When I was in high school, there were a few daily duties I had to complete everyday that I described as the “bane of my existence.”
In no particular order, here are the two I can recall as the “most annoying”:
1. Cleaning out my swim bag – including hanging up my towel, cap, and swim suit, replenishing the power bar pocket, and tossing my running shorts in the hamper
2. Studying Latin vocabulary flashcards (50 every week) and taking notes in my SAT tutoring sessions.
As an adult, this list has not changed much. Two of my least favorite chores are:
1. Doing laundry
2. Cleaning the kitchen (including vacuuming, unloading the dishwasher, and wiping off the stove top)
It’s funny how certain hatreds do not change much – thankfully, relatively early on I made a discovery that changed my approach to such despised responsibilities so that now, they don’t seem so painful anymore.
Maybe the adaption was organic, but when I was sixteen my dedication to cleaning out my swim bag every night and studying flashcards was sporadic and distracted by procrastination. I rarely did these things consistently (daily), and I often found myself cramming all 50 vocabulary flashcards in to one Sunday night study marathon study session or left with only damp dirty towels since I hadn’t done a wash in days.
Let’s be honest: nobody likes to study flashcards for two hours straight. So, somewhere along the line I tried something different: one day, I studied 25 cards on Saturday and 25 on Sunday.
And then I had an idea: what if I broke down my list of 50 vocabulary words in two groups of ten and studied a set of ten for five minutes every day?
Hence, the birth of what I like to call “the just-for-five-minutes-a-day” tactic for tackling “icky” jobs. Have a kitchen that needs to be cleaned? Give it a whirl for five minutes, everyday. I promise – you will be pleasantly surprised at not only how much you can accomplish in five minutes – but also, how you’ve just turned a seemingly daunting hour-long job in to a manageable and relatively stress-less accomplishment.
This isn’t to say you won’t spend the same amount of time doing the laundry or studying, per se – but it will lighten the anticipated dread to a level that makes any task seem absolutely manageable – and you won’t be left towel-less in a dirty kitchen.
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
When You Just Can't Concentrate
As I recall, getting through high school was no easy feat. Like many of you, I struggled to find time in the day for classes, homework, extra-curricular activities, a social life, and sleep. I battled fatigue, constant distractions, and the ever-present urge to procrastinate. On some days, I was victorious. I would turn off the TV, silence my phone, and sit in my orderly workspace, energized and motivated to tackle my work. But even then, I found that setting the stage for productivity wasn’t always enough. Despite my determination to complete the task at hand, my mind would sometimes wander.
What will I have for dinner? I can’t believe he said that! That was a good movie. My mom will be so upset when she finds out. Maybe I shouldn’t go this weekend…
There was always something to think about, and the fact of the matter is there always will be. Staying focused on work can be challenging at any age—in high school and beyond, which is why it is good to start SAT tutoring early. So, over the years, I’ve picked up a few strategies to help me stay on track. And if you’ve ever had a hard time concentrating, you’ll find them useful too.
Task lists: Write down everything you need to accomplish, and break large projects down into smaller, more manageable tasks. If you happen to lose focus, your task list—a sort of visual plan—will remind you of exactly what you should be working on. And the best part of making lists is the satisfaction you get every time you cross off an item.
Time boxing: This can be a very effective time-management tool. Instead of working on a task through completion, commit to working on it for a set amount of time. The idea behind time boxing a particular task is that you are excluding other tasks and unrelated thoughts from your radar during that window of time.
Breaks: Taking scheduled breaks is an important part of maintaining your concentration. A 15-minute break after an hour of studying, for example, can help keep your mind fresh and focused. Try to get a change of scenery during your break. Go outside, do stretches, walk the dog, etc. Exercise is a great way to clear your head of clutter and can even help you absorb what you’ve just studied.
Music: Sometimes noise is the best way to drown out other noise or unwanted thoughts. Be careful when listening to music while you work, though, as some types can be distracting. I recommend listening to something instrumental or even the sounds of nature, which should help relax you and aid concentration.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Getting Good at Email
This email thing has really caught on. Whether or not it’s a regular part of your life now, it will become so at the latest when you begin college. And for something people spend so much time doing, most people are pretty bad at email.
“How can someone be bad at email?” you ask.
Let’s imagine someone who’s bad at making a bowl of cereal. So this person puts a bowl on the counter and takes out a box of cereal. They open the box and take one Cheerio and put it in the bowl. Then a second Cheerio. Then a third. 15 minutes later, they’re ready for the milk. They open the milk carton and carefully pour it into a teaspoon and then dump the teaspoon into the bowl. Then a second teaspoon, and then a third and fourth. Finally, 30 minutes after getting started, they’re ready to eat! (Thank goodness they didn’t want to add in any sugar.)
Now, if you were watching this person make a bowl of cereal, what would you say?
You’d go crazy. You’d want to pull your hair out. “Why would anyone ever be that incredibly inefficient?!” you’d think.
Well that’s me when I watch most people use email. Getting quick and efficient at using email can help you stay organized and save you a ton of time. Here are some tips to help you pour the email cereal:
Get on Gmail
In my experience (and I used Yahoo for four years), Gmail is far and away the best. If you use Yahoo, or AOL, or Hotmail, or whatever—give Gmail a try. Sign up for a free account, and if you agree that it’s superior to whatever you’ve been using, send one email to your contacts and tell them that you have a new email address, and just like that, you’re switched.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Once you’re on Gmail, go straight into Settings and turn “Keyboard Shortcuts” on. Then, once you refresh the page, you’ll be ready to use them. Start by pressing Shift + / to bring up a list of all the keyboard shortcuts Gmail offers (or check them out here). Beyond the obvious time-savers like C to compose a new message, R to reply, F to forward, etc., there are dozens more, all of which are useful. Also, to send a message, simply press Tab to highlight the Send key, and then Enter to send your message. Trust me—once you get used to these, you will never go back to clicking around Gmail with your mouse.
Archiving
In Gmail, there are two ways to maintain your inbox: 1) The old fashion way—let your messages pile up into the thousands, creating a never-ending inbox, or 2) The modern way—"archive" emails you’re done with, keeping your inbox clean and only containing messages you still need to read or answer. I can say with absolute conviction that the modern way is superior. The key is that archived messages haven’t gone anywhere—they’re sitting in the “All Mail” folder on the left, and you can either go to that folder or use the search feature to find an archived message at any time. Just type the name of someone on that email and maybe a word from the email or another recipient, and the archived message will be right in front of you again. Meanwhile, your inbox is clean and only contains messages you need to attend to, allowing your inbox to serve as your email “to-do” list.
You can bring in your own systems on top of this—you can “keep as new” messages you need to deal with more urgently, or tag them with a star, etc. Whatever works best for you.
(When I go through my emails, I simply press either k or ]. k leaves the message in my inbox and moves one to the next one, ] archives the message and moves to the next one. For me, it’s one or the other, unless it’s r to reply to the message.)
Labels
Labels can help you stay organized. Rather than putting an email in a “folder,” Gmail lets you tag emails with one or more labels that you create. Then when you click that label on the left side of the screen, every message you’ve tagged with that label is sitting there. For example, I created a label called “Flights” in my Gmail. When I book a flight online, I receive an email with the flight details. Since I know I’m going to need that email in a couple months—but I don’t want it to stay in my inbox that whole time and create clutter—I slap the “Flights” label on it (keyboard shortcut: when I’m in the message I press L to bring up the "choose a label" field and then type the first couple letters of “FLIGHTS” and press Enter and voila). Then, a couple months later when I need the email, I just go to the flights label and there it is.
Filters
If you’re a beginner, worry about the above items for now—but for the more advanced user, filters are the way to tell Gmail what you want it to do with messages. For example, if I get a weekly newsletter that I might want to read here and there, but I don’t want to be bothered with it popping into my inbox each week—I can create a filter that tells Gmail: “When a message comes in from the sender of this newsletter, apply a “newsletter” label to it and archive it before it even reaches my inbox.” So now I’ll never see another one of these newsletters in my inbox, but when I click on the “newsletter” label on the left, all of the newsletters will be sitting there. Cool, right? You can create filters in Settings.
Labs
Finally, once you get good at Gmail, head to Settings and go to the Labs tab. There you will find over a hundred little cool features that you may or may not want to activate in your Gmail. One of my favorites is “Undo Send,” which allows me to take back a sent message for 10 seconds after sending it—comes in surprisingly handy. Check them out.
Themes
While you’re in Settings, head to the Themes tab and make your Gmail page more interesting. My favorite is Tea House, which allows you to check out the daily life of a delightful little fox who lives at the bottom of your screen.
Good luck! This stuff may take some getting used to, but you’ll thank me one day (reminds me when my private SAT tutors said the same thing). For more on Gmail, check out the Gmail blog.
“How can someone be bad at email?” you ask.
Let’s imagine someone who’s bad at making a bowl of cereal. So this person puts a bowl on the counter and takes out a box of cereal. They open the box and take one Cheerio and put it in the bowl. Then a second Cheerio. Then a third. 15 minutes later, they’re ready for the milk. They open the milk carton and carefully pour it into a teaspoon and then dump the teaspoon into the bowl. Then a second teaspoon, and then a third and fourth. Finally, 30 minutes after getting started, they’re ready to eat! (Thank goodness they didn’t want to add in any sugar.)
Now, if you were watching this person make a bowl of cereal, what would you say?
You’d go crazy. You’d want to pull your hair out. “Why would anyone ever be that incredibly inefficient?!” you’d think.
Well that’s me when I watch most people use email. Getting quick and efficient at using email can help you stay organized and save you a ton of time. Here are some tips to help you pour the email cereal:
Get on Gmail
In my experience (and I used Yahoo for four years), Gmail is far and away the best. If you use Yahoo, or AOL, or Hotmail, or whatever—give Gmail a try. Sign up for a free account, and if you agree that it’s superior to whatever you’ve been using, send one email to your contacts and tell them that you have a new email address, and just like that, you’re switched.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Once you’re on Gmail, go straight into Settings and turn “Keyboard Shortcuts” on. Then, once you refresh the page, you’ll be ready to use them. Start by pressing Shift + / to bring up a list of all the keyboard shortcuts Gmail offers (or check them out here). Beyond the obvious time-savers like C to compose a new message, R to reply, F to forward, etc., there are dozens more, all of which are useful. Also, to send a message, simply press Tab to highlight the Send key, and then Enter to send your message. Trust me—once you get used to these, you will never go back to clicking around Gmail with your mouse.
Archiving
In Gmail, there are two ways to maintain your inbox: 1) The old fashion way—let your messages pile up into the thousands, creating a never-ending inbox, or 2) The modern way—"archive" emails you’re done with, keeping your inbox clean and only containing messages you still need to read or answer. I can say with absolute conviction that the modern way is superior. The key is that archived messages haven’t gone anywhere—they’re sitting in the “All Mail” folder on the left, and you can either go to that folder or use the search feature to find an archived message at any time. Just type the name of someone on that email and maybe a word from the email or another recipient, and the archived message will be right in front of you again. Meanwhile, your inbox is clean and only contains messages you need to attend to, allowing your inbox to serve as your email “to-do” list.
You can bring in your own systems on top of this—you can “keep as new” messages you need to deal with more urgently, or tag them with a star, etc. Whatever works best for you.
(When I go through my emails, I simply press either k or ]. k leaves the message in my inbox and moves one to the next one, ] archives the message and moves to the next one. For me, it’s one or the other, unless it’s r to reply to the message.)
Labels
Labels can help you stay organized. Rather than putting an email in a “folder,” Gmail lets you tag emails with one or more labels that you create. Then when you click that label on the left side of the screen, every message you’ve tagged with that label is sitting there. For example, I created a label called “Flights” in my Gmail. When I book a flight online, I receive an email with the flight details. Since I know I’m going to need that email in a couple months—but I don’t want it to stay in my inbox that whole time and create clutter—I slap the “Flights” label on it (keyboard shortcut: when I’m in the message I press L to bring up the "choose a label" field and then type the first couple letters of “FLIGHTS” and press Enter and voila). Then, a couple months later when I need the email, I just go to the flights label and there it is.
Filters
If you’re a beginner, worry about the above items for now—but for the more advanced user, filters are the way to tell Gmail what you want it to do with messages. For example, if I get a weekly newsletter that I might want to read here and there, but I don’t want to be bothered with it popping into my inbox each week—I can create a filter that tells Gmail: “When a message comes in from the sender of this newsletter, apply a “newsletter” label to it and archive it before it even reaches my inbox.” So now I’ll never see another one of these newsletters in my inbox, but when I click on the “newsletter” label on the left, all of the newsletters will be sitting there. Cool, right? You can create filters in Settings.
Labs
Finally, once you get good at Gmail, head to Settings and go to the Labs tab. There you will find over a hundred little cool features that you may or may not want to activate in your Gmail. One of my favorites is “Undo Send,” which allows me to take back a sent message for 10 seconds after sending it—comes in surprisingly handy. Check them out.
Themes
While you’re in Settings, head to the Themes tab and make your Gmail page more interesting. My favorite is Tea House, which allows you to check out the daily life of a delightful little fox who lives at the bottom of your screen.
Good luck! This stuff may take some getting used to, but you’ll thank me one day (reminds me when my private SAT tutors said the same thing). For more on Gmail, check out the Gmail blog.
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