Tell STOP “burning time”: how to effectively organize yourself

There are two types of people: the first ones like to keep track of where and why they spend their time, and the second, most likely, passively follow what the first are doing. You can be in the second group for a long time, but it is better to immediately understand how much you are missing in this case.

For people who hate to even think about time, this is a big deal. Some prefer to dive into the project with their heads, working continuously, without being distracted by the outside world, and get out of this stupor with something ready. Yes, it is unrealistic for many jobs, even if there is a flexible schedule. The danger of such a method that ignores time is that you work too much and quickly burn out. This is a phenomenon that often has to be fought.

Many have tried different organizer programs, but even the simplest ones are often perceived as torture. Even the RescueTime automatic time tracker, which can show you your performance, doesn’t help much. Perhaps because he only keeps track of time on the computer, and you most likely need a more holistic picture to figure out how to organize yourself. After all, you are interested in not only how productive you are sitting at the keyboard, but also how efficiently you use your time in principle. Sometimes a crazy thought occurred to you that you were just a hopeless case? Especially when you started trying to track and allocate time?

We will share with you the experience of using the scheduler called the Passion Planner. It is convenient to use them, first of all, in order to write down your goals and break them into small tasks for the whole year. Unexpectedly, but it will help you start and enjoy the distribution of your time.

Time tracking through the organizer
Honestly, daily or weekly planning does not always work. In this organizer, each week takes two pages, and each day is divided into half-hour sections. In theory, this is for all sorts of meetings, events, and other plans, but perhaps your days are poor in events. In any case, it is better to use the electronic calendar to alert you about upcoming events. Instead of using this space to plan your time in the future, it’s better to take notes of what you did after each significant task. So, it looks a bit like a strange nerd, but still buy felt-tip pens of nice colors and stickers for organizers to add color and make your days fun.

Mobile technology increases employee productivity
Try to work in periods of time, usually 90 minutes each. After each segment or before taking a break, write down what you have done, distributing the color of the marker to different categories (work, home / family, exercise / health, side work, creativity, friends / parties). That’s all. Although this method is not original and does not require much ingenuity, it can perfectly “work” specifically for you, but it may seem unacceptable to someone. But he is absolutely working and tested for months at a time, as all your previous intentions and attempts may have been a failure.

Every day we answer this question, explaining the essence of the events in the evening newsletter UBR

This works because:
It is quick and easy. The organizer simply lies open on your desk, and it’s easy to write in it. No matter how simplified the layouts are, you need to take a whole series of actions to add a length of time in the past or the future.
You can touch it. No matter how silly this may sound, there is a peculiar, subtle pleasure in painting with colored markers of different periods of time or sticking stickers to a page.
It is colorful. Again, little joy. Sometimes you may be too busy to take notes, and these empty white columns will look sad afterwards. As if nothing was happening these days. It will motivate you to keep track of your pastime.
It brings pleasure. We never would have thought that it could be so said about filling the plates every half hour, every day. But it’s true.
Tracking time can dilute daily routine.
The most important thing that time tracking gives is a clearer picture of where you spend it and how best to organize yourself. In one glance, you can see how you spend too much time and what you pay little attention to. Also, it will allow you to see patterns of your behavior. The main thing is not to be lazy to keep records!

For example, you participated in one freelancing project, which, according to your calculations, was supposed to take you 2.5 hours of time. But looking through the chart, you discovered huge green squares that week.