I have, within the context of my job, things to do that will take various lengths of time and are of various priorities. If I get blocked on one it’d be useful to know what to switch to, and on.

I have, within the context of my personal life, things that I want to do that will take undetermined amounts of time and are of various priorities.

It’d also be nice to have a record to go back and reflect on when I did what. And it’d be nice to plan a little ahead so that I can decide what I hope to do next.

So… how do you do it? I am so bad at time management. Is there a useful software I can use (if so, is it foss)? Is there a way to keep consistent with my planner so that I don’t fall behind on managing my time management, without falling into the trap of spending much effort on creating a time management system that all my time is spent managing my time.

Send help :(

  • zeca@lemmy.ml
    5·
    19 hours ago

    I have the same problem. Got a teaching job while in the middle of my phd and now i just end up doing preparations for the following classes, grading exams and so on, and never get around to working on my phd. Ive found no good solution though. If I work on my phd I leave my students waiting and with more improvised classes, if i work on material for the students I forget about my phd subject.

    Ive tried using an app called superproductivity, which is on fdroid and works fine, but it didnt help me as much as i hoped…

    Send help :( Also got long term personal stuff id like to work on, like at least an hour a week, but theres always something urgent from work that shows up and takes my time or leaves me too tired.

    • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.mlOP
      3·
      13 hours ago

      For both our sakes, I hope we can find something that works for us. I don’t need to be on my productivity grind 24/7. I don’t desire that at all. But I really don’t like the feeling of completely misspent time. I want the balance of doing what I want to do AND totally relaxing (physically+mentally) when I feel it’s time to relax

      • xtrapoletariat@beehaw.org
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Personal experience, obviously:

        1. enforce time limits on apps (like 45 min messaging/social per day), e.g. using built-in tools => frees a lot of time
        2. streamline communication, i.e., do not be available 24/7 for mail, chat, etc. Instead, define time windows to check and answer your channels
        3. Use some Pomodore timer [1] to focus on specific tasks for a few hours. Minimize distractions as far as possible in that time window.
        4. Sleep. Working tired is a black hole for time management.
        5. Do sports/seek nature to keep the stress level down.
        6. Plan honest to your capabilities, sometimes the 80% solution will do (yes, this can be hard to accept)
        7. A simple hand-written checkboxed ToDo list per day is helpful, take 5-10 minutes to compile it before your day starts.

        [1] Goodtime