6 Ways To Take Advantage Of Time

As a rule, the environment that surrounds us is very demanding . What’s more, there are so many demands that despite the fact that countless tasks are carried out per day, it seems that taking advantage of time is a luxury for the most organized people.

However, this does not have to be entirely true. On many occasions we try to perform an unlimited number of tasks that require a lot of time, not to mention those that can occupy a large part of the day. In this article we invite you to analyze how you organize your time and to realize the amount of tasks that you can get to do throughout the day.

Seize the time: a complicated mission

It is difficult for the most organized of mortals to take advantage of time. If we subtract from 24 hours a day an average of between 6 – 8 hours of sleep, we will be left with 16 – 18 hours. If we add to this the hours of work or academic classes, personal rest, meals, etc., we will probably be left with about 6 – 8 hours “free” .

These 6 – 8 hours that we have do not necessarily have to be followed. That is to say, work hours, meal times, transport trips also mark our use of time. It is indisputable that of those 6 – 8 hours there are “dead hours” . Downtime because you can’t take advantage of it.

A detail that cannot be escaped us: if you are one of the people who must work in a group or must carry out work with other people, those 6 – 8 hours will probably be “minus 0” . Agreements or disagreements between different people when establishing a common project can sometimes leave us without the notorious key phrase “no time” .

Seize time: deadlines show no benevolence …

If we speak within the work and academic context, the delivery dates do not understand the limits that we can have as beings that act under environmental demands, some more important than others. Carrying out academic, work projects, etc., has its cost in time and many times, for a long time that we dedicate to it, it requires even more than we have.

This sometimes creates frustration and hopelessness. On many occasions we tend to blame ourselves for not being able to take advantage of the time and it is that, on many occasions, it is not part of our responsibility either. Nobody told us that “taking advantage of time” was an obligation in a productive sense if there is no objective behind that is important.

Procrastination and the unforeseen events of the day

First of all, we will mention the concept of “procrastination”. This phenomenon is characterized by the postponement of important activities for others of less importance. Some important activities can be delayed in time as a way of delaying the discomfort that they can cause, not to mention the fear associated with putting all our resources to solve complex tasks.

To this can be added the tasks that arise throughout the day that appear unexpectedly. This type of task, when it comes to taking advantage of time, can lead to delays when planning the available time that we have when carrying out other activities that we considered important. However, it is important to maintain a degree of flexibility and be aware that not all tasks need to be solved on the same day or that all scheduled tasks can be done in one day.

6 ways to perceive that time is being used

Being aware that we are delaying important activities and that unforeseen events may arrive throughout the day, we will give some keys to perceive that we are making the best use of time :

Planning

• Rest times : such as the hours of sleep and the hours at which we usually wake up in the day. Planning sleep schedules and meal times can earn you more time for activities that we consider important.
• Agenda : Taking advantage of time also means planning and dividing complex activities into days. In some cases we want to carry out certain activities in a single day and if we don’t get it, we feel bad. Allow yourself a space where you can do some of the more complex activities little by little, breaking it down into small steps.

Organization

• Segment. Many of the complex tasks need to be segmented or rather, divided into small steps. In some cases, when we are faced with complex tasks, taking advantage of time becomes very difficult if we do not know where to start, so the division of small steps towards the final goal becomes especially important.
• Aim. For example, while you have breakfast you can make an outline of the tasks you want to complete during the day and give them a schedule. The end goal is to find a balance between what you want to do and what you would like to do. At the end of the day, you can review this scheme and analyze sensations. Here it would even be valid to point out how we have managed those tasks that have appeared without us expecting them.

Estimation of achievements and time

• Do not get dragged. There are times when we get caught up in some tedious task that we cannot find a final point or that is very difficult for us and we spend all our time and energy on it. Give yourself a time limit for each task. For example, if we want to read a 400-page book, it will be very difficult to read it in a single day, so we can estimate an average of 10 or 15 pages a day.
• “Little big achievements. ”  You can start with tasks of less complexity to be aware that you have carried out X number of tasks at the end of the day. In addition, if you use the segmentation of tasks, those more complex will be easier to deal with them little by little.

In short, there are many options by which we can have the feeling of taking advantage of time. However, on many occasions, it will be the calendar itself that will set dates. However, these ways of taking advantage of time are not only limited to the academic and work plane, but to that of daily life and day-to-day routines so as not to fall into boredom and despondency when thinking that “we are wasting time.”