my time management
I work full time, while also studying part time, volunteering, and blogging here, together with fitness, other hobbies and keeping up with things, feeling available to people most of the time. What helps me do that, especially when I am chronically ill? Obviously, the less sick days and symptoms you have, the more energy you have, the faster you are and the more time you'll have. You can't discipline yourself out of having an uncontrolled illness. It's a bit unpredictable how I'll feel or when the next flare up comes, so when I feel good, I lock in and try to make the most of it because I can't count on tomorrow. That will make up for the days when I can do less or nothing at all. Can be household-related stuff, studying or exercise. It's difficult initially you wanna enjoy yourself and live your life during good days instead of doing The Things That Need Doing. One too many experiences where you banked on "just doing it next week" and you can't do anything will make you take this more seriously, though. For example, I studied for 12 hours on Sunday and 8 hours on Monday, and couldn't do much Tuesday-Friday due to work and other things draining me too much for it. Dedicating a day where I feel especially inclined to do something to do the most of it so it is done for the rest of the week or the things are scheduled; a good example are blog posts, cleaning, or my volunteer work (doing multiple case translations back to back instead of spread out throughout the week). Sometimes I get up and I notice today will not be good. I could sit there forcing myself to do the thing I thought I would do or that I should do, and struggle along for hours, making myself worse and having worse results, then mope around doing nothing while wishing I could do that one thing. Instead, I find something that needs to be doing that is manageable in that state, even if it is not the most urgent and very low on the priority list. You need failure points for that, something like "If it seems hopeless after doing it for 10 minutes, allow yourself to switch." At the same time, I also allow myself to wait with starting the task sometimes (occasionally even boring myself on purpose) and end up coming around to it, suddenly feeling ready for it 2 hours later. Yesterday, I was supposed to study hard for my upcoming exam, but I had a really bad headache all day that just wouldn't go away. Of course I was mad I couldn't study, but after it did not go away or change, I just did other, lower-priority stuff that was easy and needed doing; like re-organization of my Obsidian, entering more passwords into my password manager that weren't in there yet, and transferring stuff from my Discord server to my Obsidian. It didn't help for the exam, of course, but it was on my list and now I don't need to do it some time later. I'll still call that a win and the best use of my time, compared to the alternatives. In my experience, it all balances out: If I wake up on a day I thought I'd study and I'm doing more of this other thing instead, that frees up more studying time in the future. When I do struggle with needing priorities as everything feels equally urgent and doable or I am afraid I'm not giving enough attention to something, I assign weekly days or goals if the type of to-do permits it. For example, for months I struggled with not finding time to do a case for my volunteer work, but since deciding Fridays to Sundays are for doing at least one a week, I've been able to consistently do that. That lessens the decision fatigue, and by offering myself three days, I give myself more flexibility in case anything comes up or I feel sick. I enjoy that it gives me a break from thinking about it for most days of the week; giving myself a chance of missing it also makes it easier to do it. I can't adhere to these at all anyway, they are too rigid. If I'd say I'll start something at 8am and I wake up later that day for other reasons, now the entire day plan is messed up! I can't deal with that. So, no fixed time blocks and slots, and no Pomodoro. I hate that stuff. I know the things I have to do, and they are arranged like a decision tree in my mind. Can do top thing? Then do it until you can't anymore (done, lacking focus, sick of it). Then go through the list until you land at the next thing to do that fits mood and energy levels. I have trouble with getting myself to start something based on an arbitrary start time or cutting off activities prematurely, so it doesn't work for me to say "I'll work on this from 10am to 3pm." I'll work on it as long or short as it happens, starting and switching when I am ready. I'd also rather work on the thing I end up randomly feeling drawn to that day instead of what past-me thought I should do. I work more fluently between tasks, like a break from one thing can be work in the other (taking a break from studying to do volunteer work, or write a blog post, answer emails etc.). I also cannot keep up streaks most of the time, because I need breaks and have worse days where I shouldn't push through for an arbitrary number, especially when it's about fitness stuff. It's useless to try and emulate the lifestyle of an internet personality and pretend your best time to work on something is at 6am when it isn't for you personally. The best time for me to work on medium to easy stuff is during 10am - 4pm, and after 6pm, I work best on harder, more focus-heavy tasks. That's the opposite of the advice usually given to people. I just like when the world winds down and it is dark outside. There's no use for me trying to change myself or working against the internal clock, and I also don't want to waste time perfecting some rigid morning routine or work system over just... doing the work. I notice some people are just doing one thing after the other when they could actually combine them more sensibly. The easiest example to illustrate it would be: Don't stare at the pot until it boils (or the pan until it's hot) and then go cut the stuff that goes into it; do it while the pot or pan heats up so everything is ready at the same time. This is likely something you already do, but identify other areas in your life where you are "waiting for the pot to boil". You can do other things while your skincare or your conditioner set, you can already prepare something else while your tea steeps, the bathtub fills, the paint dries, the compiler is running or the software is downloading, and so on. You can listen to lectures while doing chores. These small things accumulate. While you got the stew on the pot, you might feel paralyzed because "food isn't ready yet, but until it is, I can't really start or continue doing anything else, because then I am interrupted by checking on the food". In that time, you could have already done some dishes, cleaned the kitchen, tidied a corner, took out the trash so you don't have to do it later. That way, nothing accumulates to the point where it takes an hour to clean and becomes a whole thing that takes away from your daily time. Invest the 5-10 minutes here and there and chain things together sensibly so you don't have to. My wife struggles with this at times, so she asks me how to best time and order the things she needs to do. Sometimes I slide back into that mindset, but mostly, I just accept now that everything has its purpose; it's either work, rest, play, or socializing, and all are equally important. I see one as the prerequisite for the others. That helps not beating myself up internally over things, which would only cause pressure, anxiety, and guilt. If I chat with some people while I should do something else, so what? In 30 minutes I'll get back to it, and I got my fill of some interaction. If I exercise instead of sitting down to study, that's great; it means I'm counteracting all the sitting at the desk that the studying often necessitates. If I write a blog post instead of studying, that's getting it out of my head and done so I can fully focus on studying later. I journal, draw, and watch YouTube videos? Great relaxation and play, I need this for the other days where I study for most of the day. I recently started tracking activities with a timer so my worries can no longer lie to me about spending too little time on some things. It helped with committing even more to the tasks, because I wanted to press play as soon as possible again and hesitated to pause. Also allows for spotting time wasters and pockets of time that could maybe be used better. But also: Time isn't everything, even when using the good days to the fullest (Point 2). It's just as good to invest time consistently in small ways, and it's better to work smart, not hard. Earlier in this post, I mentioned 12 hours and 8 hours of studying, and it's not that this is technically necessary for me usually; I only do this now because I have 4 exams this month, and I have to make up for the fact that I couldn't study much at all from November to January due to catching a cold, my old medication no longer working and causing a flare up of my autoimmune illnesses, switching to new medication, my birthday, Christmas and NYE, and feeling mentally unwell at the start of the year. It happens, and this is how I have to manage it, but this isn't the default. If I can't get myself to do something because of fear, stress and a feeling of powerlessness, I break it down into smaller subtasks and tell myself I only have to do it for 5 minutes. That gets the ball rolling. If that doesn't help because it's more about mental health and psychological fatigue, I focus first on smaller and easy tasks like getting dressed, making food/tea, watering plants, tidying up a tiny area, some self care etc. to feel capable and productive again, then I try to tackle the bigger task. As a general word on time management: If you look at super busy people around you and wonder how they manage it, it likely also has to do with the following: In my case, I don't have to work on weekends, I work from home 3 days a week, I don't have children, my real life friends live far away so we can't meet up often, I have a wife that helps with the household, I have no social media, and I have no familial obligations. Work is also slow for me most of the time, with 5 or more hours of having nothing left to do. Reply via email Published 07 Mar, 2026 They have partner and family stepping up in taking care of some things. They have no or little familial obligations (don't have to visit grandparents all the time, or take care of the elderly and disabled in their family). They have no children; or they have a nanny or the partner doing most of that work. They are rarely home because the thing demands a lot of travel or outside time. (The less you are at home, the less dirty it gets. They likely stay more in hotels, or eat at work/the cafeteria, and spend their time elsewhere where they don't generate so much general dirt and dishes and it also warrants a lot less trips to the grocery store. What doesn't change is laundry, but thanks to the washing machine (and potentially, the dryer), they can just let that run while away.) Instead of having to make time to meet friends and align schedules, they get their social fix from their work (coworkers, conferences, events, panels etc.) They're high up enough that they can delegate some work tasks to others. It has become routine to them, so they're quicker at it, almost like autopilot. They have no or a severely reduced commute compared to you, or: they can use the commute for something else because they don't drive (passenger seat, train, subway...). They either don't have social media or don't feel sucked in by it, spending little time on it.
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