Time management – Annienygma

How I Gave Myself 10 Hours a Day to Learn and Study

When you work a full time job, carving out study time to learn something new can be a challenge, especially if you have children at home.

Sometimes, just thinking “where will I find the time?” can be enough to make you quit before you get started.

I’ve been there in the past. I find myself in that situation yet again after making the decision to deepen my knowledge. I decided to not only purchase several books, I also took advantage of a sale on Udemy to invest in some classes.

I had a bit of a moment at this point. I work 10 hours a day at the factory; aside from quitting my job and resuming life on my royalties, how in the world would I pull this off?

I don’t want to quit my job, however. I actually like my job. It gives me the interaction I need with the outside world that helps keep me sane. As long-term readers know, I tend to go a bit bonkers when I hang out at home for too long. I also like the fact that this job allows me to stick my book royalties straight into savings; this increases my future income should something happen that causes me to rethink things. Even more important to me, the money I earn brings me closer to my goal.

Since I didn’t want to quit my job, I needed to get creative. While I have two or three days a week that I can study (depending upon my schedule), I also need to clean my house and do any shopping. I may not shop as much as a lot of people, but I do need to buy food on occasion.

This is how I solved the problem and carved out 10 hours a day to study. You can use this method to carve out time for any project.

Unlearn

The first thing you need to do when you need to carve out time in your life is to forget everything you think you know about time management. There is a lot of confusing information out there, and most of it is contradictory.

Most of us lead unique lives, so our solutions need to be as unique as we are. Our goal is to improve our lives, not force our square pegs into round holes, after all.

When it comes to learning, we have all been taught from an early age that the only way to learn something new is to apply our butt to the chair and crack open a book.

The world has changed so much, however, that this no longer applies. While it is an effective way to learn, most of us don’t have enough free time to even think about sitting down!

Analyze Your Environment

Take a few days to analyze not only your environment, but your habits.

Do you wake up a few hours before you have to leave for your job?
Do you have a long commute?
Does your job have those “hurry up and wait” moments?
How long are your breaks at work?
Are you able to hide in your bathroom (at home) for some peace and quiet? (Moms, I’m looking at you!)
Can you carry any study materials around like a book or even a phone?
Are you allowed to listen to music with headphones or watch videos at some point during your workday?
SAHMs, do your kids still take naps?
Do you watch television, play video games, or scroll social media before/during/after your shift?

Don’t rush this process. Just go through your normal day while taking mental notes of any potential opportunities to study. Chances are, some ideas will come to you right away, but it may take a week or longer to notice an opportunity. Just keep your mind open; you may not be able to locate time to read, but you may be able to watch a quick video or listen to a lecture or podcast. Or you may be able to read ebooks or other digital materials in short spurts on your phone.

Remember, there are many different ways to learn these days. You have books, lectures, podcasts, videos…I’m certain that there are other ways to learn that I haven’t even thought of, ways that you can learn or even practice what you are learning during your day. By the way, do you know of any learning method I’ve missed? If you do, give me a shoutout in the comments below, thanks!

Devise Your Learning Plan

Did you see an opportunity where you could pull out your phone or a book and read a bit? Perhaps you’re allowed to listen to music while you work? Maybe you can wake up a few minutes earlier, or hide in the bathroom longer.

Even the smallest bits of time can be used to learn. Years ago when I decided to take a computer repair course and launch my repair business, I realized that I could read before I clocked in and on my break. It wasn’t much, but it was something! My coworkers teased me until they discovered that I’d actually leveraged the knowledge I’d gained in those studies to build a small but profitable business.

Prepare to Launch

If you discover that you have small pieces of time in which to read, prepare by either placing a book in your bag or loading an ebook on your phone. Test it; few things are more annoying than sitting down to read and not being able to open the book!

If you’re able to watch short videos, test to confirm that you can watch them. Some places don’t have quality cellphone signals; if that’s your situation, download some relevant videos to your phone.

If you are able to listen to music, download some lectures, audiobooks, videos, or podcasts to your phone in preparation. While you may not be able to sit down and watch a video, many are designed to allow you to receive the knowledge while just listening instead of actively watching the videos.

As for me, I now listen to audiobooks and related materials while I work each day. I mix it up with some music for variety, but I’ve now gained study time while on the clock at my job…with no one being the wiser except for you! Shh! Don’t tell on me! 🤫

Have you ever done anything creative in your quest to improve your life? Please share your stories in the comments below.

Is That A Computer in Your Pocket?

It is said that once we reach adulthood that our opinions and basic personality has formed and rarely changes. I never paid much attention to that theory until I realized that I’d picked up some interesting opinions and habits myself from what I suspect was a rather young age.

Since that discovery about myself, I have began to question everything.

Those who have followed me over the years have doubtless noticed my disdain for cell phones. I refused to own one for years because I considered them a luxury, only acquiring one because my kids felt that they were a necessity.

I’ve noticed this disdain in others as well. Browse the Internet very much, and you stumble upon memes mocking the youth for the cellphones they carry.

The other day, some coworkers and myself could not remember a setting to use on a piece of equipment. Rather than guess, I pulled out my cellphone, did a quick search, and located the information.

That search made me realize a truth I had denied since smartphones were invented: This isn’t just a phone; it’s a computer.

We literally carry miniaturized computers complete with Internet access in our pockets, yet when we want to do any serious work we reach for a bulky laptop each time. While a small number of us have transitioned to using tablets with keyboards attached for some work, the majority of us still insist upon using a standard computer for our tasks.

That includes me. When I think of writing, I think of sitting down at a computer to do my work, or at least curling up with pen and paper to complete the task. The thought of anything else never occurred to me.

I haven’t had any desire to sit down in front of a computer for months. I haven’t had any desire to seriously fiddle with a computer for over a year, despite my efforts to rekindle that passion.

While my computer use has waned, I have found myself using this phone more and more. It is my alarm clock, my calendar, my camera. It is the notebook I pull out when I need to remember something. It is my stereo both at home and while on the move, and it is the GPS that guides me when I travel to an unfamiliar place.

I use this phone for almost everything that I used to rely upon a computer for, yet I refused to consider using it for my writing and certain other tasks.

I felt a bit sheepish after having that revelation. I’ve always been the one who embraced new technology, yet it seems that I have become a bit set in my ways.

As a result of that revelation I am attempting an experiment. I am going to look at this device as the computer that it is. When I have a task to accomplish involving computers, I’m going to attempt the task on this phone first.

More importantly, I am going to make it a point to do a bit of writing on this device. I not only want to explore the functionality of using this phone to write with, I want to see if the added mobility inspires me to write again.

If you are seeing this post, then this experiment is at least a partial success. I downloaded the app that allows me to maintain my website, and have been tinkering on this post for several days. I write during my breaks at work and while I’m waiting for my car to warm up in the mornings.

While it feels odd to sit here and type out a blog post with my thumbs, it feels good to know that at least I’m writing. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would write again, since I lacked the time and the desire to sit down and actually write.

Maybe this is the solution I needed.

Have you ever realized that you’d been looking at something with a closed mind? Please share your stories in the comments below.

~#~

If you happen to find this post helpful, would you consider sharing it with a friend or on social media? Thanks!

I’ve written a lot of books sharing my odd view of life in hopes of helping others. My most notorious book is titled The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too, but The Minimalist Cleaning Method is pretty popular as well. You can find them at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iBooks
Smashwords (non-DRM)

Thank you for your support!

My Minimalist Daily Planner

I have spent a small fortune on planning and productivity apps over the years. I’ve vacillated between paper and digital so many times that it borders upon the ridiculous.

While I wanted to go completely digital, not one of the apps I purchased could accommodate my needs so I would end up purchasing even more apps, make the process more complicated, and give up as a result. If I found one I liked it would be out of date within six months to a year unless I paid even more for the new version or moved on to something different.

Paper planning methods were just as annoying. While the Bullet Journal method worked to a degree, I found myself having to migrate to new notebooks so often that it felt like I spent more time migrating than I did actually using the thing. The closest thing to paradise I discovered in the paper realm was a hard back planner that made my wallet scream.

Even worse with the paper methods, I quickly built up a large supply of used notebooks, which is far from ideal when you live in a tiny house.

After my last round of experiments I decided that enough was enough. My goal is to simplify my life, not make it more complicated with stacks of notebooks or constant app purchases.

I wanted a planning and record-keeping method that would use a minimum of space, could be easily viewed on different devices, not be locked into some sort of specialized software, and not cost a single penny.

Since that doesn’t really exist out in the world, I made one.

I modified the original idea in David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. I created a series of folders, naming them in a way that would cause them to sort automatically by date. I eliminated the need for monthly folders with my naming procedure and got to work.

Each day gets its own individual folder that is named by the date and day of the week. Within that folder I created a text file for my work shift, and individual text files for anything I needed to remember upon that day or tasks I wanted to accomplish.

As the day progresses I rename the task files, placing an “x” in the front of the file name to mark the task as completed. I file relevant documents within that folder by naming them accordingly. A quick search on my computer will bring up personal items, photos, or whatever I am searching for without having to dig through the folders individually.

On the days I have time to journal I create a simple text file in the daily folder to log my personal thoughts.

Recurring tasks get copied into each daily folder in advance based upon when I want to take care of them. While I do keep a separate file with a list of tasks that I don’t need to do on a specific date, that is simple enough to maintain. I just borrowed the old plain-text format from the Taskpaper app I purchased ages ago and access the file from any plain text editor now that Taskpaper is no longer supported.

It has been a few months since I started experimenting with this method. To my surprise, it meets my needs perfectly. I am able to not only keep track of my daily life even on the go (provided I sync beforehand or have wifi access), I can even scan in any journal entries I decide to write by hand so it has actually ended up being a bit better than any method I have tried in the past.

While it does take a few minutes to create a new set of files each month I have no doubts that task could be automated if one ever decided to write a script for the process. I find it meditative to create them manually at the moment so I’ve not been motivated to even bother.

Accessing the Planner on the Move

I recommend storing the main folder (named by the current year) in the cloud if you want to access your planner on the go. For simplicity’s sake, create a folder inside the annual folder named “@Upcoming Schedule” to separate your archives from your future plans.

When you want to create a note for a future date, create a folder for that particular date and insert the note inside. You can copy emails, PDFs, or anything in there as a reminder.

This method is extremely simple and quite effective once you develop the habit of checking your daily folder every morning. I move the previous day’s folder up one level into the annual folder before opening up the folder for the new day to get started.

If you are sick and tired of experimenting with planning methods or paying a fortune for apps and paper planners you may want to consider trying this method. It is simple, platform-independent, future-proof, and completely free.

Even better, you can customize the method based upon how you work and keep track of things in a way that you find most comfortable.

What methods have you tried to keep track of your daily life? Please share your stories in the comments below.

How Do You Spend Your Time?

“To come but once into the World, and Trifle away our true Enjoyment of it, and of our selves in it, is lamentable indeed.”
William Penn (1706). Some Fruits of Solitude, in reflections and maxims relating to the conduct of human life.

These past few days I’ve had little to do but rest and think. It occurred to me that our lives have gotten so busy that we may not be doing enough thinking. It is only through self-reflection that we can learn and grow; barring that exercise, we run the risk of becoming stagnant.

While theories abound concerning the Afterlife, all that we know for certain is that we only have one life to live. That life, in the grand scheme of things, is woefully short. Therefore, it can only benefit us if we focus upon the things that truly matter. We don’t have enough time to do everything, so it only makes sense that we eliminate the distractions that would cause us to waste this irreplaceable resource.

Consider how you spend your day. How much of your time do you spend engaging in activities that don’t benefit you? Does your quality of life improve when you sit in front of a television, or does that time make you feel inferior because you don’t have the money to buy their suggestions or the skills to live the lives your heroes lead?

If so, then why torture yourself by watching it?

Does it make you feel good to visit Facebook and see the posts of others bragging about their latest meals, purchases, or experiences? Do you feel happy reading the political vitriol that is being shared by your friends?

Does it feel good to wander through a store searching for a particular item, or could a quick online purchase eliminate the need to spend your priceless time hunting for it in a store and then standing in line to purchase it?

The above is just an example of the questions you can ask yourself as you go through your day.

I have been asking myself these very same questions recently. I have discovered a lot about who I am through the asking.

My personal revelations about how I’ve been wasting the priceless resource of my time made me realize that I may not be alone in this situation. Society seems determined to keep our minds so distracted that we don’t stop to consider our actions. It has become verboten to take time away from our lives to contemplate. If we are doing nothing, we are wrong so we fill up every moment with tasks, entertainment, and social media instead.

It makes me wonder if there is a reason why we are discouraged from thinking anymore.

We expend an immense amount of thought about how we spend our money; since our time is irreplaceable, shouldn’t we treat it with even more respect? In the end, while we can always make more money, we are incapable of adding more time to our lifespan.

How do you spend the priceless resource of your time? Are there areas you would like to change? Please continue this conversation in the comments below.

References

Penn, W. (1706). Some Fruits of Solitude, in reflections and maxims relating to the conduct of human life. The seventh edition. T. Sowle: London.