Let’s face it, readers – for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is (almost officially, come the 23rd) at a close. For many of us, this means that either vacation is over and we’re snapped back into reality, school is kicking into gear, we’re starting new jobs, or settling back into our old ones. September can be a tough transition period, as we yearn for more of the long, sunny days and carefree summer moments.
I can say that, personally, I have been feeling overwhelmed ever since September started. This month always brings about a sense of urgency, to me – it reminds me that there are only three following months left of the calendar year and that I have to get going on the goals I set out for myself. I haven’t been able to stay on top of my tasks in the most efficient way possible, and I find my brain is constantly on overdrive. It’s around this time that I seek answers to better manage my time, organize my tasks, and still maintain a semblance of a social life and time for self-care.
Here are some of the tools and tips that I find help me organize my day-to-day life, as well as my long-term schedule. Not only do these tools help me feel more in control of my life, but they also help me maintain my sanity and allow me to focus more on my mental and physical health.
Write Down Your Appointments, Meetings, & Events
Whether you use a planner, agenda, or phone calendar, I find the first majorly helpful thing to do is to go through my months and write down whenever I know I have an appointment, meeting, or event. This includes doctor’s or specialist’s appointments, major work-related meetings, birthdays, weddings, or anything else that has been scheduled ahead of time.
Because I so often work in deadline-based fields, as well as juggling schoolwork, this tip is particularly handy to help me visualize what my priorities are. If you’re in school, you’ll often know when all of your assignments are due in the first few weeks of class on your syllabus. Writing your due dates down, even if you don’t know what exactly the assignment entails yet, gives you a more tangible idea of what your weekly and monthly schedule looks like. In doing this, even if you’re not writing down your more detailed tasks, you won’t have to keep important dates in your head: you’ll have a visual reference point for that instead.
Allot Time for Leisure
This may sound like a strange thing to do, but if you have a busy schedule, figuring out approximately how much time a week you have available to spend on leisure activities can work wonders for your time management. This can be anything from socializing to hobbies, going to the gym or even going for a walk just for the sake of being outside.
While some may pass off hobbies and socializing as “wasting time”, remember that you are the person in control of your own productivity. Don’t let anyone else talk you out of taking some time for yourself, especially when you feel like you need it. For one person, productivity may be highest within a routine 9-5 structure. For another, it may be more flexible wherein they make their own schedule. The point is, the concept of free time should never be looked down upon. No matter how a person operates, leisure time and activities can be just as important for personal and mental growth as productive work time. And even if it isn’t, taking some time to do something mindless and unplug from the rest of the world – whether that’s scrolling through our phones for half an hour while we’re taking a break from work – can be important to maintaining our sanity.
If your mind is constantly focused on work, even when you’re off-the-clock, it might be time to actively search for a leisure activity to do. Even giving yourself 20 minutes to an hour to do that thing – no matter what it is – you’ll be surprised to find yourself feeling more refreshed to get back to the task at hand, instead of being burnt out and overwhelmed.
Be Kind to Yourself
Life is random, and things come up, often forcing us to deviate from our plans and schedules. Don’t beat yourself up or feel guilty for taking time for yourself. Self-care is equally as important, if not more, than everything else. And ultimately, not everything in life can be planned, whether we like it or not.
It’s also about balance. If you consider yourself to be a more spontaneous person, maybe you’ll benefit from adding a bit more structure into your life and being more aware of the time you have to allot to various tasks. If you’re extremely regimented, maybe you’ll benefit from loosening up a little and ultimately sparing yourself the guilt and added stress if you don’t accomplish a task on time.
September, and the following months after summer can be tough. Try to balance your life in whichever way you’re more comfortable with. And remember that there is no one way to accomplish this. Most of the times, you’ll have to customize each tip, trick and piece of advice you read or are given to the way that suits you best. Be sure to take the appropriate time you need for your mental and physical health, and do what needs to be done in order to stay ambitious, motivated, and productive. Though it sometimes may seem impossible to accomplish both simultaneously, I assure you that it can be done, so long as you listen to what your body and mind needs.
Stay safe, hydrated, well-fed, happy and healthy for the latter half of 2019, readers!
~ Z ~
Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unplash
