Time management

By Anna Radachy

    How much free time do you have this week? There are 168 hours in a week, but once you factor out work, school, eating, sleeping, errands, housework, commute, and maybe a hundred other things it seems like you have no time at all. Perhaps you, like me, are trying to find some extra time in the day, but there always seems to be something more important that has to be done.

    It can be easy in today’s “hustle” culture to fall into the habit of always being busy, with many, many things. Today’s America moves fast, and you are expected to move faster in your job and life, so how do you find time to do what you want?

    I recently watched the Ted Talk “How to gain control of your free time” by Laura Vanderkam while walking on the treadmill at the gym (because… time management??) and found it to be incredibly interesting. In the 10 minute video, she discusses the difficulties of finding time in the day, some interesting ways that some people “save” time, and discusses a study where several women were asked to write down exactly what they did with their time that week down to the minute.

    During the course of the study, one of the women had her water tank break, flooding her basement and causing a comedy of errors for her. At the end of the week when she was reviewing her time with the researchers, they found that she had spent 7 hours dealing with the water tank, between cleaning, calling repairmen, and other necessary actions. Vanderkam remarks if the woman had been asked to find 7 hours in her week at the beginning of the week to train for a marathon that she would have said she was too busy, but what is the difference between training for a marathon and fixing a water tank? One is a priority.

    The greatest secret to time management is making things a priority or making the way you spend your time a priority. It is making the choice to put a label on your time and sticking to it. Maybe that means putting time limits on apps on your phone. Maybe it means getting up earlier to go for a walk before work. Maybe it means putting time limits on how much time you work from home. Maybe it means saying from 7 to 9 pm you are going to watch a movie and that’s all because you want to watch a movie. Every minute you spend in your day is your choice. You can not find more time in your day, but time will stretch to accommodate what you choose to put into it. It may be hard at first, but blocking out time purposely to do something that you want to do, like going on a hike or working on a knitting project, or going to see a friend, can have a great impact on your overall outlook on life.[NG1] 
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    Personally, I am a very busy person, between being a full-time student and working two jobs, so it always seems that I have no time to practice my hobbies. After watching the video and doing some research, I have decided to cut out time from 9-10 pm every day to be time to relax, listen to a podcast, and work on a crochet blanket that I plan to give as a gift later this year. This will give me the chance to relax and unwind, learn something from a podcast, and stay off my devices.

    So is there anything you want to do but never seem to have time for? Take the time this week to take on the challenge of carving out time for something you have been putting off!