Throughout the organizing/cleaning series, I won’t really be talking much about time management; the focus will be on “stuff” management. But I do want to speak briefly to time management before we begin, because it’s necessary to use time to manage the stuff!
Have a System
First of all, I think it’s important to have some sort of a “system” for managing tasks – whether it’s something you formally refer to as a “system” or not. Personally, I prefer GTD for one-time tasks, projects, etc., combined with the old-fashioned “day of the week” system for routine, recurring responsibilities. (I actually have GTD context lists for my days of the week so that, for instance, if I need to do something kitchen-related – and it doesn’t have to be done immediately – it goes on the “kitchen” list and I don’t have to think about it again until kitchen day.) Your system may be totally different, but you should have one.
Implementation
Implementation can sometimes be a whole other matter. Some people (myself included) have a harder time than others just “sensing” the passage of time. You can tell my husband what time it is, then ask him for the time forty-seven minutes later, and he can usually guess it within about three minutes! Me, on the other hand? Well, let’s just say I’d be hard-pressed to know whether it’s been fifteen minutes, fifty minutes, or a hundred and fifty minutes. So time-related tools can be very helpful for me.
Time Tools
Timers are great. Plain old timers are good, as are stopwatches, or specialty timers. We find the Cube Timer by Datexx especially helpful. (More on that in the linked post.)
The Time-Minder clock has been a huge help to me, over the last year or two. Originally designed for those who take medicine at various times of the day, this clock allows you to set up to six separate daily alarms. You can even record an announcement for each one! I can set them for various “landmarks” throughout the day (lunch, dinnertime prep., etc.), and help keep myself from getting caught up in one activity and missing everything else.
If you’re really bad at noticing the passage of time, you might also benefit from a clock that chimes or plays music on the hour (or even on the quarter-hour). This way, you’re forced to “hear” time passing. (Most of these have options to turn the sound off during the night, if that is a concern.)
Do you have any other tips or tools for keeping up with time?
When my kids were little, I had the tv on a lot. We didn’t watch – it was just on. I mentioned it to a friend and she suggested I had it on to keep track of what time it was. I hadn’t thought of that but I think she was right.
Now I use timers and alarms (on my cell phone). I look at my watch a lot.
That is really interesting, Patty! I wouldn’t have thought to use the tv as a time-tracking device, but it makes sense.
Now that you mention it, the movie I Am Sam comes to mind. In case you’re not familiar with it, it’s the story of a severely mentally-disabled man who ends up “stuck” with his newborn daughter when the mother doesn’t want anything to do with her. He’s completely clueless about raising a baby, so the sweet older lady next door is helping him. She ends up telling him to feed the baby every time certain television shows come on.