Time Management

Hello sunshines!

This post is for all the ones who are struggeling to manage their time, forget their appointments or have to many to-do's for far too few hours per day. Let me tell you something: I struggled with this for years and on some days I still do!
With the help of my family, friends and youtube I found a way to become more organized and structured. And I want to share my secrets with you!

Let's start with the most obviouse one: my Bullet Journal (or any other planner)!

Of couse I would not forget my appointments and to-do's without it, but why should I stress myself when I have a place to write down everything?
I learned to structure my journal so that I get the most out of it. So I have a running to-do list at the very first page of every month to write down what I need to do this month. Additional to that I have my little to-do list every day, to write down what I need to do today, tomorrow or every other day. That way I can split my tasks for the whole week to make sure that I don't have one day where I can't breath because of so much to do and another day where I am bored.
Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't.

Bullet Journal Time Log

Another page in my Bullet Journal that helps me to find out where my time got lost, is my time tracker/ time log. This is a page where I paint in every day how I used my time. I am currently using 5 colours to differentiate my categories. I decided for lectures, learning, sleep, workout and blogging. These are most of the activities I am usually doing and so I can get an overview.
E.g. I realised if I workout in the morning, I can spend more time learning effectively after this and feel more motivated.
In addition to that I added the categorie food, which is a little dot. This way I can controll when I eat and that I get a "real" meal instead of lots of snacks.

One of my worst problems with time management is the time I go to bed. After a long period of learning for my exams with long nights, I still struggle to fall asleep before 2am and this is not healthy when you have to get up at 7am! Thats why I often add a dotted line at 8am and 11pm, to detect the times I went to sleep and to challenge myself to strike the dotted line.
As you can see in the picture: the left one is an example of how it should/ could look like and the right one is a little weekly time tracker for one of my weeks in september. If you check out the grey lines you can recognize what I mean when I say my problem is the time I go to bed!

closeup of a daily routine overview

If you are writing to-do lists, fill out a time tracker and still feel disorganized, then this is my last helpful page: a time planner.

So this is for the ones who would really like to get a routine with the most effective use of your time and the rest you need. I would say that this does not work for everyone, but if you really want to change something, this could help you!
For me it was a great chance to get out of the bed habbit of wasting time watching series instead of learning for school and making good for that during the nights.
I drew one day to represent all week days (Monday to friday) and then I thought about how to use my time and how to combine this with the things I would like to do. Because the times of my lectures are not the same every day, I called the green times Uni. It doesn't matter whether I am in a lecture or in a library learning - the main point is that I am hardworking.
I blocked the times for lectures and for the gym - the necessary appointments and the ones for fun. Then I thought about how much time I would like to spend for learning and how I can make them fit in my schedule.

If you really decide to try this out, you should know that it would be pointless if you don't stick with it. Try to be realistic and don't make it to complicated!

Bullet Journal spread for daily routine with planner on the right side and a quote on the left that says "the bad news: time flies, the good news: you're the pilot"

So these are my secrets of how I try to manage my time. Honestly I am not perfect and I still have some days where I can't breath because of so many things to do. I should follow my own advices and try to trust in the things I already have.

I hope that this is helpful for you. So if you are struggeling with time management as I do - just try it out and you may see some changes in a few days!
If you have some other tips for time management please share them with me in the comments!

See you next time! ♥