Time Strategies

My semester is pretty full, making time management very important. I'm in class most of the day Tuesday through Thursday, so I'll be doing most of my work on Mondays and Fridays and over the weekend.

I read this article 10 Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets to Staying Focused and I found that they do a lot of the things I already try to do, but am not always successful at. One thing they mentioned that I do a lot is going outside and exercising. I work on a lot of difficult projects that require a lot of focus and problem solving and whenever I inevitably hit a wall, I'll just stop, go for a run, and then come back to the problem refreshed. Often times I'll come up with a solution or new idea when I'm not actively thinking about the problem.

Another thing they mention that I'm not very good at is working on one thing at a time. Currently I have four browser windows open, each with obscene amount of tabs, and three other applications open, all for different projects I'm bouncing between. This works for another strategy I use though. I like to make myself work on a project for 40 minutes, or complete so many problems, and then let myself wander for 20 minutes and get on Facebook or Reddit or YouTube. This keeps the stress levels down and I can focus more when it comes time to work again.

There are a couple TED talks that I like on this subject. They are Inside the mind of a master procrastinator and The surprising habits of original thinkers. They go into why some people procrastinate and some strategies to get around that and different thought processes of different people. One particular idea I like from the second video is that it's best to start early but finish late. This gets the idea into your head early on and gives it as much time as possible to think about it and come up with the best idea possible.

The mind of a procrastinator. Screenshot at 3:52 from Source