TIME MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP

Time Management with Fred

The intentions of today's workshop were to make us realise how much time we're wasting, and how it could be used much more wisely. The problem of not having enough time seems to crop up quite often, however, realistically, we have plenty of time we just need to make sure we're using it productively.

It made me realise the extent of our current work load, and how we spend a lot of time thinking about work and not actually doing it. 

Hopefully, having a weekly planner and to-do list will help me to effectively manage my time, completing current briefs to a higher standard. 

Our first task was to divide up our week into 9 different sections, so different 'activities' that we participate in on a daily basis. 

My weekly life was put under the headings 

1. Sleeping - naps, full on sleep

2. Working - uni work, personal work

3. Socialising - chatting, hanging out

4. Drinking/playing out - going out in town, alcohol

5. Cleaning - myself, dishes, room

6. Internet - facebook, social networking

7. Watching stuff - films, tv

8. Eating - dinner, tea, snacks 

9. Shopping - food, clothes, stuff for university

A percentage then had to be assigned to each task, adding up to 100 in the end. Some I found quite easy to do because you could work them out using general rule of thumb, for example sleep. Others I found could sometimes overlap each other.

This is how I split up my time:

Sleeping 30%

Working 20%

Socialising 25%

Drinking/playing out 5%

Cleaning 2%

Internet 8%

Watching stuff 1%

Eating 8%

Shopping 1%

Fred pointed out to us, that although we spend a certain amount of our time being in the studio, pretty much 9-4 everyday, it does not necessarily mean that we are working. Other headings, I feel are also influenced by other factors, which may include money. A lot of the times, I may not end up going out during the week at all, or I may not need to do a food shop, therefore these percentages can only be rough estimations of an average week.

We then had to put these activities into three categories - social, domestic and BAGD. Domestic activities are those that are necessary in life, that you need to do, whereas social are optional yet still necessary to maintain a happy lifestyle. 

Lists were compiled under each heading, that are to be added to as time goes on.

Instead of assigning percentages to these next activities, to make things easier we were to roughly work out how many hours a week we believe we spend doing each thing, some of which I still found quite tricky to measure.

Social

1. Social Networking - 7 hours

2. Spending time with friends 18 hours

3. Watching stuff - 7 hours

4. Texting/making phone calls - 2 hours

5. Drinking/Going out - 5 hours

6. Hobbies - 2 hours

7. Listening to music - 14 hours

8. Internet - uncertain

9. Shopping - 1/2 an hour

Domestic

1. Sleeping - 56 hours

2. Eating - 7 hours

3. Ablutions - 3 1/2 hours

4. Housework - 2 hours

5. Shopping - 1/2 an hour

6. Travelling - 4 1/2 hours

Unfortunately, for domestic tasks, I could only come up with 6 that were completely necessary to have in my life. Many people's opinions may differ on these categories as people believe they may need a certain thing.

BAGD

1. Blogging - uncertain

2. Lectures - 1 1/2 hours

3. Critting - 1 hour

4. Design Development - 10 hours

5. Research - 10 hours

6. Workshops - 12 hours

7. Printing - 1 hour

8. Being in the studio - 24 hours

9. Evaluating - uncertain


Whilst doing some research for another brief, I came across a University Lifestyle Survey for 2012. It includes a lot of useful figures that relate to this time management task, including alcohol consumption, socialising and how long students spend on social networking sites.


- On a positive note, 81% of students try to eat healthily but over 50% of students have changed their eating habits because of financial pressures and over two thirds (62%) of these students are eating less healthily as a result
- Most students (52%) drink less than ten units of alcohol each week - with a quarter claiming they do not drink at all
- Students are working hard with 71% of students working between 2-5 hours a day on their own. 62% of students never miss a lecture up from 52% in 2010 and 93% of students still choose to attend lectures in person
- 81% of students try to eat healthily and 67% of students cook their own dinner. Spaghetti Bolognese remains the favourite dish of students. 50% of students have changed their diet due to financial pressures and two thirds of those are eating less healthily as a result and 43% do no sport or exercise at all
- Around 25% of students currently have part-time jobs during term time which has fallen from 31% in 2010
- The number one priority for 77% of students is wireless access. More than 50% spend seven hours or more on social network sites but only 22% spend over 10 hours a week. Only 10% of students do not visit the sites at all