3 Tips That Work For Me

by Chris Young

1. When writing a “to do” list, instead of simply writing a list of jobs, I write 4! The first list is for absolutely essential, must be done things. The second is for urgent things, that my life nonetheless does not depend on. The third is for things where there is a deadline but it is more than a few days away. The fourth is for things I would like to achieve given more time. I find that the problem with a single list is that I tend to do all the nice things that are not urgent and then have no time to do those things that the management team wanted last Thursday.

2. I try to avoid working at home, but when I do, I often get distracted. It’s amazing how attractive washing up or ironing can be when there’s coursework to mark! When I sit down to work I use a kitchen timer, which lasts an hour, and try not to get up and do anything else until the hour has passed. I do get a lot more done.

3. If I have several hours’ work in the holidays and I decide to have a school work day, I work to the school timetable. This means that I do 5 hours’ work, at the times of our five lessons. I have a 20 minute break at 11:05 and 40 minutes for lunch at 12:25. It’s great to know that you have done 5 hours’ work by 3:10 and have late afternoon and evening to do other things.

I don’t know if these will suit other people, but they work for me.