Do you have this kind of trouble in your life:
Working overtime every day, but it seems that there is never enough time;
Busy like a headless fly, the result is still very little;
Plans and goals are clear, but they are not always achieved on time;
There are always unexpected events that catch people off guard and disrupt the original rhythm......
I used to be anxious about the scarcity of time, and my whole person became impetuous and depressed.
It wasn't until I recently read "Becoming a Time Management Master" and tried the methods in the book that my state improved significantly.
I no longer have to work overtime day and night, and I don't have to run around like a firefighter.
What's even more amazing is that I still have plenty of time to read and think every day, learn new skills and grow myself.
As the author Liu Yiyi said, "The ultimate goal of scientific time management is to become the true creator of one's own life and gain true freedom." ”
If you are not satisfied with the current pace of life, you may wish to try the following 4 methods to learn to be a rich person of time.
01 Accumulate a lot, and be good at discovering "scattered time"
If you had 5 minutes, would you use them to do something meaningful?
If you had 1 minute, what would you do?
A thousand people, there will be a thousand answers.
Some people may say that just such a moment is too short to be in a daze, as for the time counts?
But really powerful people can really use these little bits of time to do a lot of life events.
In the book "Becoming a Time Management Master", the author Liu Yiyi shared his story one by one.
Every day before going to bed, she divides the things she wants to do the next day into fixed items, must-do items and alternatives.
Whenever she takes the subway, waits for customers, and between meetings, she will complete some small tasks in a timely manner.
Read a dozen pages of a book, write a 300-400 word essay, do a project review, take a nap, walk around and do a "micro-exercise", or do a mental exercise, and go through an activity or set of actions in your mind from beginning to end......
In this way, over time, in 6 years, she has read more than 600 books and written more than 1.5 million words.
She has gradually transformed from a novice writer to a community partner, senior writing coach and course administrator, writing more and more exciting chapters in her life.
Nobel laureate Lehman once said:
"Don't waste that little time left every day. Even if it's only for five or six minutes, if you use it, it can still generate a lot of value. ”
In life, the passage of time is often not wasted hour by hour, but quietly slipped away minute by minute.
Those "rich people" do not have more time than others, but are good at discovering time and know how to manage fragmented time.
Their time is never measured in "hours", but in "minutes".
So, don't underestimate every minute, it can also have a compounding effect when it accumulates up.
And once you can take the initiative to use your scattered time, you will become more and more comfortable with your time.
This is not only a skill, but also a wisdom, and it will be the ultimate force that will propel you to the sea of stars.
02 Reasonable planning to reduce the invisible consumption of time
There's a Zeignick effect in psychology.
It refers to the fact that people are born with the drive to do things from beginning to end, and once the task is not completed, it will leave a deep impression in the mind, resulting in memory remnants.
When we switch to another task, the brain doesn't switch right away, but it takes 3-5 minutes to get used to it before it really gets into the new state.
Although this period is short, it is an invisible time consumption.
If you ignore this and switch tasks frequently, these seemingly insignificant minutes can end up being a staggering loss of time.
Imagine if we were interrupted 10 times a day for 5 minutes each time to readjust, we would waste 4 hours and 10 minutes in 5 working days in a week, 16 hours and 40 minutes in a month, and 200 hours in a year.
In our daily work, there are many interruptions, especially when we have our phones close to us, and we are more susceptible to various distractions.
So how do you avoid hidden time consumption as much as possible?
In the book "Becoming a Time Management Master", the author introduces two practical methods: "time blocking" and "task blocking".
The so-called "time block" is a method of dividing time into different lengths.
Depending on the characteristics of our attention, we can set the duration to 20 minutes, 30 minutes or 50 minutes. Within each chunk of time, focus on one task or one type of thing and avoid being interrupted by other things.
When a time block ends, take a proper break for a few minutes before starting the next time block.
"Task blocks" are task-oriented methods of time management.
In this mode, we focus on completing one task, even if it takes a long time, with breaks in between, and we resolutely do not switch to other tasks.
Through time blocks and task blocks, you can not only improve work efficiency and concentration, but also maintain a better mental state and stability at work.
03 Efficient management and clever use of "dark time"
I've seen a story.
When writer Tie Ning wrote his novel "City Without Rain", he tried a variety of writing methods, and the beginning part was unsatisfactory.
One day, she saw a little girl who was kicking high heels while walking, when she suddenly had a burst of inspiration.
Why would a little girl who has nothing to do with the plot of the novel become a catalyst for Tie Ning's creation?
Psychologists tell us that the human brain has two distinct mental activities – the conscious and the subconscious.
The conscious mind works in the foreground, consuming light time, that is, the time that can be perceived, while the subconscious mind works silently in the background of the brain, consuming time that you and I cannot perceive, that is, "dark time".
Interestingly, "dark time" permeates every moment of our daily lives.
Whether it's walking, grocery shopping, washing your face, washing your hands, taking the bus, shopping, traveling, eating, or sleeping, these seemingly ordinary time clips can become the carrier of dark time.
And what you focus on, what you desire, the subconscious mind uses dark time, working tirelessly in the background to do so.
Many time management masters will be good at using "dark time" to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
They often store important to-dos in their brains and make them their focus.
After that, the brain is like a "snail girl", silently thinking, regurgitating, digesting and brewing in the corners you can't see.
Therefore, the flash of inspiration on the surface is actually a transcript handed over by the brain using the "dark time" to work silently for a long time.
Once we learn to make good use of these "dark hours", we will have several times or even 10 times more effective time than others.
Because, in these seemingly inconspicuous moments, our brains are creating infinite possibilities and surprises.
04 Coordinate in advance and leave "redundant time"
When Obama was elected president, a reporter asked him what he thought was his greatest strength.
He replied with only four words: always in advance.
It's a simple 4 words, but it speaks to the essence of time management.
It reminds us that when planning our lives and work, we should set aside "redundant time" to avoid being too busy with a schedule that is unable to cope with unexpected situations.
I suffered from procrastination, and in order to change this bad habit, I carefully planned my schedule down to the hourly schedule every day.
However, after a period of practice, it was found that this approach seems to be rigorous, but in fact lacks fault tolerance.
If one of the steps goes wrong, the follow-up plan collapses like dominoes.
In the book "Becoming a Time Management Master", I deeply realized:
Whether it's a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual plan, you should have enough time for redundancy. Especially when facing difficult, uncertain tasks or tasks that require collaboration with others, it is important to have sufficient time buffer.
Specifically, you must not have more than 60% of the day's valid time in your daily schedule.
When arranging weekly tasks, the number of scheduled weekly tasks shall not exceed 40% of the effective time of the week.
The larger the time span in the future, the more redundant time should be reserved to effectively respond to emergencies.
When assigning task progress, avoid evenly distributing the task volume over different time periods, and instead strive to complete most of the work in the early stage to ensure that 60% of the overall task volume is completed in the early stage.
In this way, even if you encounter difficulties or changes later, you will have enough room to adjust.
There is a good saying: "Prudence beforehand includes forgiveness afterwards." ”
Life is a plate that can collapse at any time, and everything is prepared so that there will be no chaos.
Make it a habit to advance so that you don't let small things become big things.
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Each chapter of the book "Becoming a Time Management Master" has brought me new inspiration.
It made me understand that time management is not only a skill, but also an attitude towards life.
People who are good at using time can give full play to the effect of 48 hours from a limited 24 hours, and every minute and second is full of meaning and efficiency;
People who are not good at managing their time may get lost in their busyness, let time pass quietly, and eventually achieve nothing.
As the book says, "The difference between people lies in the attitude towards time, where your time is, your life is there." ”
Finally, I hope you and I can become masters of time management and become the real creators of our own lives!