How should I organize my day?

I followed some practices and principles.  The specific implementation is for each person to discover and refine.  Customize it to your own situation, requirements, and personality. I divided activities into three categories and create a schedule that supported them: The Base - keeps mind and body functioning in the most capable and flexible way - get up, stretch, meditate in the morning;  another short meditation between day and evening activities;  three or four vigorous exercise workouts per week.  Then have someone (friend(s) you can exchange with in confidence) to go into any emotional issues where you are starting to feel stiff or notice they are sapping attention or energy "behind the scenes".  These are not "overhead" but help keep a flexible and open mind for efficient learning. The Stretch - occasional activities to break up any rigid behavior patterns, try new things you haven't done before, bust loose, be challenged; push some limits;  or some self-development practice unrelated to your study, that you enjoy and do well;  this is also a matter of letting go of your main preoccupations, important as they may be, just for a while. The Body of what you do: likely, study and learning projects.  The operational principle here is relax.  Be strategic, not perfectionist;  remember the 80/20 rule (; ) - don't sweat the small stuff; deal with the most important aspects and forget the rest. Try to get this stuff set up and running like a well made machine, meaning you don't have to think about it and can rely on habit rather than will power. If there's anything that is a real grind, relax into it, try to drop  whatever isn't truely essential, find ways to have fun with it, change  it where you can.  Nothing's fixed / nothing's sacred.  I think the  secret to this is to make it yours. I also recommend finding a couple books you like (that's the important thing) about "how to" on a principles level (not detailed instructions for something).  For example http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Roam/e/B001JP9YZM/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1382951207&sr=8-2-ent about effective communication.  Or whatever is both useful and motivating. Finally, make a little mind-space for   For a student, this is learning how to learn.  Imagine, say, 10% of time and attention is put into learning how to do things better, being experimental (planning it with intention, a bit in advance) and/or reflective (debriefing what happened, learning from mistakes).  This doesn't directly get things done, but is an intellectual investment in the future.

Prioritizing tasks and managing time is an 'in' thing in today's world.  Umpteen books, guides and coaches are available. But none have really looked into the root of it. Result - It still is a mystery to many. Go deep and you understand - Is the question really of managing time? Beneath the layers, question is who will manage the time? Obviously, the one who right now wastes it. What is to be managed is not time, but the mind that wastes it. You not only waste time, you also waste resources, waste life  and everything that comes to you. Somebody who is wasteful,  would waste everything. The real issue or is ‘me’ and not time or tasks. When you ask that how to utilize time, you have made a very arrogant  assumption. Your assumption is- ‘Everything is alright with me, it is  just this small aspect of time utilization that I falter in. Everything  else is good’. It is like this that there is something wrong with my  entire physical system, my blood, my very blood has a lot of impurities  and because of this there are a lot of symptoms that are showing up in  my body: my heart is under-pressure, my kidneys are not functioning  well, my lever is enlarged, I keep feeling sleepy, I keep forgetting, my  brain doesn’t function properly, the blood is impure, there are few  pimples on my face. I go to the doctor and say, ‘Sir, my problem is that  I have a few pimples on my face’. Now, am I wise when I say that the  pimple is my problem? My entire being is my problem. My very blood is my problem. The doctor can give you a  cream that will remove the pimples. But that will not solve your problem. This  pimple gone, another pimple will come up. It clears from here and comes somewhere else or  sometimes at the same spot. Ask yourself, ‘How do I manage myself’? Because it is the self that is wasting the time. Go to the more basic,  more useful question -  how to manage the mind, because it is the mind that wastes time. Forget time.  Nobody can manage time. Time just flows, time cannot be  managed. Then ask yourself, ‘What does my mind find attractive?’ What  does your mind do most of the time? There are twenty-four hours in the  day for everybody. Ask yourself that where do these twenty-four hours  go. When you will look at this, you will come across your values. You will  come to know what is it that is preferred in life. Because whatever you  prefer in life is where you spend your time. If you have told yourself  that the biggest pleasure in life is sleeping, then don’t be surprised  if you find that you sleep eleven hours a day. Whatever you have told yourself to be valuable, you will find that your time is going there. So, whenever you want to find time for doing something but are unable to, be assured that somewhere you are convinced that that thing is not important. It is embedded deep in your psyche that it is not important. So, howsoever much you try, you will still find no time. What is really valuable in life? Investigate yourself. Don't accept borrowed answers about what is valuable in life. Money, career, lifestyle, status, recognition, respect, marriage - don't accept anything without doing a deep enquiry about it. Once really valuable is known, mind is automatically directed towards that. You may visit my blog Words into Silence where I have elaborated the answer even more for better clarity. RS

I am a sophomore in college, and I believe I have a few tips I could share with you! Always keep your academic work at the highest priority. Don't let any of the excitements of college sway your determination to achieve. (I know, it can be tempting to procrastinate in college, but don't give in!) The harder you work, the more satisfied you will feel with your achievements. If you have an exceptionally challenging major, don't fret when there are days in which you have absolutely no free-time. It happens, and just try your best to get through those types of days! If you have a major that is fairly easy for you, don't slack off! Do your very best no matter what. Invest in some type of task management software. Lets be real: college can be completely overwhelming. I personally use Priority Matrix. Give it a try! You can find it here (http://www.appfluence.com) Don't get into the habit of staying up past midnight. Believe me, there was one semester in which I stayed up until about 2:30 AM every day, and it was not worth it! As important as your work is, make sure you still make time to take care of your body. Eat well (I know, those dining hall deserts look tasty!). Sleep at least 7-8 hours a night. Do yoga, meditations, etc. once a day- anything that will help you manage the level of stress. I hope this helped! Best of luck to you!-Kirstie

I know how hard is start a new period in life - nobody has a ready-made recipe for that. But there are some useful tools which can help you stay with your studies organized everyday. Treat your subejcts to lear like projects to manage - know how much time you need to spend on each of them. How to do it? Use time tracking software, e.g. TimeCamp (http://timecamp.com) which is completely free for single using. You can download it from the website. You can use it on your computer, mobile devices or track your time in a chrome extension. Believe me, it's good enough for students. The results will tell you something about daily routine and help you decide which tasks need more or less of your attention.