How I make Time for *EVERYTHING* | 15 Secrets to Building a Schedule that Actually Works

What's up guys? Welcome back to my channel. I hope you're having a lovely day today and I hope it gets even better from watching this video. Today we're chatting all about time management and time management for me is all about efficiency. Like how can you work more efficiently? How can you get more done in less time so that you can make more room for the things in your life that truly matter so that you can have a beautiful, well-rounded, fulfilling life. You obviously can't buy more time, so you've got to learn to make the most out of it. So I'm going to share a bunch of tips with you today that really helped me. I started out as a very disorganized, like procrastinating type of person. And I really did a whole 180 when I started working for myself, I really had to learn because it was not working. Okay. So I'm going to share my best tips with you, but we're also going to do like a deep dive and assessment of where you are right now, what's working, what isn't working so that we can make a schedule, a plan that's basically tailored to you and how you work best, because that's a plan and a schedule you'll actually be able to stick to. And that's actually going to work. If you're new to my channel, by the way, I am Nika, welcome. I make videos all about self-improvement. I like to make them very like actionable. Here are the to-do lists, the exercises, all of it. So you can really make like a real change in your life that you're actually going to notice. So if that works for you, I would love for you to stick around and subscribe. And you can also check on my social media. If you want to see more of my personal life, you can also find a whole playlist on my channel, all about productivity, time management, discipline, all of that. So if you want to fully dive in, you can check that out after this video. So I'll link that down below. One last thing, I film in natural lighting and today is just one of those days when the sun can't decide what it's going to do. So I really apologize for the constant lighting changes. We're just going to have to deal with it. Okay. Okay. I think that's enough yapping. So let's just jump into all the tips and tricks. Alrighty. The first part of this is going to be the research portion. So this is where we're going to assess where you're at right now. What's working, what isn't working, your productivity style, when you work best, et cetera. So I highly recommend you get a piece of paper, a journal, your notes app, whatever you want to use. You just want to be able to refer back to this later when we're making your plan. Okay. Alrighty. First things first, we're going to assess how you currently spend your time. So tomorrow when you wake up, you're going to start writing down exactly how you spend your time. So you're going to log in every single activity and how long it takes you, even if it's literally going on your phone for five minutes. And what you shouldn't do is try to make this day perfect just because you're logging in. Like this is supposed to be a very realistic picture of how you spend your time. So if you want to do this for multiple days to really get a very clear view, you can do that. This should be like a little reality check of what changes you want to make and kind of like a wake up call for some people. Obviously it depends how you are right now. When I did this years ago, it was really like a catalyst for why I wanted to get better at productivity and time management. I didn't even realize how much of my time I was kind of wasting and like not really spending it intentionally and how scattered my focus was. I would get easily distracted. Like I was kind of just a mess. And again, for me, it wasn't about just working more efficiently for the sake of working more and being more productive and like 5am club, I'm the most productive person in the world. Like that's never been my personal wish. If that's you, then that's totally fine. Obviously you need to do things that make you happy. But for me it was like, I want to live a fulfilling life. That's like intentional. I want to have a well-rounded life and I realized how much more time I actually have that I wasn't really using efficiently. And I felt like I didn't have enough time ever. It really was like a breakthrough. So I highly recommend trying this out. The second part of this research section you can actually do right now. So you can pull up that notes app, whatever you're using and actually write down these answers straight away. This is where we're going to get really clear about how you work best and your kind of productivity style. And this is really, really important. The first one is very obvious, but it's like, where do you work best? So is it the desk in your room? Is it the dinner table? Is it at a cafe at a library? Does that place need to be very clean and organized? Can you handle people talking in the background or do you need complete silence? Do you like listening to music? Like what kind of environment are you in when you are at your most focused and at your most productive? You can learn so much more about this on Skillshare and they're actually sponsoring this video. I have learned so many amazing little like productivity, time management tools, tricks, techniques. I'll have my favorite productivity type classes on the screen, but I think the one I would start with is mastering productivity. Create a system that works by Thomas Frank. It really covers all the important basics so you can create a really good foundation for your system. So he goes into how to get better at email, how to organize your physical and digital files, having a review day, like so many really, really amazing tips. So I highly recommend checking it out. In case you don't know, Skillshare is the largest online learning community for creatives. They have thousands of classes led by industry experts across film, illustration, design, freelance, productivity, and more. Skillshare can help you take your careers, your skills, hobbies, passions, or even your side hustles to the next level. For me, my work really slows down during the summer. So it's like a perfect time for me to explore new hobbies. And if you guys watched my mid year reset video, you would have seen that I really wanted to have more hobbies. So the one that I really want to try first is drawing. So I think I'm going to start with this class on Skillshare. It's called start drawing three fun, freeing exercises to spark your creativity. I already got a new sketchbook, so I'm really excited and committed to dive in. If you want to try it out, the first 500 people to click on my link will actually get a one month free trial of Skillshare. I'm going to have that down below so you can get started today. The second one is when are you most productive? So this is going to be time of the day. Like for example, I am my most productive before lunch. So pretty early in the morning and up until lunch, like I can get a lot done. My focus isn't scattered. Like I'm really locked in on what I'm doing. Maybe if you're someone more creative, it's like later in the evening, that's when your creativity juices are flowing. So that's when you're most focused, most productive. Also write down the days when you are most productive. So for me, it's usually the first few days in the week. Like that's when I'm really locked in and focused. Then my productivity kind of falls a little bit. So that is very important information to know when you are then planning and scheduling things like, you know, what kind of tasks do you want to schedule at what time of the week or what time of the day. So really get as clear as you possibly can. Speaking of when you're going to do certain tasks, we're going to break down your most common tasks into big brain and small brain tasks. Okay? So first you're going to write down a whole list of the tasks that you usually encounter during the week. So maybe you have to reply to emails all the time, have meetings, update the Excel spreadsheet. I don't know, whatever you do, just write down as many as you can think of. And then you're going to assign whether it's a big brain task or whether it's a small brain task. So a big brain task is something that requires a lot of focus, a lot of your like mental effort and energy that would be like writing an essay or it might be like researching and creating a presentation for work. Like that is something you need to be really focused and you can't really handle a lot of distractions. And then small brain tasks are things that don't require that much energy and mental focus. So these might be things like running errands, cleaning. Maybe for you it's replying to emails or like updating that Excel spreadsheet. Like if that's something you're so used to, you can do it in your sleep. Then that might be like a small brain task. So just assign each task. And then you're already going to have such a clear picture and your plan and schedule can be made in such a more efficient way that actually works for you. So for me, for example, I work best from the morning up until lunchtime. So that is when I would schedule in my big brain tasks. That is my time when I'm not easily distracted. I'm very focused. I'm locked in. And then obviously after lunch, my productivity kind of drops. So that is when I would schedule in my small brain tasks. So any kind of errands really like easy things for me to do, like replying to emails, stuff like that. I don't really have to think about it much. I don't need that much energy. Next thing you want to write down is how much can you realistically handle before you kind of start to feel burnt out before your brain gets all foggy and you're like, I can't even process any information anymore. Like this is way too much. This will probably depend on what kind of task you're dealing with. So just try to get as much clarity as you can. For me, for example, it's a little different with like creative tasks. But if I have a lot of like admin tasks, things where I'm kind of sitting behind my computer, I need to use my brain and really be focused. I know that whenever I reach the three hour mark, I have a pretty good focus. So I can like go for a while. But then when I reached that two and a half, three hour mark, I feel dead. Like I feel like a zombie. I'm like, no one talked to me. I literally can't process anything anymore. So knowing that is obviously very helpful because sure, I was very focused and productive for those three hours, but then my productivity dropped so much and I got barely anything done for the rest of the day. So that's obviously not the most efficient. And then things will trickle down to the rest of my week and it just became a mess. So I know that I need to take more frequent breaks. Next up, you're going to write your most common distractions. Like what is the thing that kind of gets you out of what you were doing? What breaks your focus? We obviously want to limit that because that's going to make you way less efficient because then it takes more time to get back into it. And then you're distracted again. And then it takes more time to get into it. Just because like the hardest part is usually just getting started. And then when you get that momentum, when you start working, like it gets much easier. So when you're constantly breaking that, you use way more time just to get back into it and reach that momentum again. So we want to limit that as much as possible, obviously. So the first step is to get clear about what it is. So write down every single thing. For a lot of us, the number one thing is probably going to be our phone, but get a little more specific. Like is it getting random phone calls or messages or is it you opening the Instagram app and scrolling, like get specific about what it actually is and then you can work with that. The first step is obviously turning off your notifications. The only notifications I have on is like calls and messages. That is it. Everything else is turned off. I also love utilizing like the do not disturb, like the different modes you can have. So I have a work mode that I kind of curated just because a lot of my job is on my phone. So I still need to access certain things so you can curate it. So only specific type of calls will go through or you will only be able to use specific type of apps, et cetera. So you can definitely play with that and just make it so that it's the most efficient for you. Also love using like the black and white feature. I just click this button three times and it turns my phone black and white. You can turn this feature off in your settings, but that really helps you to not want to go on it because it's just so boring to look at. Like I don't want to scroll on Instagram with this on that. That is not appealing at all. So that is definitely something you can use. If for example, your distractions are emails, that is obviously still work. But if you're doing other things and you get that notification for an email, you read like the first little line and you're like, Oh, I need to deal with that. And then your focus is on that instead of what you were doing. That is one of the things you really need to limit if you want to be more efficient with how you spend your time. Because again, that's going to constantly get you out of your focus mode and it's going to take much more time to get back into it. So you're using your time in a not so smart way. So what I decided to do, because I definitely had this problem, was to dedicate specific times in my week for answering emails. So I would only look at my emails during that time. Obviously this is going to depend on your job, but I decided to answer emails every other day at like 11am. For example, I don't encounter a lot of like urgent emails all the time. So usually they can wait like a day or two. So that works for me. But maybe you have to do it like twice a day, once in the morning and once at like 3pm or something. So just find a system that works for you. And then I personally, again, this might not work for you. I just turned off my email notifications so that I don't get constantly distracted. I know I have a set time to reply to them and people can wait. Otherwise they can call me and we can figure it out. Again, get very clear on your distractions and find solutions that work for you. The next thing you want to brainstorm is specific types of breaks that are like short but efficient that work for you. My breaks are usually from like five to 15 minutes, unless it's like a lunch break, which is obviously longer. So I want to find things that I can do during that time that will actually make me feel like refreshed. And like, I just had a break because what I would do is I would go scroll on my phone and that break would turn into 30 minutes or longer. And by the end of it, I was like more drained than I was before. Like it wasn't actually an efficient break. So I just brainstormed some ways that actually worked. So a few things that work for me is like opening up all the windows so that I can air out my apartment, get some fresh air. Like that really, really helps. Sometimes I even step out on the balcony and like take a few deep breaths. I also found a few like five minute relaxing meditations just on YouTube that really, really worked for me. And it's only five minutes. So easy peasy. And I really feel like I've had like a sufficient break. Maybe for you it would be like making a cup of tea or having a little dance party, putting on your favorite song and like dancing around doing a couple jumping jacks. I don't know, like just find things that work for you. That is going to help you so much. Take it from someone who used to ignore this point completely. Like I would just not take breaks and then I would get drained and then my productivity would drop like this way. You can actually get more done in less time because you're way more efficient. Next up, automate what you can and then batch what you can't. So an example of an automation is like having calendly so that when someone wants to schedule a meeting with you, you just send that link to them and they can find a time that works for the both of you very easily instead of going back and forth constantly through emails. That is just a simple example. Obviously, again, depends on your work, but I'm sure you can find some ways you can automate more, especially now with like AI and all of that. And then batching is basically grouping similar tasks together and then getting them done in the same like block of time. I, for example, group together paying bills, issuing invoices and updating my budget. So those kinds of tasks feel the same to me. Like I feel like the same part of my brain has to be activated and they kind of require like a similar type of focus. So I have a schedule time every single Monday at the beginning of my day where I get all of these tasks done. So that way, again, you're using your time a lot more efficiently. What you don't want to do is have a schedule that feels super scattered. So from like seven to seven 30 you do a very like admin type of tasks, a more analytical task. And then from that time until nine, you do something very creative and then something analytical. Like that is going to make your focus very scattered. And again, it's going to take you way longer to build that momentum and get back into it. So automate what you can batch what you can't, and that's going to make you so, so, so much more efficient and productive. I promise you. Another important point is can you delegate certain tasks? So for example, let's say you're like a business girly, like your career is super important to you. So you want to like grow in that, grow your business, whatever you're doing. Maybe cleaning your house is going to be something that to you feels like a waste of your time. If you could spend those few hours per week, doing something that's going to get your business to a higher level or further you in your career. And if you have obviously enough finances available, then that might be a really smart task to delegate to somebody. Or maybe you decide to get your groceries delivered instead of spending an hour at the grocery store every week. Or maybe you get an online assistant or an editor if you're a YouTuber or a social media person. Like there are certain ways you can, maybe potentially delegate certain tasks so that you can open up that part of your schedule to the things that are more important to you and will actually get you further. Let's talk a little bit more about planning your actual day. So we've talked about when to schedule big brain versus small brain tasks. We've covered like batching grouping tasks together and taking like efficient breaks that actually work, which is all very important when it comes to planning your day. So keep all of that in mind. But let's talk about that a little bit further. So first thing you want to do if you haven't yet is find a system that works