TIME-MANAGEMENT: My secrets to achieve more in a FRACTION of the time

You have all the potential and determination to succeed, but there's one problem. There just aren't enough hours in the day, and it's not your fault. Like you, I had to handle many classes, extracurriculars, volunteering, all at the same time. Honestly, give yourself credit for how much you're doing. Society is putting more and more pressure on us, and then no one actually tells us how to manage our time. After a long journey of my own struggles managing varsity sports, math competitions, and more, I developed killer time management techniques that led me to become valedictorian in high school and get a 4.0 GPA in chemical engineering. And yes, I stayed fit and healthy and still had a social life. I'll share my techniques with you today. Hey team, it's Amy. I love reading your comments, but sometimes they give me PTSD when you describe struggling to keep up with extracurriculars, tutoring, studies, because that was me too not too long ago. That's why I'm here to help you today like your big sister. A lot of the existing advice like prioritization, using a second brain, those typical tips are valid, so I won't be repeating those you've probably already heard. Instead, I'll share my recommendations from my personal experience that many people have actually said they haven't heard of before. Find out the tip that's game-changing. First of all, if you value your time, you want to make the most of the minutes you spend with me on this video, so remember to put it on full screen mode and get in focus mode. Let's go! So many of you have asked me, what is your study timetable? How do you make a study schedule? I must confess the truth. It's that I have never made one. Never. Nor have I stuck to a schedule that's the same every day or even every weekend. So sorry, that's why I have not been responding to those explicitly because I will never make something up that I've not effectively tried myself. But what did work wonders for me and my time management was to be fluid like water. Be water, my friend. Stop feeling the need to stick to schedules. Imagine your favorite mug. A strict study timetable is like marbles. They're hard and they can't easily fill every crevice in your mug. Your mug will still have many empty gaps and you can't fill it fully. Those solid marbles are like the strict study timetables that you see recommended on Instagram and TikTok. No hate to those creators, it's just not something that I believe in personally. Those hard marbles are too prescriptive and it's not a one-size-fits-all. But water, it can fill every nook and cranny of your mug effortlessly. In fact, even if you have existing marbles in your mug like your classes per day with lectures or a practice scheduled in, your water can still fill all of those gaps remaining in your mug. As a student, things were always changing for me. I would have an away game this day, a Spanish Honor Society club event the other day. If I had a study schedule timetable, I would feel like I can only study Spanish in this time block or only math in this time block. Or you may feel like you can only study when your day exactly matches your expectations. But that's a recipe for disaster and frustration. When you're water, you can fill any situation you're in. You can adapt to using your extra time when waiting for someone and you can switch up your study plan when you realize something isn't working. You'll be able to decide for yourself whether it's effective for you to study 30 minutes and take a break or just to pause whenever you intuitively feel like it. That's also why my digital planner reflects the exact planner that I used in high school. There are no set times for when to do tasks and you can easily drag things around being very adaptable like water. You've got to feel the flow. What if you have more admin tasks to do outside of school and extracurriculars? This could be writing an email, taking out the trash. These little things seem insignificant but when they add up, they're like a nuisance that can stress you out. Something that helped me is that when I realize I have to text my friend Alicia back, instead of putting text Alicia back on my to-do list, I will just do it right then given that I'm idle. This way I have fewer things on my to-do list in the first place. The key is if you can do it then, do it then. Always have a bias toward action. Keep in mind though that when you're busy, don't distract yourself from your flow by jumping into a small task. You can add that to your to-do list but I recommend you having two to-do lists. One for shorter quick tasks and one for larger ones. That way whenever you have idle time or you're waiting for something, you can pull out the quick task list and check things off. At Caltech, chemical engineering was the major that had the most class requirements in order to graduate. We had killer classes like thermodynamics, transport, organic chemistry, physical chemistry. Those are all so, so hard. But guess what? My chemical engineering class had a reputation for being on top of our work. So weird, right? But that's because in the beginning of each school year, I would get together with my classmates and we would pick a day out of the week where we would definitely come together and work on problem sets together. These weekly events are non-negotiables and make each other like accountability partners. Just like I recommend to use soft deadlines where you pretend like your deadline is earlier than the actual due date, well, soft deadlines could be really hard to stick to if you're solo. But if you involve other people to keep you accountable, you will certainly not fall behind. That's why the habit here is to turn tasks into events. Instead of telling myself that I have to work on this homework by myself right here, I will turn that task into an event with my friends. With my chemical engineering study events, I knew I would have to attend, but I also knew that after I left, I would have made progress. There are three major benefits to this. Number one, it adds some structure due to, like I said, involving other people to make it non-negotiables. So you show up. Showing up is honestly one of the most important things, the first important step that you can be doing in your daily life. Number two, you can create deep bonds. Lots of organic friendships form when you're crying over organic chemistry together. I didn't realize I used organic twice. Number three, raise all boats. When you help someone else, they will want to help you in turn and everyone benefits. Does this sound like you? After school, you slump on the couch and take a break for who knows how long. After dinner, you slump and do something else for who knows how long. Then maybe after the gym, you take a break before starting your homework. Many students lose a ton of time between tasks when transitioning from one thing to another. That's why a huge opportunity for time management is to minimize your transition time. I actually posted a reel with this tip and I had no idea how many people said this was life-changing. Like this comment said, minimize transition time by taking breaks in the actual task is actually so smart. And it had 3,471 likes. That's exactly how I explained this tip of minimizing transition time. Instead of taking a break between big tasks or events like dinner and homework or gym, you instead will always try to make your breaks in between the actual studying. So if we have a visual here, like say we have gym, then shower, dinner, homework, right? In between each of those tasks is an opportunity for a lot of waste of time when you use your phones. But if you think about it, gym is actually a break from using your brain and dinner is actually some time to relax. So instead, you remove all of that wasted time between your transition times. And instead, in your big chunk of studying or your big chunk of lifting weights, you take little breaks in the middle. Definitely try out this tip consistently because as many people say, it's game-changing. You value your time, but why does it keep slipping away from you? I know this feeling all too well. I remember putting tons of tasks and events onto my calendar and then by the end of the day, I've only accomplished half of it. If you don't know where you're putting your time into, naturally, it's gonna disappear. So that's the thing. It's awareness that we need. You don't need more time. You need more focus. A focused fool can accomplish more than a distracted genius. That's why you should perform an audit of your time. This means that you take a few days in a row and track what you're doing throughout the whole day. Say two to three, you write down, okay, start at homework. And then you realize, oh no, actually, at 2.30, I started being on my phone. So actually, I was not doing homework the whole time. This way, you know the things to cut out. And so magically, more time will appear. What we need to do better, I struggle with this myself, is to say more no's. If we don't have a lot of time, we can pinpoint the unnecessary things that are taking our time and energy and cut those things out. Then we can reallocate our time to better things. Auditing your time will help you understand what to say no to. That's exactly what you will discover in your time audit. And I made this easy for you by creating a free three-day timelog. This tracker exercise and a nice organized spreadsheet will help you see how you're spending each hour of your day. And the timelog includes prompts to help you reflect and determine what things to slash out. You can also do this timelog exercise as many times as you want because I know that our schedule and calendar fluctuates throughout the year. Also, if you use this A-Team timelog, you'll receive a secret extra time management tip that I have not shared anywhere else on any of my platforms before. The most important concept that ties everything we've discussed all together with a nice pretty bow. This is not a tip, this is not necessarily a habit, but it's a concept that we will subconsciously ingrain such that time management and efficiency are a skill. As context, no joke, I have been contemplating this video topic for months now. I've been thinking about it walking on the New York streets, thinking about it while riding the subway, just wondering how was I able to find efficiencies in my life? What can I share that will make it easier for anyone to apply and customize to their lives? I was thinking, hmm, value your time. I do agree, but it's very broad and generic. One day, ding, I had an epiphany. I realized my way of thinking that's actionable and will gradually turn you into a wizard of time. You're a wizard, Harry. See if you can notice a common phrase. When I was waiting to start my singles tennis match or waiting for my mom to pick me up, I thought, ah, I really have to study for my physics test. Ah, might as well pull out my textbook and read a few pages right now. Example two, I will be stuck in traffic if I leave for school right now. Hmm, might as well stay a little longer and do homework in the library so then when I drive home, there will be fewer cars. Example three, the bus ride to my away basketball game is one hour. Might as well listen to lectures along the way. Did you notice the common phrase? Okay, did you think of it? Might as well. If you think might as well, you will keep the momentum and be so much more efficient throughout any of your activities, any of your commitments. Like, great, I just finished my math homework and I feel like I'm on a roll so might as well continue my chemistry homework and then take a break. Wow, the teacher finished class 10 minutes early. I might as well use this time to review my Spanish vocabulary so after school, when I review again, I will automatically have already been doing spaced repetition. I have three whole weeks to complete this project. That seems like I have a lot of time, but I don't have a lot of homework this week so I might as well start my project and front load the work. This is a habit of thinking, not prescriptive advice. That way, it's automatic for you to do things like homework during the school day and to study when you have pockets of dead time. Being a good student or succeeding in anything is not about living in a silo and being a bookworm studying for hours on end. The number of hours you work does not equate to your output. Problem solving is a key skill for acing life. That's why my channel is about giving you advice that will help you succeed in life in general because problem solving, resilience, efficiency, the right mindsets, these helped me achieve what I achieved more sustainably, happily, and more healthily. Okay, healthily is a word. I just looked it up. I did not just make it up. Technically, I did just make it up, but turns out it was already a word. It will take you some upfront effort reminding yourself to think might as well, but the more you do it, the more it will become a skill. It will be ingrained as part of your subconscious helping you in college, in grad school, in your career, and any other adulting things in the future. I haven't really heard anyone else recommend to think might as well and my creator friends often ask me how I even think of these ideas and create my videos and the answer is simply tons and tons of hours and reflection. To think of the special things I did. When my friend heard of how much effort I put into this, they said something like, bro, how are you spending this much time and effort thinking of brilliant advice that viewers can't easily find anywhere else and you're just putting it on the internet for free? How? Why? What? Okay, they didn't say it that dramatically, but those are the words I remember. So yeah, my point in this section that's relevant to you is that I love doing this because I'm passionate about it and I care a lot and that's why even after I put in so much effort, just like you would spend a lot of effort on school, I am happy to do it because I remember my why. Yeah, and honestly, maybe I do spend way too much time on a single tip in a single video and if I am to be completely honest, I have been experiencing some other creators who just take my ideas without thinking of it themselves. It makes me sad because I spend so long reflecting and realizing these concepts and then they can just swipe my thoughts in a few seconds. Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping! Oh man! I'm kind of unhinged today, more than usual. But anyway, I remember that my priority is helping you, my A-team community, so thank you for giving love and support back to me. That was a ton of information that I hope was valuable, but remember, very important, only try applying one tip at a time. Do one tip, do it consistently for a week until you become familiar with it, and then add on. Don't try and do too many tips at once. Remember to enjoy your life and that having fun with your loved ones and going to nature is also productive. What? Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Good quote. Remember to sign up for my time log with the link in my description and you will get the secret tip, so don't forget to do that. And oh, this shirt is like the yin-yang concept I described before. If you want to learn about the yin-yang concept to help you become more disciplined, then you can check out this video. Yay! Thanks so much for watching, A-team, and I will see you in the next one. Oh my gosh, and I forgot. So many of you asked my exact journey of how I became valedictorian. So I made a comprehensive story time video all about the process, the classes I took, and you know, it's pretty awesome. So please turn on notifications to make sure you don't miss it when it comes out. Application update that I did not think would happen this soon. Sean told me yesterday, I think, that someone said on Reddit, Reddit's the bomb apparently, I need to be on there more, that the interview invites are supposed to be coming out on Monday, September 30th. Wow, that's so sad! Oh my gosh, I have not been thinking about it at all because I submitted, I'm just like, I want to forget about it. Will I have to prepare for the interview? Because the goal is that I prepare for the interview and put in that lots of work, right? So tune in for next week's mini application update at the end of my video, because then I will let you know if I get the interview or not. Oh my God, it'll be so sad if I don't get the interview again. Like, why? Okay, anyway, I just came back from a trip to Japan, which was amazing, wonderful country. Definitely recommend. I brought back matcha, lots of great skincare. I'm excited to try. Did not know I would come home with several pairs of sparkly chopsticks. I saw Shiba Inu's, bowed to deer. The grind is back on, but what I've learned is I'm gonna try and incorporate some more relaxation and turn off work, even in my day-to-day, not just vacation. Thank you so much for being along for this update and tune in for the interview, invite, hopefully.