Time Management: Real or Not Real?

time

For the record, unlike Katniss, my vote is for “Not Real”. I was thinking of asking Mythbusters to investigate, but they can’t really blow it up, so I doubt they’d be interested. Basically, this is my cry for help: How exactly do you manage your time? I am mainly referring to blogging and reading ventures, but if you have advice, I’ll take it! 

Let’s address some of the major issues:

First, people have lives. 

I know we bloggers and readers vary wildly by demographic, but I would be willing to bet that very, very few of us just have all day every day to leisurely sit around reading and blogging. (Though, wouldn’t that be nice?) No, there are pesky things like jobs, or school, or writing, or pesky toddlers (ah hem, here’s looking at you, kids!) that leave us less time than we’d like at the end of the day.79af4331c613ca2f70965f139642d9a7

So you’ve reached the end of the day/your free time…

Congrats! Look at you, making it through whatever you had to do like a champ. But now there’s the little matter of how to manage the rest of the day. In my world, here is what needs to happen:

  • Sam goes to bed between 8-9. That is when I have time to do starting doing junk.
  • I am interrupted, as Holly & Val know, nightly around 10:30-11:00 for a reading of The Berenstain Bears, and to put Lena to bed.
  • Sam wakes up around 8am. Lena wakes up whenever the mood strikes her.
  • All of the above must happen in that slightly less than 12 hour period: Reading, blogging, goofing around, talking to humans over the age of 3, catching up on TV, and of course, sleeping.

And how does that usually break down?

  • 9:00-Bear Time: Look at email. Look at Twitter. Light a candle. Find socks, because it’s cold in here. Open a new post to type in. Quickly click away from that tab. Visit some other blogs. Look at wishlist at Amazon and Book Depository. Try not to buy books. Back to Twitter. Check email again. Wait, didn’t check Goodreads yet! Crap, it’s Bear Time.
  • Post Bear Time- 11:30pm: Go back to that empty post. Look at it blankly for a few minutes. Wander back to Twitter or Goodreads. See what’s shakin’ on Netgalley and Edelweiss. Meander back to post. Maybe write a title, or check off a “category”. Type a few words. Erase them. Visit some other blogs again.
  • 11:30-12:05am: Realize that you need to post something, and you only have a few (erased) words. Type some shenanigans up, and feel like you kind of failed at posting. Promise to devote time to schedule ahead over the weekend.
  • 12:06-2:00am: Open another new post. Pretend like you may actually write words. Go meander around a few more blogs. Maybe look at Twitter and Goodreads again. Get into some kind of conversation with someone on Twitter or something, lose track of time.
  • 2:00-2:45: Allow self one DVRed show while eating hummus. Spend the boring parts checking Instagram.
  • 2:45-4:15: Read.
  • 4:15-4:45: Think about all the blog posts that must be written. Toss and turn. Forget all aforementioned blog posts by morning.
  • 4:45- Screaming Child: Sleep.

And repeat. Clearly, this isn’t working out! I need more sleep, but mostly, I need more time! I feel like collapsing most days, honestly.1385135512032-jabberjays

Because sadly, I couldn’t find a decent Wiress gif.

 So, do share: What does your schedule look like? Do you have any secrets to share with the class? How do you guys make it work? 

Posted January 15, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 46 Comments

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46 responses to “Time Management: Real or Not Real?

  1. I just scheduled a very similar discussion post haha! I love how you outlined your time. Your morning sounds a lot like mine except mine’s work time :S Your blog’s very well-managed and posts so creative I have to disagree with you. You’re definitely not failing at anything! I hope we magically get more than 24hours a day lol~

    • Aw thank you! I mean, I try, I just feel like I am failing at the time management part, since I am so ridiculously tired 😉 And RIGHT!? Can we please get a couple extra hours? That would be so amazing!

  2. Haha, great post. I don’t think I could be much help because I don’t have kids. It’s a bit easier to manage my time without kids. Haha. I love your blog and your posts though so I think what you are doing is working. 🙂

    • You are too kind! Kids do really make things different! I hate to be “that mom” who complains about time, but it is really true! Especially as they are older and conscious longer 😉

  3. Tick tock. Tick tock. Yes, tick tock.

    Time management is also a huge myth for me. I got school, books, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, books, writing stuffs (poems, drafts, etc.), blogs and books. Again.
    Your blog is really well-managed and fun to read so I guess what you’re doing, works.
    No homework to share to the class though. Haha

  4. OH MY GAWD BUT WHEN DO YOU SLEEP, SHANNON D: You simply must get more sleep *nods* Right now, I have all the hours in the day to blog since it’s school holidays but other than that, when it’s school again, I only get like an hour of blogging time if I’m lucky, heh.

  5. Wow! Talking about a busy schedule every day.. Mine is roughly: going to bed at 23:00, waking up at 7:30, getting home from internship around 17:00. The time before I go to sleep is free. My weekend is completely free. I’ve decided that I use two evenings for blogging, the rest of my free time goes to reading, gaming and watching TV shows/movies.

  6. I haven’t been handling mine well since before Christmas, haha. I’m only online for a few hours a day now so I’m not doing as much as I like anymore. 🙁 Taking me longer to reply back to things and do comments. Readings not a problem though, mwahaha, I read solid from 10PM-11:30PM, but don’t go to sleep unlike like 3:30AM, so read off and on depending on if I’m feeling the book or not. I schedule my posts for the week on Friday or Saturdays so I don’t have to worry as much, but it seems to be completely eating up my time lately. 🙁 But SLEEP. YOU NEED SLEEP. I can only run on that for like 2 days before I’m just like ‘nope, can’t move.’ and I don’t have kids. You’re superwoman! 😀

    • I used to be like that. Actually, I still AM like that, I just keep pushing further and further, hoping I stay awake somehow 😉 I need to start scheduling posts on the weekends, so maybe I could get to sleep a bit earlier. My goal is 2:00, but I don’t know if that will actually ever happen!

  7. Oh my…! You need to get some sleep. Sleep keeps your brain active and deprivation of such will not have a good effect on you. You can write posts effectively when you’ve slept.

    My schedule is quite hectic too. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I wake up 6:00 a.m. to get ready for school and by 6:00p.m I’ll be home. It takes 45 minutes to go to school and going home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I wake up 7 a.m. and by 5:00 p.m. I’ll be home. When I’m home there are still assignments I need to do and it’s just so exhausting! I don’t even have much time to read a book. Although, I have some vacant time during the day in school but it just don’t seem enough. Sigh. I struggle managing my time. But I think I know what to blame: procrastination. I’m such a procrastinator it’s not even funny anymore. Ha Ha Ha. 🙁

    • I know you are very right. I actually got a bit of sleep last night, so that is good 🙂

      I am so bad at the procrastination! And your schedule seems VERY hectic. I would not do well so early in the morning, I’m afraid 🙁

  8. It seems like I’m having a harder time managing my time lately. I usually have to do my blogging/reading early in the morning or extremely late at night. My days usually consists of kids, studying, class, and more studying lol. I’m not doing as much as I wish I could reading/blogging wise but hopefully I get done with school this summer I can start doing more.

  9. Holy bananas woman! We actually have a very scarily similar schedule except I knock out around 3, so if your ever lonely hit a sistah up! I quite frankly blame other people for having such awesome blogs that I can’t help but read and Twitter being a time sucking demon. I mean I do sit around all day and still find it hard to find time to read and blog with housework and this tiny roommate who needs like food and occasional bathing of sorts (geesh) I don’t know how people who work read like 4 books a wek when I manage about 2. Just kidding folks I love my life but ever since having the baby have acquired this superpower that allows me to just power through any and all tiredness… Oh yea there is copious amounts of coffee involved. Scary though that I will be going back to the working world next year when lil man goes to preschool. Until then … It party all night for me!!!!
    ❤️Britt

    • Hahah YES! That is how I am- I want to read ALL the posts, and ALL the tweets!

      And you are so right about the tiny roommate 😉 I was okay with one, but after the second, literally I had no time left at all. It was bad. Because inevitably, when one is content or asleep, the other is not. So take your free time and basically throw it away, because it just doesn’t exist.

      And nooo to work 🙁 I am really hoping I never have to go back to a typical work setting. I hated it so, so much. At least with the kids, you have a small shot at a nap!

    • Oh wow! I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t read at home, reading in bed is kind of my favorite thing ever. I am the opposite, I get too distracted reading in public, even if there isn’t much going on, I end up staring off 😉

  10. Sounds difficult when you write about it liek that. My way to manage my time is basically to write down any topic when I think of them. Havign already decided on a topic makes it easier to write the post. For discussion posts I try to make some time to write them, while review and tour stops are usually just fit in between work when I feel liek blogging. In the evening I spend an hour ormore going throguh my bloglovin feed and blog commenting. Also I try not to spend too much time on fb or pinterest as then I am only going there for a moment and then suddenly lost a chunk of time. Usually I try to fit in half an hour or hour of reading before going to bed. Time management is difficult and I think everyone has a different system that works for them.

    • I have been trying to do that more often. It works pretty often for me, but there are times I am just not able to, and then they’re gone!

      I agree, social media is kind of a problem spot for me, I end up getting involved in a conversation, and just like that, I’ve lost my time!

  11. I THINK YOUR PROBLEM IS THAT THIS IS ALL DONE IN THE MORNING AND YOU ARE READING AT 2AM. I don’t know what to say 🙁 It’s so hard to manage time, I think I’m pretty good at it, especially since I’m starting this new blogging routine where I READ MORE and then spend only specific times on blogging, like weekends. MAYBE YOU SHOULD SCHEDULE SOME SLEEP TIME. And yay Bernstein Bearsssss 🙂

    I hope everything turns out okay Shannon 😛 I WISH YOU THE BEST IN TIME MANAGEMENT

    • I think you are definitely doing great at it! I am trying to get blogging done on weekends, but there is just so MUCH of it! I hate to have to cut down the amount I post, or the amount I read, I just know that I need to change something!

  12. Time management is a topic that I do not like to think about. Honestly, I am a procrastinator with pretty much everything, so scheduling does not really work for me. I will dedicate time to do something for school and then I will end up doing something entirely different, like reading other blogs. No matter how many schedules I designed, none of them can break my procrastination. The only thing I do not like to put off is blogging. It is the only thing that can break my procrastination.
    Great discussion!

    • Hahha I do not like to think about it either, but alas, I forced myself 😉 I do that too, make a hundred schedules and lists all over the place, and then find ways to goof off! Good luck with your procrastination!

  13. HOW SHANNON?!? HOW?! If I went to bed every night at 4:45…well, let’s just say that nobody around me would be a happy person. But I completely agree with you – time management is such an important topic; not just for book blogging but for simply life in general. It’s one of those skills you’ll need your entire life, you know? Anyhow, thanks for sharing this, and, as always, fabulous post!

  14. I just want to know how you still manage to do awesome posts despite having no time! When I have as little time as it seems you do all the time my posts are so so much lamer! Also, I could not survive on that little sleep, like I’m crabby when I only get 8 hours of sleep!

    Yeah, I’ve heard of this mythical “scheduling” and “organizing” of time and activities and never known how to actually do it….basically I fail and sometimes things get done and sometimes they don’t…. Seriously, I write myself schedules all the time saying I have so many hours I need to write/revise my novel, and so many hours I should be reading, and that Sundays should be spent doing the next weeks blog posts and I don’t even stick the schedule for one week!

    So, yeah. I can’t schedule time at all for anything! Great discussion, Shannon! =)

    • Your posts are not lame! Blasphemy! And thank you, you are far too kind 🙂 I also get crabby on fewer than 8 hours of sleep. Seriously, think crying jags and snapping at people in general. Sadly, I think I have just gotten used to it. I assume one day I will collapse in a heap on the floor? 😉

      I am BAD at scheduling. Which is weird, because I used to be VERY good at it. I was the kind of person who’d get a syllabus in college and finish everything in the first week. I hate rushing, and feeling overwhelmed. But these small people that live with me? Yeah, they make EVERYTHING feel rushed. Hopefully we will both find a solution soon! I am thinking extra hours.

    • Hahha my children are the REASON for this 😉 I mean, I am alone with them for 12+ hours a day, and literally NOTHING gets done, leaving all the stuff until they go to bed, so it is a real challenge!

  15. hahaha time management what an oxymoron. I don’t have a life, but I still never have enough time. I don’t know how you do it. I’ve been trying so hard to write posts ahead of time, but I’ve still been failing. I totally understand how easy it is to get distracted. Wait, what did I actually pick my computer up to do again?

    • ExactlY! You go on your computer with full intentions to do something… and then end up doing ALL the other things! It’s a struggle, my friend. Maybe one day when we are old ladies, we will be bored, but probably not until then 😉

  16. I wish I had time to blog every day, but unfortunately I’m usually so exhausted from working that I can’t think straight. So during the week, I try to visit other blogs, leave comments and collect posts to promote during the following week.

    On Saturday mornings, I don’t sleep in. I get up at my normal time, grab a cup of coffee and sit down to work on my blog. I revise/proof upcoming posts, write reviews, and format posts. I try to get as much of this done before my husband wakes up so I can spend time with him running errands, going to movies, etc. If we stay in for the day, I spend more time working ahead, visiting blogs, etc.

    Terri M., the Director
    Second Run Reviews

    • That is a really, REALLY good idea. I do sleep in, because I have to catch up somehow, but if I really put my mind to it and caught up and then got ahead, I could do exactly what you do! That is my ultimate goal, but I have been so behind on visiting blogs, commenting, etc, that I just keep digging myself deeper and deeper. Thanks so much for the advice 🙂

  17. I feel Ya! There is never enough hours in the day. I’m a college student who on average has 6-8 hours of school 5 times a week plus a job at night 5 times a week. Besides things like extracurriculars, babysitting, and studying I can never find time for blogging. Even though right now I am on holiday break and have the time to blog I really just want to relax and not do ANYTHING. I’ve been staring at my screen for 2 hours instead of typing up a post for my blog.

    • Wow, that is a LOT. And, a lot of class time! You must be taking quite a few credits. My college schedule was the following: Sleep until 11, occasionally go to class (but not often), watch TV, go to swim practice, sleep. With random bouts of debauchery thrown in on the weekends 😉 You are kind of doing amazing!

      But I feel you with the staring at the screen! I have been doing that tonight, it is the WORST. Good luck, I hope you get the post typed up 🙂

  18. I don’t don’t have much free time and when I do, it’s usually after midnight. My son is 3 1/2 and he doesn’t Luke to go to bed. When he finally does, I get to cram as much as I can into the hours before he wakes up (including a little bit of sleep). I’m not going to lie, sleep is my last priority. He does still take a nap, so I usually get an hour or two in the afternoon to read or blog, but I work in the evenings and some weekends (at a bookstore), so I don’t know how I get anything done. The only other times I try to catch up on things like commenting on my blog posts or checking out other blogs whenever I can, like now, as I eat my breakfast burrito and my son is watching an old Hulk Hogan movie. Time is not on my side, but I have to make the best of it!

    • My daughter is 3 1/2 and it is exactly the same! I don’t know how you get anything done either, ugh! Lena naps sometimes, but it is hard because I am trying to get her AND her 1 year old brother to nap at the same time, because I am too tired to function 😉 I feel your pain. I hope we both can get some sleep one of these days- sounds like we need a break! Hang in there 🙂

  19. I think time management is a myth. Either I have loads of free time or I have no time at all. There is literally no in-between. Though, I think I have gotten better in college with managing my time. But I am still useless when it comes to making the most out of my day and doing ALL THE THINGS and still giving myself time to unwind at the end of the day (because really everyone needs downtime and I envy the people who seemingly don’t).

    Girl, I don’t know how you do all of that. I feel exhausted just reading about your normal night and day. I’d fall over dead within a few days, guaranteed. I think we both need that vacation sooner than May.

    WE WILL HAVE DOWNTIME IN NY OKAY. ALL THE DOWNTIME.

  20. That last GIF = true life, man. SO MUCH STUFF. SO LITTLE TIME. What’s really helped for me is making a to-do list every day, since I’m kind of the queen of lists. I try to limit it to three to five top priorities per day, and then I add on homework and blogging duties, and that’s usually enough to keep me going till at LEAST midnight (at which point I crack open the book, because your blog’s title is so accurate it hurts ;)). Sometimes there are things left un-crossed off, but overall I’ve found it’s quite an efficient system – I’d definitely give it a try, if you’re not using it already!

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