One way effective time management benefits you is that it makes you productive and efficient.Ahad Gill
Because I wanted to have time to do everything I need to do – having CogitActive back on track, in particular (see New Year’s resolution) – I was obsessed with productivity and efficiency indeed (see A nonsolution). However, in my inquiry about time management, I kept reading that good time management could also improve your work-life balance and ensure you’re saving some time for yourself.
The key to healthy living is balancing and giving proper time to each aspect that makes your life meaningful and successful. Poor time management often leads to overworking.Week Plan
As I have alluded a few times already, my work-life balance has been dramatically shifted toward work since that fateful summer of 2020. Not only do I have a full-time job – “full-time” being an understatement (I wish I had typical 8-hour workdays indeed) – but also, once I am done with my “normal” work hours, I have to get down to my CogitActive tasks. To deal with this double workload, I had to cut all my “me” time out, including healthy life habits such as exercise. I have even shortened my sleep to create more time – a very bad idea as mentioned in the previous post.
If you master
your time,
you can
effectively
master
your life.
In my quest for time, I have indeed neglected myself, as well as my health (see Time management: what if you are sick?). Fortunately, good time management strategies (the topic of my next post) yield immense benefits, not only for your professional life but also for your personal life. The promise indeed is to have enough time to dedicate to yourself so that your physical, emotional, mental, and relational well-being is preserved. Wow! Sounds to good to be true, isn’t it?
In essence, effective time management is effective life management. It’s a skill worth developing!Week Plan
The taking-home message is: with the extra time I may accumulate, I should not only work more on CogitActive but also – and probably more importantly – I should find the time to do things that rejuvenate me (sleep would be a good start) and that I enjoy (I don’t even remember what it is). Maybe it’s time to claim my life back…