spend and how much money I get, it helps me to realize if I’m spending too much money on unnecessary things or simply know where my money is going and how to save it better. 

Goals for the next 6 months,  this is just the time that works for me but how I said in the beginning bend it to make it better for you. So in this specific list I write new habits I want to get, habits I want to get rid of, new projects or just steps I want to give in my life that are very important.  

Adventures; I have a collection on Instagram called where to go where I place all the places (specially food ones) I want to visit but sometimes I see one and I’m not on Instagram so they go here. 

Let’s say you’re learning a new language; make a list of phrases or words that catch your ears either if it’s in movies or in books. I have one for Korean and French. 

Last but not least if you’re a curious cat like me, have a list of topics you want to research I know sometimes we don’t have time right away so I like to write it down somewhere so I don’t forget. 

For lists I use an app called “things to list” because it’s just very easy and it looks pretty. I also use trello to go more specific into my goals and with my adventures list because I can attach pictures to it and I highly recommend it too.  

https://trello.com/ 

For phrases or words list I just have my Korean/French notebooks (separately)   and this is just a section in them.

2.    Prioritize and set time.

 Now  that you have gather all that you aspire to achieve and all you know you have to get done you need to organize what’s gonna come first because you obviously can’t do it all at once.

I separate this in: 

Month.

Week.

Today. 

First is month: like with the lists start with responsibilities, things you can’t move, and then move into things that you would like to try this month, plans, and special days.

I have my special notebook and is where I do my prioritization. I like it better this way because I can do a check mark every time I do something and it’s just much comfortable for me.

Now week; so look at what you write down in your month which of these things do you want/have to get done this week? This is how your schedule is born (we’ll talk about it in the 3^rd step.)  Once you have chosen your activities set them a day and a time.

Lastly is today; this is another list and I have my special agenda for it, I take from my schedule what I have to do tomorrow and specify everything. 

Example:

Dentist appointment at 8am: place, phone number.
French review at 3pm: what topics I’m gonna review and any side notes I have to keep in mind about that lesson, etc.

1.    Have a schedule 

This is the format I use, I took it from lavandaire which is a YouTube channel (I love her) ( https://www.youtube.com/user/Lavendaire )

her channel is amazing and she has helped me to organize my life and space so go watch her. 

Back to topic what I do in this paper is to fill it with all my this week stuff; you can go crazy and use different colors for days or activities. (wild, i know)

Something personal I do is that I cover it the transparent plastic thingy they use for school books.

This one:

So I cover it with it and use a very thin sharpie pen this way I don’t have to print one copy each week, the thin pen makes it easier to write on the plastic and what’s great is that I just need a humid mop (just a little humid) to erase and if something new comes up I can easily add it without running the rest.

This is the pen I use: 

1.    Alarms or reminders.

I use an app called to do reminder I like because it’s easy to use; you just log in and you can connect it to your Google calendar this way it reminds you of birthdays or any holiday (I know the picture is in spanish but you can change the lenguage). When you add a reminder you can adjust it so it repeats as many time as you want plus you can email a reminder to someone.

Alarms and reminders are useful because sometimes we’re so deep into what we’re doing atm that we lost track or it’s hard for us to remember a certain thing.

 For example I’ve known people who can’t remember to drink water; set a reminder each 4 hours (or how much you want) so you know and stay hydrated. 

Advices to make your time worthy: 

·       Organize your schedule before the week starts; I normally do it on Sundays just don’t wait until last minute to know what you’re going to be doing.

·       At night take a time to organize your school/work bag, your clothes, papers, money and everything you’re gonna be needing this way you’re not running late in the morning because you lost something.

·        Don’t get distracted; we all love to check our social networks I mean we’re millennials but don’t spend hours just looking at your phone without really doing anything when you can be out there being productive.

·        Do two things at the same time; I learnt this in lavandaire. It’s better to focus at one thing at a time but when you’re driving, cooking, doing your hair, doing your nails even showering just something you do automatically  use that time to listen an audio book or a tedxtalk or a podcast or even audios about a language you’re learning.

This is it.

I hope it’s not too weird, how I said it works for me but it can work differently for you but I hope at least one of those things are useful. 

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have a nice day. 
share in the comments what you do to make your time productive. :)