For a while now, I’ve felt like I have a lot more free time than my friends and acquaintances. And yet, I still feel like I am incredibly productive. How is this possible? Mad skills? Superhuman intelligence? Maybe. But what I think it really comes down to is this – effective time management.

I think a lot of people don’t manage their time all that well. Many people probably don’t even realize it. If you could be more productive and have more free time to boot, wouldn’t you take that opportunity? Think of how much more Japanese you could study! Well, you could apply time management to any aspect of your life and use the benefits for any reason, but we’ll be focusing mostly on applying it to Japanese here. Let’s begin.

Time Blocking

I wrote about it a little bit before, but scheduling my time/blocking off my time has been and still is a great help to me getting everything done that I want to get done. Currently, I don’t use this technique every day, but I used to.

Since I used to schedule my time every day, I got very used to blocking off time and effectively scheduling days in my head. I still use the technique, but mostly I use it now on the weekends or when I have a lot more to accomplish in one day than usual.

Basically the idea behind this is that when you plan out your day you can see all the things you have to get done and knowing what time to start and stop the activities keeps you on track and keeps you from getting distracted. See below for an example schedule of a week.

Knowing that you have to study Japanese from this time to this time every day develops a habit and keeps you on track. And since I schedule things in 30 minute blocks, I usually have 5-10 minutes of “free time” in between activities. I use this “free time” to check Facebook, emails, YouTube, whatever. It works for me.

I also try not to schedule anything for longer than an hour (unless it’s an activity out of the house, like going out with friends, seeing a movie, or something like that). For me, I feel that if I play a game or study or read for longer than an hour or so I start to enjoy it less.

When I limit my activities to an hour or less and break them up with other activities, I find that I get more excited about coming back to said activity and really get more out of it in the end.

I have a full-time day job, I work for Tofugu, and I work out for about an hour every day. And yet, I still feel like I have plenty of time to play video games, read books, study Japanese, watch movies, hang out with friends, and catch up on Breaking Bad.

Don’t Put Things Off

Which brings me to my next point. If someone gives me really short notice on wanting to hang out some evening, going out to a party some night, or even an impromptu camping trip this weekend – most often I have no problem just going ahead and doing that. Why? Because I’ve already got most, if not all, of my things taken care of beforehand. Since I’m so productive every day, it’s relatively easy for me to make time for fun things and friends when they suddenly come up.

If I put everything off until the last minute all the time, I’d miss out. But since I schedule my time and spread my responsibilities out, I can afford to drop everything to do something fun. I know that I’ve already accomplished a lot that week and I know that I’ll be able to effectively manage my time to finish up anything remaining when I need to.

Of course, you can’t just drop everything all the time – otherwise you won’t get anything done! You need to learn to prioritize. You need to find that healthy balance between work and play. It is most definitely achievable. I think I’ve done it, and I know you can too.

Eliminate Waste and Prioritize

Are you aware of how much time you waste each day? If yes, stop doing those wasteful things. If you’re not aware of how much time you’re wasting every day, I’d recommend figuring out what those things are, and then getting rid of them.

Do you spend too much time on the internet? Surfing YouTube, Reddit, or Facebook? Do you really need to do those things? Are they that important to you? Well, maybe they are.

But if there are other things that are also important to you, then you need to prioritize. Have you ever heard someone say that “they didn’t have time” for something? Truth is, they had plenty of time for whatever it was, it just wasn’t a priority. You gotta prioritize.

If you find yourself lying in bed at the end of the day wishing that you’d studied more Japanese, feeling guilty about how you spent your time – do something about it. Would you feel guilty if you spent less time on Facebook or playing Candy Crush? No, probably not.

What things are most important for you to accomplish? If the three most important things for you are studying Japanese, playing video games, and hanging out with your significant other, make time for those things first. Put those things into your daily schedule first and then fill in the blanks with things of lesser importance around them.

If you do things each day that are important to you, you’ll feel more accomplished and less guilty for anything that you didn’t fit in come the end of the day. It’s a great feeling and it’s something I enjoy every day.

Consolidating

Another great way to save time is by doing two things at once. Do you drive to and from work or school? Do you exercise? Run? Cook? You could be doing other things at the same time. The first thing that comes to mind is passive Japanese study. I’ve touched on this a little bit before.

Let’s say in a normal day you drive to and from work and it takes you 15 minutes each way. Then in the evening you spend 30 minutes cooking dinner and another 30 minutes going for a run. If you just listened to Japanese (TV shows, audiobooks, language learning tapes) during that time, you’d have 1.5 hours of passive study taken care of that day without adding any extra time for it.

If you can find things like this during your day that you can effectively combine – you’re essentially putting more hours into your day. If you don’t consolidate time like in the previous paragraph’s example, you’d be spending a full 1.5 hours of your precious evening studying Japanese when you didn’t have to.

Of course when you consolidate, it’s important to do it intelligently. Passively studying Japanese while driving to and from work is a smart idea. Reading a book while you are driving is not. It’s up to you to determine what activities of yours make the most sense to consolidate without sacrificing anything (efficiency, safety, etc).

Assignment

So here’s what I want you to try. Like I said, if you already know what you do that isn’t productive – stop doing those things or at least do them less. That’s a good start. If you don’t know (and even if you think you do, you might be surprised), it might be a good idea to record how you spend your time one day, or even a handful of days to get a better feel for how you actually spend your time in a given week.

Record what time you wake up, how long you take for breakfast, shower, school, work, games, studies, etc. Basically just make a schedule like I talked about before, except you’re just using it to record your day. Then when the day is over, you can look back at everything you did and exactly how much time you spent doing things.

For some of you, this might be a real eye opener. You might not have realized that you spend 2 hours each day just farting around on the internet not actually accomplishing anything. You might not have realized that over a full week you spend less time studying Japanese than you spend bathing. Who knows? It’s worth taking the time to find out.

Once you have a good idea of how much time you actually spend on everything, you can see where cuts can be made. You can see what activities can be consolidated. Do you really need to spend 2 hours on Facebook each day? Of course not. Allocate an hour of that to studying Japanese, 30 minutes of that to playing video games, and the other 30 minutes can still be used for Facebook. Or something. Do what you need to do. Prioritize and organize your life.

After you do this, just try and schedule one day. At least one day – a week if you can, just to see how much more productive you really can be. I usually schedule my day in the morning or shortly after getting back from work, but do what works for you. If you feel more productive and accomplished by the end of the week/day, you’ll know that it’s working.

How many hours of Japanese do you want to study each week? Schedule that many blocked hours into your week and stick to it. It’s all laid out in front of you and at specific times. If you miss one block, reschedule it for later. If your initial goal is too much or too little, adjust it until you’re comfortable. This is your personal schedule, so you’re in total control here.

Stay Positive

A lot of this comes down to your attitude too. If you’re positive and open minded about things, it’s a lot easier to be motivated. This kind of fits in with the “Assignment” section, but I’m making this its own header to really drive home how important I think this is.

I’ve read a lot of books that have reinforced my positive attitude and really motivated me. The most recent book I’ve read about positive thinking was “As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen. It was first published in 1902, but it’s not difficult to read at all. It’s only about 60 pages long and it’s a super easy read. I really enjoyed it, and I think anyone could get something out of it.

All that you accomplish or fail to accomplish with your life is the direct result of your thoughts.

As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.

So if you have some free time – read this book. Seriously. It’s such a short book and you can read it for free online. There’s no reason not to check it out. Maybe you won’t like it as much as I did, but I really hope that you do. It really gets you pumped and inspired about everything. Your attitude towards life is incredibly important.

It’s Not For Everyone

Now, I know scheduling your life is not for everyone. I know some people who are diametrically opposed to blocking off time every day or doing anything similar to what I do. That’s fine. I understand. But if you want to get more out of every day and really feel accomplished each night when you go to bed, I think trying to incorporate some if not all of these ideas would be a great help.

And it’s not like the daily schedules are carved in stone. You’re the one making these schedules for yourself. You can change them. You can adjust them. It’s all up to you. If you possess self-control and discipline, you can accomplish everything you need to do and still have the time and flexibility to live your life. If I can do it, you can too.

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So tell me, do any of you do anything remotely similar to what I do? What do you find works best for you and what would you suggest to others trying to make the most of their time (studying Japanese or otherwise)? Share your thoughts and advice down in the comments!

And if you took the time to read “As A Man Thinketh” (well done!), let me know what you thought of it.

P.S. Want more productivity tips? Read Part 2, this time from Koichi’s perspective.