On time management and productivity

"The key is in not spending time, but in investing it."- Stephen R. Covey

I think one of the most important aspects of being successful- in any aspect of life- is knowing how to manage your time effectively and being productive. This became most apparent to me during college. I feel that although I definitely didn't master it, I managed my time quite well during my four years at UCLA, and was fairly productive whenever I needed to study or do work. However, the concept extends way beyond the classroom- it relates to every part of our lives.

As you go through college, you find yourself getting involved in so many different things, and eventually you realize how pressed for time you are. You want to hang out with your friends, maybe get some food and watch the game, but you have homework due tomorrow and that midterm worth half your final grade is coming up next week. Not to mention, your volunteer group is meeting tonight and your enrollment time for next quarter is tomorrow morning and you haven't picked out your classes yet. It's pretty overwhelming stuff- and for other people, it's even more hectic.

The key is to sort out our priorities- knowing which things on our "to do" list are more important or pressing can really help us figure out where to start. Also, we need to be efficient and productive as we go about completing tasks (not wasting time), and starting on things early never hurts. I completely understand that we can't spend every moment working on something, but that's why we shouldn't over-commit ourselves. It's also important to give ourselves time to relax and wind down- just gotta make sure this isn't all we're doing, because then we've wasted our whole day away, and that's never good.

The sad truth about all this is that it never really ends- there always so much to do, and as we get older, there's gonna be more and more. During my assurance internship last summer, I remember having tons and tons of things to do everyday I was at work. Even though I was only working for eight weeks, it was a great indicator about what working full-time will be like. I think that college really helped me in that respect- figuring out how to balance all my assignments and being able to work on multiple projects simultaneously.

In the end, it's simply about knowing what we have on our plate and managing it the best we can. Obviously, everything isn't going to work out exactly the way we want, but that's out of our control. Personally, I just try to be as efficient and effective in everything I do, and this allows me to have more free time to allocate to things I enjoy.