Manage Your Time Effectively

Alright, so typically as students, we are given a variety of options to do when we get home. Some of us elect to do our homework like a responsible student, while others may slack off and may go onto YouTube, or play video games. This is especially prevalent when going into a break. Knowing myself, I would start said work, only to slack off until the last few days of break. Doesn't this beat the point of having a "break" in the first place?


Well, if you struggle with this, Habit 3 will help you. The 3rd habit deals with time management, a skill that is greatly improved with learning how to be proactive, and how to begin a task with a end in mind, so if you haven't checked out those past posts, they might be interesting to look through. Either way, Covey says there are four generations of time management skills. The first is based off of notes, the second based off calendars, and the third generation is based off goal setting and priorities (149-150). These first three are based off old values of focusing on things and time; as a result, very rigid. For the 4th generation, it throws everything off by focusing on the results, and building relations with others, or self management. The whole goal of the 4th generation of time management is, according to Covey, "[to] organize and execute around priorities" (149). The advantage the 4th generation has over the others is the flexibility it allows in the future by planning and accomplishing things in the now that may not be as important until the future.

Covey categorizes how we spend our time into two groups, importance, and urgency. He states that urgent matters, "press, they insist on action" (151) and that important matters, "contribute to your mission, your values, and your high priority goals" (151). Urgent things could include due dates for huge projects or a ongoing problem that suddenly appeared. Important things include planning for the future, or looking for more opportunity. Although these important matters are well, important, they can seem not that urgent to do now. As a result we spend our time doing things that aren't urgent or important, therefore wasting it. Going back to the whole break thing, we wait to do our homework later, saying "I have time to do this later" only for the matter to become urgent and a problem. The goal of effective time management is to focus on planning these things out, applying Habit 1 and Habit 2 by being proactive and beginning something with a end in mind, although it may not ask to complete the task. Below is a chart showing what I am doing that is urgent, important, and neither.

Now I know, we all may be guilty of wasting time, and it's fine every once in a while. 

My main time waster but fun

But make sure to look ahead to do some things, so you don't have to be worrying about everything at once. The Culminating Project comes to mind, and with all these announcements about seniors needing to finish it, I'm thinking why not get a head start and finish some of this stuff early, although it may not be as important right now. Thank you again for reading my post, and I hope it helped you!

Alright so my question for this post is,
How much time do you spend doing unimportant, not urgent things in your daily life? What do you do?


Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. Print.