During this semester, it seems that time management is a big issue in our lives. In every class we are pushed to “try” to manage our time more creatively and more accurately, to put some words. And the more we try to do it, the harder it gets. Let’s be honest, it’s not that this is something new. As a producer, time management is a must skill to develop. I can be really good at managing a production but when it comes to my own time and my own projects, at school or personal, it becomes harder. Managing time and using time wisely without much procrastination has been a constant struggle.
During these times of social media and multiple information outlets everywhere, all the time, not wasting time online seems almost impossible. There are so many interruptions that we let ourselves, me included, be absorbed by them and lose a great amount of time.
After watching this TED-ed video I can certainly relate to it. First it shows how sometimes we spend so much time choosing which task or thing to do first by choosing which one is more important. Of course, there are things that are urgent but most of the time we have to chose from almost equally important tasks.
Personally, I can sometimes feel so overwhelmed by just looking at all the things I have to do and categorising them in order of importance that I find myself waisting time and not doing anything at all, because I’m already tired and overwhelmed by everything. There is also the category of which one you want to do first. Most of the time I just chose which one is easy and then go from there, so I feel like I’m actually moving forward.
I want to share a story that made me think so much about our own capabilities, fears and management. I once went to a meeting at an important production company located in Hollywood, California. I did an internship there years before and remained in contact with them. I went to have a meeting about a movie I was producing and I will never forget what the producer in charge of developing projects said to me. She told me that when she arrived there she wasn’t sure she could handle it and even then, a few years after, she felt like she couldn’t do it sometimes when something challenging came to her. What she did, she told me, is just focus on one problem at a time and do it. Try to solve it and you will be able to just move on from there. Don’t think too much of all the problems or the big scheme, just focus on one and you will make it, you will find a way.
I didn’t ask for this advice but it was one of the best someone has ever given me. So I think if someone who is in a position of choosing which award winning movies with million dollar budgets will be made, feel the same way I do sometimes about a small task then this feeling might never go away. We just have to manage it and try solve one thing at a time.
How to manage your time more effectively (according to machines) – Brian Christian. TED-ed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbdXTMnOmE