Time Strategies

I read the article entitled The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay. This article stuck out to me because I've never had a problem knowing what I needed to do, but rather my problem has always been sitting down and getting started on whatever I had to do. After reading this article, I found that I've already learned most of these time management strategies that are suggested in the article. For example, when I finally do start working on anything, I've found it extremely helpful to only have the necessary materials out and in front of me, so that way I don't find a way to distract myself.

In contrast to that, I hate telling somebody that I'm going to do something and then end up not doing it, which leads me to always having my phone near my person. This is a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, I stay connected and that helps me to keep up with what I have to do, but it also distracts me from whatever my current task happens to be at the time. After reading the part in the article where it asks how many distractions are within reach of you right now, I laughed because I had my guitar, phone, music, and books all laying around my work desk. 

                                                A man who is a puppet to time and money

So, where I really found this article helpful was when it came to the breakdown of big tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks, seeing the long-term value of things, and using the Zeigarnik effect to my advantage. More often than not I look over my course syllabi and wonder how the heck am I going to find the time to complete all these assignments in the 15 weeks that we have. And more often than not I end up procrastinating until the deadline is the same day. However, reading this article opened my eyes to the different strategies that I can use in order to just get started on things. My personal favorite is the Zeigarnik effect, because it gives me a reason to not finish a big project all at once, like I am usually inclined to do. Just like Hemingway would stop mid-sentence, I think I am gong to test this out and force myself into "must finish" mode.