Time Managment

Time Management.
Who doesn't want to learn better tips and tricks to make the most of each day?

Confession: I am a really busy teacher. I have a lot to do.

               And I waste a lot of time. 

I can get lost in the rabbit trails of Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube so easy. It starts off as a just a quick "I'll check what's new" and a long time later I realize I've just wasted valuable time that could have been spent grading papers. Or folding laundry.

On one of my YouTube trips I went on a Ted Talk spree and found this promising one on "Time Management" by Laura Vanderkam



It turned out to not be what I thought it was. No tips, no tricks, no ways to squeeze an extra 10 minutes from each day. Instead it was so much better. Here are my key take aways from her talk:

1. "Time is a choice." We make room for what has priority. When we say "I don't have time for ___" what it really means is this thing is not a priority. I say I don't have time to put away the mountain of clean laundry, but really I just don't want to.
2. "Fill your life with things that deserve to be there". I have a pleaser gene that is quite dominant and active. I have to actively work to suppress it otherwise I end up volunteering for everting. (More on that later)
3. For professional and personal life) Imagine you are at the end of next year: what are 3-5 things you would have done that would have made this an amazing year for you. These are your goals for the next year. 
4. Give these goals priority, schedule them first. 
5. Plan for next week on Friday. Interesting because I follow Joe Duncan on Instagram who is big on planning your next week on Sunday. Which I never do because Sunday I'm still procrastinating and avoiding thinking about next week. Laura says Friday works because you're excited for the weekend but you're still thinking about what to get done.
6. Have three categories: Career, Relationship, and Self. There should be something from each category for the week.

This Friday I'm going to work on next week's goals. And I'm going to think beyond the job. 

Fingers crossed

EH