Graduation from Middle School

Middle school, a stepping stone for some, a monumental leap for others. A place where there are new beginnings, everlasting friendships and increasingly difficult work to be done. New skills such as time management can be learned while also allowing someone to understand what is happening around them; the world isn't as free and careless as you thought before. It helps you prepare for the next chapters of your life, and my time at middle school is now over.

The two years I have spent at my middle school have really made a big change on me. It has shaped my personality, it has allowed me to create close friendships and has improved my working habits. Back in elementary school, I would never have to care about my academics as I had already learned everything from prior knowledge. But when transitioning into middle school, I found out the hard way. Nothing comes easy, you have to work for it. This is exactly how I based my second year off of striving to improve myself and not make the same mistakes that I did in the first year.

When I was younger, I could just about be friends with everyone. But, not everyone was a person that made good choices or enjoyed the things I did. So, after learning from experience, I made friends in middle school that shared similar qualities to I. These friendships have helped make middle school bearable and were probably the only reason I ever wanted to go to school; friends. Once the base was created, the friendship will just keep on growing. It starts just being classmates, but then once you discover you have common interests, you may branch off onto being teammates or become really close friends and even visit each other frequently. No matter what happens, friends are truly one of the greatest things on Earth

Graduation can be the happiest and saddest days of the year. You can bathe in joy knowing that you are done with this school and are ready to move on. You even have an entire summer break to rest and relax from all the stress caused by school. But, it can also be one of the saddest as on that day, you may never be able to see some of your friends again. People may go to different schools, some go to their local public school, others get accepted into prestigious schools, some may move away and others may join a private school. You should make use of all the time you have with your friends and other people close to you because your time with them is finite. However, once it is over, be glad it happened and don't reminisce the past too often. 

What I Have Learned After Reading "26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I'd Known at 20"

Time. Something that we all possess but do not utilize properly. Some people may simply waste their time by dilly-dallying while others take advantage of the limited time they have and create exceptional triumphs out of it. For a world to have people who utilize their time wisely, people have found out that there are certain "hacks" to follow in order to have a more pleasurable time managing their time.

These so-called hacks are something that allow you to complete more tasks within a certain time period. Some of these hacks deal with procrastination, some about multi-tasking and others about you being in the zone. Whenever you are in the zone, you become more focused on working on a certain task. You should only focus on one task for the best results and work under time restraints. But, even if you are in the zone at times, it will eventually wear out which would mean the end of your productivity. You should take that other time to relax or think about what you will do next time you are in the zone.

Time restraints and deadlines are often conceived as a bad thing that limits how productive you are, but in reality it is the opposite. They will put stress upon you in order to get certain tasks done and allow more opportunities to be explored. You will want to get the most done in that limited time because if you didn't have all that time, you would not have to worry about what you are going to do next. Whenever you are in time-limited periods, you will work harder, better and be more focused. You need to respect the time that you are allotted and get the most done out of them.

Other things such as breaks and procrastination are also seen as horrible things that will affect how productive you become. But, having breaks between certain tasks and procrastinating during those periods will allow you to be focused when you actually are working and think about the unnecessary things later. During this time, you can look up your random thoughts, organize what you are going to do with a routine and see if you can fulfill a certain goal each day.

When working, it is smart to break large tasks down into smaller increments so that you can focus on one small, achievable task that will build up with the other tasks for the same result. Longer tasks are harder to start, but when you have many small tasks, it will allow you to complete them with ease. These tasks should be put into hourly increments so that it is more reasonable for you to work in them.

Whatever the so call "hack" you find interesting or think will help you, it certainly will. All of these "hacks" each individually help, but when you combine all of them, you will be able to manage your time far better than previously. Each of these "hacks" relate to each other and will piggy-back off of each other for better results.   

26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I'd Known at 20 - Etienne Garbugli

1. There's always time. Time priorities.
2. Days always fill up.
3. Work more when you're in the zone. Relax when you're not.
4. Respect your time and make it respected.
5. Stop multi-tasking. It merely kills focus.
6. Set up a work routine and stick to it. Your body will adapt.
7. We're always more focused and productive with limited time.
8. Work is the best way to get working. Start with short tasks to get the ball rolling.
9. Work iteratively. Expectations to do things perfectly are stifling.
10. More work hours doesn't mean more productivity. Use constraints as opportunities.
11. Separate brainless and strategic tasks to become more productive.
12. Organize meetings early during the day. Time leading up to an event is often wasted.
13. Group meetings and communication (email or phone) to create blocks of uninterrupted work.
14. Keep the same context throughout the day. Switching between projects/clients is unproductive.
15. Work around procrastination. Procrastinate between intense sprints of work.
16. Break the unreasonable down into little reasonable chunks. A big goal is only achieved when every little thing that you do everyday, gets you closer to that goal.
17. No 2 tasks ever hold the same importance. Always prioritize . Be really careful with to-do lists.
18. Always know the one thing you really need to get done during the day.
19. Break tasks into hour increments. Long tasks are hard to get into; feels like it all needs to get done.
20. Delegate and learn to make use of other people.
21. Turn the page on yesterday. Only ever think about today and tomorrow.
22. Set deadlines for everything. Don't let tasks go indefinitely.
23. Set end dates for intense or stressful activities. Everything ends at some point.
24. Always take notes.
25. Write down anything that distracts you - Google searches, random thoughts, new ideas, whatever. The point is, if you write them down, they'll stop bubbling up when you're in the zone.
26. Take breaks. Sometimes.