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You know that moment when you’ve gone too
far down an internet rabbit hole?
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You’re in the depths of Wikipedia, reading
a ridiculously long article about deep sea
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fish… those things are so weird.
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Then, you look at the clock and SOMEHOW it’s
3 a.m.
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You’ve got a reading you didn’t do, a
test to finish cramming for, and class in
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the morning.
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Or even a job!
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And you wish you had managed your time just
a little bit better.
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Well, we’ve all been there.
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So, today, we’re going to give you strategies
to work more efficiently, delegate tasks,
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and manage your time better so you’re not
late, very late, for your very important dates.
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I’m Evelyn from the Internets.
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And this is Crash Course Business: Soft Skills.
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[Intro Music Plays]
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There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to
time management.
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Remember: we’re not going to ask you to
change yourself to become a business robot.
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The first step to feeling in control of your
time is thinking about your working style,
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your work, and even your personality.
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Maybe you like detailed schedules or have
a pretty structured job, like a secretary
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or government employee.
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Or maybe you think regimented schedules are
suffocating and want the flexibility to work
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on your own timeline.
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I mean, that’s why I quit my office job
and became a freelancer.
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So don’t listen to those management gurus
who say there’s only one way to make a
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daily schedule.
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Managing your day down to the minute with
a sticky note system and a productivity tracker
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is just as valid as prioritizing big projects
and diving in.
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And you probably have a time of day that you
work best, too.
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Some people are morning larks who get up early
for yoga and a protein smoothie, and then
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do their best work first thing.
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Some of us are night owls who would love to
sit in our pajamas until 11am, eating cereal
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and watching Netflix, and do our best work
later in the day.
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Even though us night owls may not appreciate
chipper morning larks, and you morning larks
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may assume we’re lazy, there’s nothing
wrong with either style.
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Work with who you are and what you got!
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Do the super important stuff, like big presentation
prep, when you’re most productive.
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And do the low intensity stuff, like sending
daily emails, when you’re in slump time.
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No matter when or how you work, there are
ways to make the most out of your time and
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stay focused.
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For one, always avoid multitasking.
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It’s a myth.
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You’re just switching inefficiently between
a lot of things.
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You’ll be distractible and probably end
up making messes when things could have been
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simple.
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So to keep you from running around as mad
as a hatter or anxiously dwelling on what
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you /might/ be forgetting to do, make a checklist.
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Put the important stuff first, and complete
things one at a time.
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Once you find your flow, do what you can to
avoid interruptions.
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Even little ones snowball into big chunks
of time, and it takes longer to refocus than
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you’d think.
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Say you’re hard at work and your roommate
offers you something to eat.
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It might only take a minute to grab that snack,
but our brains are weird and don’t actually
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get back to that peak concentration level
very easily.
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This chunk of additional time is called the
disruption cost, and you may need something
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like 15 minutes to get back into the zone.
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Now, you don’t need to disconnect from people
completely and hide in a cottage in the woods
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like the March Hare or Ron Swanson.
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It may take a bit of coordination with your
coworkers, but if you can, go somewhere away
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from that open-office floor plan for an hour
or two and unplug.
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I know it’s hard to disconnect from electronics,
because we give them so much attention every
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single day.
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You’ve got texts, DMs, and Facebook messages
coming in, plus reminders, and your work may
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want you online for emails or Slack.
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But you can limit those distractions by printing
out your reports or taking handwritten notes,
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setting a certain amount of media minutes
each day, leaving your phone in airplane mode
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for a bit, or using a screen blocker app.
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Now, sometimes work is pretty straightforward
and specific to you, like writing a report.
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But you won’t always be able to work solo.
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No matter your job, you’ll eventually be
a team member or a leader.
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And if your to-do list has a bit of everything
and you’re spread too thin, prioritize your
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tasks, and then strategically delegate things
that aren’t your specialty.
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Think about it this way.
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With a little delegation, the Queen of Hearts
managed to get an entire garden repainted
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in, like, 20 minutes.
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Despite her faults, she was an efficient
villain.
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But… you probably shouldn’t model your
people skills after her.
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So don’t delegate things that could seriously
burden other people, put them in an ethical
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pickle, or encourage poor behavior.
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Remember setting SMART goals?
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Handing work off with ambiguous instructions,
like, “Do whatever it takes to meet our
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sales target!”, could leave room for corners
to be cut.
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And don’t delegate something important just
because you don’t want to deal with it or,
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“it’s not your job.”
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Sometimes, yes, you could get a request that’s
out of line.
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But for the most part, if everyone said, “it’s
not my job,” a lot of important stuff just
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wouldn’t get done.
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This avoidance is why HR departments end up
handling most sexual harassment claims alone,
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even though messages of support from leaders
and managers about what’s not okay in the
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office go a long way.
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You should be thinking critically about why
you’re delegating tasks.
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So, if you’re the best person for the job
and you have time, give the work a shot.
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But if you’re bad at something or your teammate
would be a better fit, maybe pass it along.
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For instance, the designer in your office
could work on place settings for the next
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company fundraising lunch, while you work
on the corporate guest list.
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You’ll accomplish more together if everyone’s
playing to their strengths.
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And if you can teach someone a skill, you’ll
demonstrate leadership, save yourself time
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later, and make your team stronger.
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But if delegation isn’t cutting it and you
still feel like you have too much on your
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plate, remember that you can say no to another
project.
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Okay, you can sometimes say no.
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There are times you’ve gotta do what you
gotta do, especially if you’re getting an
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order that’s framed as a request or it’s
basically in your job description.
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If you’re a card soldier, you can’t say
no to standing guard.
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But when you do have the option, remember:
there’s only so much time in a day, and
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you want to put your effort towards things
that matter.
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So an extra responsibility could give you
a chance to show your skills.
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But think about the time commitment, how important
it is, how good of a job you think you could
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do, and if it helps meet any of your own goals.
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If you’re not hyped about it, then offer
a polite, “no thank you.”
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Just don’t take too long to decide, because
whoever’s asking probably has a deadline
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and needs to find someone else.
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If you say no, do it respectfully and directly.
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Thank them for thinking of you, and maybe
throw in another way you can help them out,
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or name-drop someone who can.
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To see how you can thoughtfully manage your
responsibilities, let’s go to the Thought
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Bubble.
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Let’s say you’re in charge of planning
a Fall Fair for your small town.
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It’s a big event, so you’ve got a super
long checklist of things to do.
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Luckily, you’ve got a talented team, so
you can delegate some of those tasks.
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You don’t want to dump random things on
people’s plates, and you know that sometimes
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people have skills that may surprise you.
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So during the next team meeting, you ask everyone
to tell you where they’d be the best fit.
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Together, you divvy up responsibilities.
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You’re in charge of vendors and sponsors.
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Your financially savvy friend is keeping track
of the budget.
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And it turns out that one of your friends
does graphic design on the side, so she’s
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making the flyers and posters.
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With more of the work spread across the team,
you’re still really busy, but you’re
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definitely less stressed.
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So when another friend asks you to help plan
the annual fundraising breakfast for the local
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police force, you want to say yes.
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The event is super important to her, and she
makes a mean waffle.
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You’re happy she trusts your planning skills,
but you’re afraid that one more task will
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turn your perfectly planned calendar upside
down.
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After you sleep on it, you tell her that you’re
flattered she asked, and you’re passionate
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about the cause, but you don’t have time
to take on another event.
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Then, you suggest that she give your super
meticulous sister a call, since she’s an
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expert planner during a crisis.
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Your sister’s got the time and even convinces
her boyfriend to help out!
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Now, you’re not overcommitted and distracted
by extra responsibilities, and your friend
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has the help she needs.
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Thanks, Thought Bubble!
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It’s easy to overestimate how much time
something is going to take and accidentally
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take on too much.
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It happens whether you're working a 9-to-5
office job, freelance gigs, or some sort of
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combo.
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So if you’re struggling to figure out what
you really have time for or what projects
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you should say no to, try using a calendar.
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After you’ve mapped out your current schedule,
pencil in projects you want to take on and
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their deadlines.
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That way you can visualize how busy you actually
are.
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Then, you can use your SMART goals to figure
out your priorities, and cut what isn’t
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important.
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Don’t put off projects you really care about
until “the right time.”
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Guess what?
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You’re always busy.
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Now is the right time!
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But also remember to pencil in time for you.
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The key to good quality work is feeling good.
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If you spread yourself too thin, you won’t
be doing anyone a favor.
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I know I sound like your Internet Mom right
now but…
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You need to get close to 8 hours of sleep.
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Just because you’ve heard that successful
people get up at 4am doesn’t mean you should.
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Really tired insomniacs who can’t focus
get up at 4am too.
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So get the rest your body needs.
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And the last thing you probably want to do
when you’re overwhelmed is hit the gym,
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but exercise can help you destress and keep
your brain working smoothly.
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If you sacrifice your sleep, healthy eating,
social time, or anything else that’s important
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to you... you’ll feel worse, do worse work,
and spend more time worrying... and probably crying.
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Take care of yourself!
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Perfect is the enemy of good, and if you find
yourself stressing, don’t overthink it.
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It’s probably great, and it’s time to
put down the pencil.
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Aaand... with that, we’ve
officially used up all our time on time.
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So don’t forget:
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Figure out what works for you, because we’re
all different!
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But multitasking isn’t real.
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Delegate what you can, and do it thoughtfully.
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Prioritize your tasks by using a checklist
and use a calendar to see what’s important.
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It’s better to do high quality work over
high quantity, so it’s okay to respectfully
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say no.
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We know you’re making important decisions
on college, jobs, and just life in general.
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So next time, we’ll be talking about how
to avoid thought traps and make effective
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decisions.
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Crash Course Business is sponsored by Google and it’s made with the help of all
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these nice people and Thought Cafe is our
amazing animation team.
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Crash Course is a Complexly production.
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If you wanna keep imagining the world complexly
with us, you can check out some of our other
00:10:34
channels like SciShow Psych, where hosts Hank
Green and Brit Garner explore the complex
00:10:40
science of the human brain.
00:10:41
Also, if you’d like to keep Crash Course
free for everybody, forever, you can support
00:10:46
the series at Patreon; a crowdfunding platform
that allows you to support the content you
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love.
00:10:52
Thank you to all of our patrons for making
Crash Course possible with their continued support.
