Sanity and Time Management
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Yurui’s Summary
A lot of students think they don’t ‘have the time’ to take on commitments outside of studying. I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of telling myself that I just don’t have time to do anything extra in my day-to-day schedule.
Organise your time! Use a tool that makes you feel like you’re in control of how you spend your time; have a macro-level view of all your commitments and schedules.
Be purposeful with your time. Consider quality over quantity, the Pareto Principle (80/20) rule, and how efficient you really are. Is it better to study for 5 hours non-stop, or study for 2 hours, go to the gym for an hour, and study for 2 more hours?
Constantly introspect and reflect on how you’re spending your time. How could I be more efficient and productive?
--
So a ton of people have told me that I’m crazy for doing so much with my time, and that it’s ‘pretty impressive’ how much I manage to do all of this while in Year 12. The million dollar question that I get from a ton of students who ask me for advice is this.
“How do you manage your time so well with everything that you do? I want to get into things like journaling, blogging, reading, meditating, going to the gym, playing competitive sport and self-improvement in general, but I really can’t find the time, especially as it’s so easy to get lost in an environment centered around academics.”
I think this sentiment is rather common amongst selective school students, and most people put things off until ‘after the HSC’. First of all, I want to praise you for even having the thought of doing more productive things with your life. Most people just don’t want to become better, and I commend you for thinking ahead. I fell victim to this as well - especially for the creation of this blog. For months, I rationalised my doubts and said that ‘it’ll go hard after the HSC’, and that I just don’t have the time now.
I know it’s tough when you’ve got so much academic pressure and not a lot of time - I had the exact circumstances, (and still do)!
But I’m here to say that there is a way out - little tactics that make it seem like you’ve freed up so much time, and even give you a bit of spare time at the end of it.
Today, I want you to take action.
Organising Your Time
So I had a plain text, Notepad document that organised me for around 4 years in high school - from the start of Year 8 to the end of Year 11. It contained EVERYTHING; from top to bottom, motivational quotes, a braindump of all my commitments, upcoming events (for Prefects, exam blocks, application deadlines, meetings and everything in between), assignments/homework that needed to be done, a weekly schedule for tutoring and extracurriculars, movies to watch and books to read, people I’ve had interesting conversations with (about US Colleges, careers in CS, Management Consulting, Quant Trading and Startups), lists of various achievements, and finally, some important notes for myself.
Everything that my life revolved around.
But earlier this year, I decide to let go of my trusty Notepad document and move to Google Calendar - with the volume of calls, deadlines, commitments and events that I had to keep track of, it became absolutely torture to keep up with everything. Now, I have an amazing visual repository of everything I need. What was amazing was the sync of Google Meets links for the virtual coffees I was organising, paired with deadlines for assignments, and notifications for application deadlines. Honestly, it was just the organisation of everything going on with my life in one place., linking up with Apple Calendar to show up on my phone and watch.
I don’t care what it is, but find something that will help you organise your time better. It does wonders with feeling in control of life.
Being Purposeful With Your Time and Diminishing Returns
Once you’ve organised yourself, it’s all about being more purposeful with your time. For me personally, there’s an insanely big difference between 5 hours of non stop study, as compared to 2 hours of study, 1 hour at the gym, and then 2 more hours of study. I get a huge boost of energy when I come back from the gym and manage to PUMP out way more work (pun intended). In all seriousness, not only did I see progress physically, but I also became more effective and efficient with my time.
Make sure to test out other strategies such as the Pomodoro technique, involving blocks which consists of 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. Time blocking is also popular, as are other simpler things; even cleaning your room can make a huge difference in productivity. It’s important that you try all of these out and see what works best for you.
Also, consider the notion of diminishing returns. There is the concept of the Pareto principle (aka the 80/20 rule), that 80% of results will be due to 20% of your effort, and the remaining 20% of results will take 80% of your effort. This makes sense - for example, if I study for 8 hours as compared to 10 hours, the 2 hours of difference won’t be a huge differentiator in terms of results.
Also don’t forget - quality over quantity. I go to tutoring for 5 hours every week, and I do alright compared to those people who go to tutoring for double or even triple the amount of time that I do. My rationale is that, if you’re not thinking of studying Medicine or Law, don’t devote too much time to studying. Though school does teach some fundamentals about life and trains you in creating your own methods of learning, the reality is that most of your high school content won’t matter in the long run (unless you’re studying them in university - which also might not matter in the long run).
If you are thinking about studying Medicine or Law, both of which require a rather high ATAR, then yes, I think you should spend a good amount of time studying. Otherwise, spend some time to find out and become extremely clear about your goals and future - I think the best way to do this through meditating, going to the gym, and journaling. Then, you’ll find clarity with regards to how you want to spend your time.
For me personally, I realised pretty early on that I wanted to go to a top US University for the college experience, the friends and connections I’ll make, and the career prospects coming out of it. After a good amount of time researching, chatting with undergraduates in the US and taking time for myself to become more clear with my goals, I abstracted each part of my life into what I need to do to get there. That meant doing well enough in my studies to get considered for admission, staying open-minded and motivated to do the extracurriculars and projects that I enjoy, all the while balancing it out with a healthy amount of time playing sport and staying social. And then, with the time I have left over, I do things that I enjoy while also learning, mostly consisting of reading books, watching movies, listening to podcasts and setting up virtual coffee chats with amazing people.
I also make it a priority to constantly reevaluate if the time I’m spending is productive - through time alone, meditating, going to the gym, and journaling. If something isn’t going so well - for example, if I spent too much time this week sidetracked on my phone, I make systematic changes, like turning the display to greyscale (my mates will have a chuckle when they read this), and setting up screen time controllers.
All in all, you have to find out how to game the system before it games you by investigating what works for you. The good news is that you are probably young and in high school when you’re reading this, so you’ll have a ton of time to explore and do what you enjoy.
For more, check out my article on How to Make the Most Out of High School - Insights From Ivy League Students.
Check out the second part of this pair of articles about learning and time management here.
Yurui
