- Today we're gonna talk about time management,
because trust me, you can fit more stuff into your day.
As someone who has a lot of side projects
on outside of work,
I've been forced to get good at time management.
It's not something that comes naturally to me,
I'm very easily distracted normally.
But I've learned some ways to fit in all the things
that I want to do alongside my day job,
so I thought today I would share them in case you've got
some side project ideas you want to work on as well.
And maybe this well help you out.
My first tip for you, and you're probably not gonna like it,
and that is you need to be waking up early
to work on your side projects
before you leave for work or school.
I've already made a video
about how to have a productive morning
that gives you advice for getting into a routine like this.
But basically you just need to wake up
a little bit earlier, and go bed a little bit earlier
every single day until you end up with
a few hours time in the morning to get stuff done.
It is so much better to work on your personal projects
in the morning when your brain is fresh
and you're not all tired from your day job.
Trust me, I used to be a night owl
so I know that some of you watching this
are probably thinking this is impossible right now.
But I eased myself into waking up at 5:30 every morning
and I can honestly tell you
that I'm so much more productive
and just generally a happier person
now that I do my work in the morning rather than
into the early hours.
Getting up early gives me two main chunks of time
I can get stuff done in my day.
One before work, and one after work.
My next tIP is to take the big things you need to do
and break them up into smaller tasks
so you can fit them into these chunks of time in your day.
Say for example I need to make a video this week
like I do every week.
Instead of putting make a video on my to do list,
I break it up into much more manageable pieces.
It may not seem like it, but making a video takes
hours and hours of work.
And I don't have like an eight hour spare chunk
free in my week, so instead of siting down
and making a video from start to finish,
I break the process up into little chunks
and then those pieces can just fit in
wherever possible throughout my week.
Think of it like this, say this jar is your time.
First you need to fill it with the unmovable things
you have to do like sleep, work, take care of your family
and your health, there's no room in there to fit
another big chunk of time, which is why you might be feeling
like you just can't get enough done.
But there is lots of space for much smaller things.
Breaking big tasks up into smaller pieces
is also really helpful if you're a goal drive person,
'cause it means you get to mark more off your to do list.
And speaking of to do lists, you definitely should have one.
Whether it's written by hand, or if it's a digital one,
it's something you need to do.
There are loads of different apps out there to try
and see which one is gonna be the best fit for you.
I really love this one called Teuxdeux.
It's clean and simple
and lets me plan out my tasks for the week.
I also you Trello to keep a big picture list
of the things that I want to work on in one place
so that all my ideas can be captured there together.
Another big tip for time management is
when you've broken your tasks down into small pieces,
to experiment with which time of day
is most productive for you to work on.
Now I already said that I'm most productive in the morning.
That's when I work on things like design projects
or video editing, anything more creative like that.
When I get home from work, I'm generally far too tired
to work on that sort of thing.
But that doesn't mean that I can't do anything.
In the evenings is when I do the more boring tasks.
The admin type things, like uploading a video,
laying out a blog post, filling in a description box,
things like that that don't require
a whole lot of brain power.
Also with having a list of small tasks to tick off,
I can slip extra bits of productivity into my day.
On my commute for example, on the train,
I can be writing a blog post
or writing out some video ideas, planning that
to make use of the time.
The point is you should experiment with
when you're most productive
so that each task can be the best possible use of your time
at the moment that you're doing it.
It will take practice and it will be hard at first,
but it is really important to keep making small steps
to move towards your goals.
With side projects, there's no one watching over you
and telling you off if you don't do something.
You have to be accountable to yourself and to your goals.
I really hope these time management tips
will help you out with that.
If you've got any questions about them,
or if you want to share something particular
that you're struggling with to do with time management,
please do it down below on the comments
because I'd love to make more videos like this.
It's something that I'm quite passionate about.
If you enjoy my videos,
I'd love it if you went and checked out my online store.
I don't have ads on my videos anymore
because I think they make for a bad experience.
So picking up a T shirt or a notebook
is a really great way to support this channel.
Thank you for watching and I will see you next week
for another design video.
Bye.