Reflective Essay Example: How to Manage Time

Managing time is something that everyone struggles with, in fact, 82% of people don’t have a proper understanding of it. Managing time was something I struggled with until the end of Junior year. I was struggling with remembering due dates, practice times, and properly studying for tests. I had reached a point where I was tired of constantly feeling stress and weight on my shoulders. I decided it was time to teach myself how to properly manage my time. I spent hours researching, watching videos, and asking my fellow peers for help. For how important managing time is, I have broken it down into three stages. Stage one is journaling to yourself, stage two is using that journal, and stage 3 is maintaining a healthy relationship with yourself and time. 

Start with journaling your feelings, writing down how you feel, your short-term and long-term goals, and what you’re wanting to accomplish. This way you have something to look back on in a month to see how much you’ve progressed, and the goals you have achieved. Being able to see how much you have progressed will be motivation to keep going. When journaling, I recommend setting limits for yourself. You have your breaking point and you don’t need to put too much on your plate.  When I was struggling with time management I invested in an agenda. Buying an agenda and having an organized place to write things down is extremely important. It makes it a lot easier to get things done when you’re able to see what you have to do for the day. That brings me to my next point of writing everything down. 

When I first decided to learn time management, I started by writing everything down. Whether it’s a test, after school practice, homework, or even an event you have to attend, write it down. After you get in the habit of writing everything down, you can prioritize the tasks you need to complete. This step is important because you want to make sure you are getting the most important tasks done first, before assignments that could be due in a week or two. You want to set aside 10 minutes of your day to write down and prioritize your tasks for each day. I recommend finding time at the end of the school day after you receive homework and due dates. 

Taking time out of your day to write things down might be a step you forget to do at first, but it will soon become a ten-minute task you do each day. For me, it took a couple of weeks to make that habit. You might encounter second thoughts about time management. When things get hard it is easy to lose sight of your goals, so it is important to not forget why you are doing this for yourself. When I first started, I had a days where I questioned if it was going to be worth it in the end. This is why journaling how you feel, your goals, and what you are wanting to accomplish is crucial. You have something to look back on that will show you the progress you’ve made. 

Once you learn time management you will see the world from a whole new perspective. Things will become easier and goals will become more achievable. It is important to learn in steps and not to set unrealistic goals for yourself. That is why I created a three-stage process to break it down and make it less overwhelming. It only takes a couple of weeks to make a habit, why not start now?