Being able to manage time in a hyper-efficient way is one of the fundamental necessities of being a student-entrepreneur. We are constantly bombarded with new challenges, assignments, requests and fun opportunities. But it’s in understanding how to dive into things in a very deep and meaningful way that matters most. Without being able to truly focus, we’ll never do anything well—and I think that students in college get very good at only kind-of paying attention to a lot of things. I fall into this trap myself. Every student that has emailed during class, read the news while at lunch with a friend etc. is part of that group. “
You’re being productive”—but not really. In fact, you probably won’t remember anything you’ve read, make a closer connection with your friend, you might have a typo in your email and walk out of class realizing you never should have gone.
After each sentence I type I’m tempted to check my email (I’m an impulsive email-checker which is something I’m trying really hard to quit). So I’ve had to come up with a bunch of tricks to help with my own moments of becoming sidetracked.
Turning off my Internet when I don’t need it on. By turning off my Internet it gives me the chance to focus on things like blogging, writing, planning or thinking. When I’m putting together a deck I go as far as to turn my Internet on and off as I’m puling pictures off the Internet so that I can really pay close attention to each part of what I’m doing and how it’s all coming together.
When I read a pdf or article I do the same thing. We lose so much time going back and forth, having to re-engage with the task we were working on. We have to go back and find what line we were on, remember why we were reading it, and it gives us less opportunity to go back and read something again. Reading lots isn’t helpful if you don’t really glean much from any of it.
I’ve also put my email app on the last page of my iphone. This has caused me to stop taking my phone out of my pocket, checking the time, and then staring at my screen for five more seconds to see if anyone ultra-awesome has blessed my inbox with one more thing. I think this is going to be a big move in maintaining my relationship with my girlfriend, and will preserve the sanctity of the dinner table a bit better.
Use time most efficiently. Right now I have lots to read. People have sent me reports, articles, emails, and I have assignments for class to look over as well. But I’m waiting to read it all until I’m on the bus on the way home tonight. I will be able to read that stuff on my ipad, but it will be harder to type and write anything while on my way back to Ithaca, so that’s why I’m blogging now. Knowing when to do things is important for me, especially because of how much I travel.
Keep your mind on one thing at a time. It’s often easy to focus on something coming up in the day, or something that just happened, especially if it’s not good, but that doesn’t help any situation at all. Put 100% of your thought into one thing and you’ll uncover stuff you didn’t even realize was there. You might find alternative ways of getting something done, unknown threads, potential opportunities and more.
And when you’re walking, focus on what you are doing. I’m trying to stop being such a space cadet and focus on the present more. In the past I’ve used walking as a time to think about my business, or anything else pressing. Now I try to really feel my feet touch the ground, smell the air, talk to the people around me and remember where I’m going and why. It’s been a great refresher and acts as a natural break in the day. It’s needed.
It’s easy to get caught up and think that multi-tasking is a good idea, but it’s almost always not. Thinking about one thing at a time, and doing that one thing leads to the most efficient and awesome results. I am pretty sure even Steve Jobs, while CEO of Pixar and Apple only thought about one company at a ti