How to manage your time and not let it manage you.

Multitasking. It can be a virtue, but it often gets taken too far. Now that school is back in session, I find myself with more time, but still lots to do. I seem to drift from task to task based on what’s in front of me or what comes to mind first. Can you relate? The immediate often trumps the important. Other times I get trapped in indecision. I have a few things to do in mind, each with its own importance and desirability. If I choose one, I feel bad about the others not getting my attention. So I find myself mindlessly scrolling, to avoid this cognitive dissonance. Then I see that I’ve wasted time and feel even worse. I shudder to think how much time I’ve wasted this way.

I see two solutions to the problem, and they go hand in hand:

First, I can plan my day and priority tasks at the beginning, making sure I include some that I enjoy. This way I decide how to spend my time instead of it spending me. This avoids the inefficiency of drifting from task to task, and also the time wasted in having to make those “what’s next” decisions all day long. Decision fatigue is real, guys, and it’s a serious time and energy suck. I have heard it suggested to start with the least desirable task, that way it’s out of the way first. Knowing an un-fun task is ahead can spoil productivity on the ones before it. I would say, pick a more desirable task first, to ease into the day. Then get to the least wanted one. Once that’s done, the day feels so much lighter.

The second is to release the other tasks I chose not to give my attention to at the minute, and all the guilt that comes with that. To borrow from Elsa, I get to “let it go”, and fully focus on what it was that I chose to do with this chunk of time. I write this paragraph as the washing machine finished its cycle and is calling to me to move the laundry. I am choosing to ignore it until I am done. In economics this is called opportunity cost. Whatever we choose to spend our money (or our time) on, there will be plenty of other desirable and good ways to spend that same time, or money, that we will then not be able to do. It’s just logic. Any chunk of time can only be spent once. So we just have to let the other options go. If they’re important, maybe we can allocate different resources to them, but time and money are finite. There will always be good things we just have to say no to.

So I encourage you to make your choices about your time thoughtfully instead of passively, and then stand by them when the guilt threatens to rise and knock you off track. You got this!