Productivity Tips and Free Time Management: How to Create a System That Works For You

[Read Time (Just Reading): 14 minutes]
[Read Time (Doing It): 2-6 hours]

(Recommended: Read then set aside half a day)

If there’s one complaint I hear more than any other it’s, “I never have enough time to do everything I want.” Now there are special circumstances for which this is true–taking 21 credits of college classes, interning, studying for the LSAT, and working 40+ hours per week all at the same time, for example–but 95% of  these complaints about not having enough time are actually just a result of a lack of organization. And that’s a good thing because it means you can easily fix it.

I tend to use my own situation for the example in these posts because I use myself as a guinea pig for hundreds of experiments every year to figure out what works and what actually changes behavior. I’m also what I can most accurately measure and it gives me a frame of reference from which to recommend certain strategies–I’m not just obsessed with talking about myself, though you could probably make that argument.

In any case, this subject will be separated into multiple posts because it’s such a huge topic. In this part I will be using my organizational system as an example for you of how to make your own.

My average week consists of:

• A 3.5-day weekend with lots of free time (However, this last term I unfortunately filled this time with work. More on this later.)
• 7-8 hours of sleep per night
• Extremely low stress levels
  
• 12 credit hours of intense 400 level college courses
• 15 hours of studying for school
• 20 hours of work
• 5-10 hours of work for The National Crittenton Foundation (private consulting)
• 10-20 hours devoted to my Conflict Resolution Center internship
• 10 hours spent exercising (spread of 6 days)
• 1-5 hour spent working on blog posts
• 2 hours spent researching productivity strategies/tools

Let me first say that not only is this schedule possible (it IS actually my schedule after all), but it allows for quite a bit of chill-out time and is very low-stress–eliminating stress is the topic of an upcoming post. If you’ve read any of my other articles I apologize for sounding like a broken record but putting together a schedule like this is a moderate amount of work initially but nowhere near the amount you think it will be. In the end it will end up being far less work than you’re putting in now because it will run itself.

Effective Study Skills: Get the Most From Your Class Time

Read Time (Total): 11 minutes

Anything can be learned, practiced, and mastered. Anything. Period.

Here, you will learn the skills you need to master your schoolwork, but the true benefit towers over mere schoolwork. These tools and strategies are ones that will help you get the most out of almost any situation that allows for learning….so almost any situation. Do something the right way the first time and you won’t have to waste time with stupid corrections that leave your results mangled and incomplete.

There’s no mystical wall between you and good grades/effective learning; just like anything else, study skills need to be learned and practiced and the best part is, it doesn’t take long.

Note: This GPA trend is from one of the top private college prep schools in Oregon which doesn't mean anything in itself but the students are most definitely pushed very hard by great teachers and challenging material.

[Click graph for bigger version]

This is my middle-high school GPA trend. As you can see, my per term GPA jumped from a 3.2 to a 3.7 after Winter Break of my Junior year, increased to a 3.9 by my last high school term, and up to 4.0 my next term in college. I didn’t all of the sudden get smarter. I sat down during that break and came up with a study system with an emphasis on testing methods and using what works. Here’s what happened and how to do it yourself.

Eat Well – Seven Fast, Healthy, Tasty Meals (With Recipes)

Read Time (Total): 10 minutes
Read Time (Bold): 3 minutes

About two weeks ago I sat down for a few hours with the goal of of creating a menu for myself of food that I love, that I can eat large amounts of–I average 3600 calories per day as a result of my exercise routine–and that takes very little time to make.

Now, I’ve looked around quite a bit for some good diets and as anyone who knows what they’re talking about will tell you, fad diets generally do not work and are not as healthy as they claim. I’ll spare you from long rants about the shortcomings of fad diets–though I will say that low-carb diets are worst of all if you’re an active person–and move on to what works.

Whether you’re trying to lose thirty pounds of fat, gain twenty pounds of muscle, or if you just want to get cut and toned, I have good news for you: all you have to do is design yourself a diet, tweak it a couple times, and you’ll be amazed at the results. I know, I know, it’s nothing that hasn’t been said a million times before but most people don’t realize how easy it is.