How to manage time? It seems like a lot of people ask me this question, maybe because they know I study "Law + Computer Science" at the same time, so they think I must be very good at managing my time? But the reality is not like that, I just look like I have a lot of ideas.
1. Abandon the student mindset of dealing with exams. Learning is not just about attending classes in the classroom or studying in the library or watching online courses.
For me, Law is my major, so I will definitely go to class, and because I don't consider Law as my future career direction (if so, it's just as a backup for working at the grassroots level in public security and judicial departments), I don't spend extra time studying or participating in related competitions outside of class (unless I am really interested and will read a few books).
Computer Science is not my major, I am not pursuing a double major, and my purpose in pursuing a minor is not to obtain a minor certificate. So, whether I attend classes or take exams is not important anymore. My goal is to learn a technical skill, so I will focus more on practical applications first, even though this is not beneficial for long-term development, at least it can give me a sense of achievement. For example, one day during the final exam week, I spent a day self-learning html, css, and a little JavaScript, then I created a website to help memorize Korean vocabulary, and in the end, I scored a 90 in Korean.
2. I don't do time management, I only do task management.
Having a precise minute-by-minute schedule is quite difficult for me to follow, I prefer to list out tasks for a period of time, and then each time I start working, I will prioritize and complete one task. The benefit of this approach is that when I don't feel like working, I can slack off, and when I want to work, I won't be clueless about what to do.
I don't like very detailed planning, nor do I like having no plan at all. Task management works well for me, allowing me to adjust goals in a timely manner and make tangible progress. For example, one of my goals this year is to reach a thousand followers on xhs, so occasionally when I don't know what to do, I will remember that I should update.
3. Find the smallest repeatable cycle you can stick to and establish a standardized process (SOP).
Some people can stick to daily plans, some can stick to weekly plans, some can stick to monthly or yearly plans. As mentioned above, I am not very good at sticking to daily plans. I found that the smallest repeatable cycle I can stick to is weekly, for example, I now update my weekly newsletter every Monday morning at 10 a.m.
The SOP for updating the newsletter is:
- Read articles from the previous week (usually if you use your phone, you will read messages, and if you read messages, you will read long articles, that's enough)
- Take notes while reading
- Consolidate into an article on Sunday (in markdown format)
- Use modified CSS styles to convert it into a format suitable for a public account
- Copy it to the public account backend and schedule it to be published at 10 a.m. on Monday.
In addition, pick a day to design cover images using design software in batches. This process is simple enough for me to stick to.
In conclusion, knowing what you want to do will help you figure out how to manage your time. Although it seems like I said nothing, for me, it is true. I can take responsibility for my actions and accept the consequences of my behavior.