Top 7 Time Management Tips

manage my time

Top time management tips. What a clickbait title, am I right?! Like is it even possible to “do it all”? Social pressure out there pushes us to do a lot at once, reach many milestones in our twenties and sell us an ideal of people who do it all. Doing it all. What does that even mean? To me, everything and nothing. Since everyone has a different definition of what their “all” means. Myself included.

And yet, I do manage to do a lot. That’s a conclusion I came to not so long ago. I work full-time, from 9am to 6pm five days a week. I also blog, twice a week. Meaning I write two blog posts a week, shoot photos for those posts, do some social media management to promote them. Plus there is some website management to do: plugins, SEO, blog speed, performance; which is a lot of time and research. I also have a booktube channel for which I post one video per week. Of course, as a fashion blogger Instagramming once a day, I also need to shoot street style photos. Plus I read on average five books a month. And I freelance on the side. 

Add to that a social life, meeting friends, spending time with the husband in and outside the flat and OMG… it does sound like so much! It may also seem overwhelming. And I know some people have worried that I was doing too much. Although I understand their concerns, I also think that right now, I am managing my time so well, that I can “do it all” without feeling pressured, stressed or overwhelmed! So, how do I do it, then? Here are my top 7 time management tips.

1. Get organized

I used to be so disorganized. In some aspects of my life, I still am. Everything was done at the last minute because I did not what I wanted to do or did not remember what I needed to do. Thus, it happened that things were half-done or just not done at all. How many times I did not think about my blog for days or ignored it just to realize later that I had nothing to post? How to manage your time starts with getting organized and deciding on what you want or need to do. For example, blogging twice a week, I need on average 8, sometimes 9 blog posts per month. I need 4 videos and 30 to 31 photos for Instagram per month, which I can use on the blog. Because I make videos about books, I need to read books. But I also want to engage with other booktuber so I need to watch their videos. And I just subscribed to the gym. For all that, I need time. You see, it all comes down to having time. Deciding what you want and need to do help knowing what you will have to do and start thinking of the time you will need to dedicate to each task.

2. Make the right choices

Time management tip 2. I talked about the opportunity cost of social media back in July. The concept is simple. In its most economic term, it is basically the fact that to do something, you need to give up on something else. To buy a book, you give up on money. To go to university, you give up on an income you could make working straight out of school. And to be on social media scrolling aimlessly and endlessly, you give up on what… Time! You got it! So, one of the secrets of managing and make the most of your time will be to make some sacrifices. Or to rethink how you used that time to make sure you get more out of it. In that particular blog post and another one on my Instagram consumption, I said that I chose to spend less time on Instagram: less scrolling, more engaging, and making a better use of that reduced time. If you want to get more time or get more out of your time, there will be things that you will need to spend less time on. That’s the trade off. And it’s inevitable.

3. Plan ahead

Right. So now you know what you need (or want) to do. As far as I am concerned, 8 blog posts, 4 videos, 31 photos, going to the gym, my freelance work, and a social life. Plus my full-time job of course. I sit down for 15 to 20 minutes at least once a month to come up with blog post ideas: I write down what I am being inspired by, what I would like to write about, what other are writing about, what people are searching online, etc. Then I save as draft some titles to write about later. You do not need to plan a month or two ahead. One week ahead, as I often do, is good enough. When I know what blog posts must be out when, I can start thinking about the content and the photos.

4. Prioritize tasks and time

Since you did a bit of planning, you know roughly what you need to do, when things are due. This works for both work and your private life. Blogging and other things as well. And because life is unpredictable, sometimes, you have to change your schedule. And prioritize tasks. Or just decide amongst all the things you have to do, which one is the most important. Do that first. Important things are often stressful. Sometimes a lot of work, other times daunting. But they always need to get done. Having them out of the way allows to relax, breathe and move onto less important tasks. Especially because as the day goes on, you have less and less willpower to do things and you might end up procrastinating. So, do the most important things first. It also helps with productivity.

5. Do things in bulk

Some things can take a lot of time. Such is the case of photos for instance. For example. I always shoot 3 to 6 outfits at once. I dedicate two hours to shooting but the commute adds an hour. If I did one outfit at a time, with the commute every time… I would be wasting a lot of time. Same with doing flatlay. You need to set up everything beforehand and tidy up everything afterwards. So better do a lot of photos at once. Especially as it may be easier to do a lot when you are feeling very creative and productive rather than hope that you’ll be as creative next time. The same goes for videos. I usually film three videos at a time so that I have three weeks of content. And since the equipment is out already, I should just take advantage of that. Instead of procrastinating the next time because I am being lazy with setting everything up.

6. Combine things to save time

Not to confuse with multitasking. Multitasking is a trap set by men on women to force them to always do more. Combine things that can be. For example, in the morning before work, I have breakfast and while I drink my coffee, I engage on Instagram. I do the same at lunch. And that is the only two times I am on Instagram actually. I go to the gym three times a week. To make the workout more enjoyable and also save some time, I catch up with Youtube. So while I am on the elliptical machine, I watch videos. It helps me save so much time in the evening that I can dedicate to other things like reading, or writing blog post, etc.

7. Don’t force yourself

And finally, last tip. Do not force it. If you sit down and cannot work, cannot think, are not productive, then call it a day. Have a break. Go do something else. Forcing yourself to do something while you are not able to, will only be a waste of time. Work done when you have no energy, no willpower, no creativity, no productivity often is work half-done that need some attention later on. Being productive is great, being good at managing time is amazing, but feeling good while doing it is important too!

So that’s my top 7 time management tips!

time management tips manage my time time management tips

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Military JacketBoohoo (old collection)
Sheer dress – Shein*
Low boots – Shein*
Bag – Primark

That’s my 7 time management tips. Or at least until now. What about you? How do you manage your time? What are your top time management tips to make the most of the time you have and be productive? How do you do all the things you have to do?

Thanks a lot for stopping by. I hope you liked this post.

See you soon,
Love,
Corinne.

*Gifted items.

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