People like to talk about time management. The problem with this is that no one can manage time. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. What is needed, then, is to manage HOW you use those 24 hours. Managing yourself in time - or time leadership - will allow you to focus your energy on your goals and limit the distractions that pull you off task.
So what's the first thing to know about time leadership? Multitasking will not help you. When you try to multitask, you split your focus among everything you're trying to do. This makes you less effective with each task. It's like being a jack of all trades, but master of none. Pouring all your concentration into one activity will ensure you do it to the best of your ability.
Next is allowing yourself a break to recharge. The human mind can only sustain effective concentration for 60-90 minutes at a time. It varies from person to person, but that's about average. I know that I tend to drift off into the atmosphere about halfway through a movie. Movie makers know this too, so you'll see that most of them - action movies in particular - like to throw in some big, exciting event at that point to keep you interested. How do you battle this? Break your time up into 60 minute blocks. I work for 50 minutes at a time, then take a ten minute break to relax and recharge. Drink some water, grab a snack, go for a walk, do whatever you need to do to renew your energy.
Speaking of water, drink it! The body is made up 90% water. Blood by itself is 50% water. Blood feeds the brain, so if you're not drinking water, you starve the brain. This damages your concentration so you become less effective. Make water part of your 10 minute break. You don't have to drink a whole bottle every hour, but continuous intake of smaller amounts of water will accumulate throughout the day to keep you hydrated and refreshed.
The last strategy I will give you is to plan your day. I don't mean simply saying, "I will do this, this, and that today." Schedule how long you will work on each activity. Decide that at 10:00, you will start a task, and work on it for an hour or two. Then at 12:00, you will stop working on that and begin your next assignment. If you fail to schedule your day, you will drift from one activity to the next with very little accomplished. Distractions will crop up and split your focus and you will forget what you were doing. This will waste your time while you try to pick up where you left off.
Managing yourself in time requires discipline and practice. While there are other tips that I can give you, these are the basics that you can implement right now to make yourself more effective. Make these a habit, and then we can talk about some more particulars.
