Do you ever feel like time slips away, despite intending to be productive?
Screen time stats might reveal a different story! Fear not, for I have five one-minute habits that transformed my efficiency and can make you a time management pro, cutting out wasteful moments.
The Power of 3Bs: Bucketing, Batching, and Blocking
Let’s kick things off with what I like to call the 3Bs: bucketing, batching, and blocking. Bucketing, inspired by entrepreneur Sarah Blakely, involves dedicating specific days to specific types of tasks.
While Sarah handles meetings and brainstorming, for us regular folks like students, it translates into something more practical. For instance, during my college days, I consolidated all my classes into two days. This saved me from daily commutes and allowed me to focus the rest of my week on assignments and other pursuits.
Batching, closely tied to bucketing, revolves around focusing on one project or class at a time. This method taps into the Flow State, where your mind can dive deep without the disruptions of multitasking.
And then there’s blocking. This is all about planning your day and allocating time slots for tasks based on their priority and energy levels. Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, structuring your day around your peak productivity times can make a significant difference.
Habit Stacking
This next habit is something I’ve integrated into my life this past year: using my brain while I use my body, aka habit stacking.
You might have heard of habit stacking as pairing active work with passive work or mixing something you dislike with something you enjoy.
For me, when I want to watch something, I’ll exercise while I watch. It keeps me from just lounging in bed the whole time.
I also enjoy listening to useful information while doing chores or taking walks. Typically, I’d listen to music during walks with my dog or while cleaning my room or kitchen.
This shift has transformed what used to be idle time into productive learning sessions.
Your Blueprint for Productive Days
The habit of crafting and sticking to an optimized to-do list. This has truly transformed my productivity by minimizing decision fatigue and the feeling of being overwhelmed.
It’s all about distinguishing between urgent tasks that need immediate attention and less critical ones that can wait.
This method keeps me focused on what matters most each day and provides a handy list of quick tasks I can tackle during short breaks, preventing me from aimlessly scrolling on my phone.
Using Wasted Time Wisely
Making the most of waiting time is a skill I honed during my high school years, juggling multiple classes and extracurriculars.
It dawned on me that there’s a wealth of unnoticed free time scattered throughout the day. Whether it’s between classes, during commutes, or at appointments, these moments can easily slip away in mindless scrolling on social media.
Instead, I began using this time more purposefully. By maintaining a list of tasks tailored to these intervals, I found myself staying productive and accomplishing more each day.
Tackling procrastination first thing
The last habit is tackling the one thing you’re procrastinating on first thing in the morning. It’s as straightforward as it sounds.
You can set a 5-minute timer, a one-minute timer, or use the 5-second rule, but the key is to take that task you dread the most and just get it done right away.
It’s all about eating the frog so that the heavy weight of dread is lifted off your shoulders and doesn’t ruin your mood for the rest of the day.
Surprisingly, it gives you more energy and a sense of accomplishment once you’ve made progress on that daunting task.