PPP: Time Planning

Following the session from last week, we had a time planning session with Alec and made a weekly time plan that we can roughly go through throughout the year. 

SIMPLICITY + CONSISTENCY = PRODUCTIVITY

We also watched a video of Michael Karnjarnaprakorn and found some very interesting things:

• How do I control my own time?
• How do I change my habits?
• Start small - don't do too much that you'll get overwhelmed 
• Have quarterly goals
• PLAN - DO - REVIEW- Have three things for each (doing too much or too small will not be effective.
• Put monetary value on tasks - this will help visualise and realise how important some things will be in comparison to other tasks.

Focus Techniques 

• Pomodoro - 25 mins work / 5 mins break (every fourth cycle break extends to 15 mins
• Eat the Frog - start the day with the most "daunting" task. 
• Get Things Done (GTD) - organise tasks to different themes.

Apps & Softwares 

• 'Stay Focused' - chrome extension that blocks website for a certain amount of time to help you focus.
• Stickies - MAC
• Teux-deux (paid) - digital checklist to help you stay on track
• Marinara - similar to pomodoro
• 'Self-control'
• Toggl - diagnostic app but is manual input only (helps you reflect on how much and how you're actually spending your time. 

We then moved only creating our own goals based on the 3 by 3 by 3 structure that Michael said:

Annual Goals

• Produce a good portfolio at the end of the year
• Creating and keeping connections for future employment
• Be confident and up the scratch with skills that I've learnt for the past 3 years
• 
  

Term Goals

• Complete dissertation
• Researching, contacting and sending to potential companies for work placement (S
• Balance Extended Practice and PPP (because they have the same deadline date.

Weekly Goals

Thoughts & Reflections:

After this session, I feel more motivated to actually stick to the plan that I made for myself. I've also created the plan based on how I've been roughly using my week and what work I'm prioritising, however, when I started making it, I realised that it was getting too unrealistic and forgot to actually put resting days/times, so I decided to reflect back to the previous weeks and made it as realistic as possible and thought of the days and times where I'm most productive (e.g. around 2:00 to 5:00 in the afternoons and actually not doing work on Saturday's). I feel like doing this makes me more at ease and I'm not stressing myself too much because I know how much I can actually do and I won't look back at it and think "I CANT DO THAT THAT'S TOO MUCH!" and start procrastinating. Also, even if I'm not religiously following the plan or if I've gone a bit of track, I know that I can go back to the plan to get myself back and do things with a rough structure again. Hopefully, I'll be able to stick or roughly refer back to the plan so I reduce the time I waste during times where I'm supposed to be working.