How to become the master of your time?

A huge problem faced by many in this age is 'lack of time'. Everyone has aspirations and wishes, but no one seems to have the time to do it!

Adults wish to give more time to family, travel, etc., kids want more time for playing, and (serious) JEE aspirants need more time for studying. No one seems to have enough of it. No one. 

I myself have faced this problem multiple time, but somehow I feel I have a few principles with me which can enable everyone to become the master of time, and hence carry out all the productive tasks one aspires for in the same 24 hours God has bestowed on each and everyone of us. I spent most of my first year struggling to find a balance between work and play. I never had this issue before college, because my life was restricted to the size of a peanut. The real world is different and demands much more sophisticated planning in order to excel.

So, coming to the issue of tackling this issue, I will mention a few principles (based on my own life) which helped me overcome this issue faced by probably billions of people. First things first, let us focus on the 'why' part. This will probably solve more than half of the issue. Ask yourself-'Where does my time go?' You will find the answer for sure, I guarantee it. You might be ashamed to admit the reasons, but you know them. Mostly, these will make the list-

• Social media
• Unproductive entertainment (TV, Games)
• Random thoughts (leading to procrastination)
• Spending too much time socializing with people.
• Not prioritizing your tasks
• Sleeping too much/too less
• Chatting too much with friends/partners.
• Doing random things at random times.
• Spending time being sad/happy/(insert another emotions here).

 You can definitely reduce your Social media and TV time. To know more about my view of social media and how to remove it, see this answer on Quora.

Unproductive entertainments are okay in a limit. They lead to recreation for a certain time, but after some time, they lead to bad health, loss of productivity and guilt of wasting time. I have recently started to read books for leisure(not academic book). But I do that in a very concentrated way and for less than an hour daily. This isn't much of a time waste as I spend little time and it leads to some good entertainment. Problem starts when you start following too many hobbies/TV series. It's okay to be a cricket fan or Harry Potter fan. It's not okay at all to be a fan of GOT, cricket, football, F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Marvel, dancing, music, all at a time and spending too much time on these. Limit your TV/hobby time to a fixed hour daily. This way you'll be able to take out more time both for your hobby and for you job/study.

Random thought and emotional havocs are yet another major cause you of worry to many. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about other's opinion of myself. Some people might be suffering from some personal issues, and hence it's quite possible that they end up overthinking a lot. It used to happen with me too. I spent time talking to positive and motivating people and stayed away from negative people. If you have some personal issues, sharing them with someone close is the best way to tackle it. Talk to your friends/parents/ have some counselling. It's really going to help you.

Now I hope most of the 'unnecessary' and avoidable factors have gone. What's left is planning, and a good schedule. You must make a very tight schedule. You must become concious about your time. Until and unless you put in genuine and concious effort to make better use of your time and get that extra hour, you won't be able to make it.

So let's get to the point and discuss about a good schedule. First thing is to wake up and sleep early, and at least for 7 hours. In my first year at college, I got into this vicious cycle of poor and late sleep. I used to go to bed not before 2 in the night and my average sleep was probably less than 6 hours. I have changed this habit and it has made me much more productive. I wake up at 7 and go to bed around 12 (or at least try to). I sleep more than 1 hour more as compared to last year. This has made me much more energetic, and I hardly feel lack of energy at the end of the day. I get a good night's sleep.

Now, do keep time slots for things other than your job. I do a lot many things apart from studying. It helps me get relaxed and ensures more productivity.

Read this to know more about my schedule and activities.

Try to make a draft of all possible activities you will do during a day, including your working hours. Write it down very neatly somewhere and stick to it. Mention hours when you would do a certain thing. For example, you can say that 8-10 ->study Math/complete assignment/achieve any target. 12:30-2-> take a break/read/sleep, etc. I keep my Saturday for completing stuff left in the week. Sundays are usually free. Make sure to have a day left after putting down all your commitments, so that you don't end up failing to achieve your goals for the week.

I hope this helped. Do comment and share! BTW, I made this post using small bits of 10-15 minutes spread over many days. Time management, folks!!!

P.S.- Now I am active on Instagram again. Check me out!

A special post by AIR 19, JEE(Advanced) 2018

This is a post by a junior in IITB CSE. His name is Shalabh Gupta and he secured AIR 19 in JEE(Advanced) 2018. He will be sharing his JEE preparation story. It's really good and thanks to him for this wonderful post!

"Hey..this is Shalabh Gupta. I am from New Delhi and I achieved an All India rank 19 in JEE(Advanced) 2018. It was no cakewalk for me to do so. Currently, I am in IIT Bombay CSE. Here I am, writing my JEE preparation story!

I had been an average student from the starting. I had no definite plans as to I what I have to pursue in the future. Then in class 9th, I took admission in FIITJEE Dwarka in Delhi. Life was still a puzzle for me but then I realized the faith my parents had put into me and paid a hefty amount just so that I can achieve something even I was unaware of. FIITJEE transformed my mindset towards studies and slowly I developed a taste in PCM and decided to pursue engineering as my field of interest. Through this, I want to convey to all the students out there, that they need to decide what they want to do till class 10th..if not that, then at least midway class 10 should be it. If you are studying for JEE in class 11 but have no interest in it, then it’s probably not your cup of tea. It would be better if students develop a taste for the subjects beforehand.

I started my JEE preparation in early class 11th. As other beginners, I was unaware as to the path to be followed. Everybody used to recommend a hell lot of books which made things really confusing. The material I used to get from my coaching centre was enough, so I stuck to it until I really felt a need to purchase any other book. I strongly believe that doing the material which you get from your coaching centre is enough along with previous year questions and some basic cliché books like hcv for Physics. Literally speaking, I used to do only HC Verma till about complete 11th class. My batchmates used to do DC Pandey and some irodov too (which I also did once I was confident enough in hcv). According to me, if you are thorough with each and every concept and question in hcv, then most of your work is done. You just need to revise them again and again and keep them fresh in your memory. But still, if you find time..like I did after class 11th, you can solve certain recommended questions from irodov(not all). But remember without revision of topics..all the work you do is a waste.

Coming over to Chemistry, I used to learn concepts by heart..and also the reactions. My teacher used to provide me with enough sheets to practice. But if your teacher doesn’t do so , then you can buy some books such as Peter Atkins for physical chemistry(one of my friend who is air 44 used to study from it), Peter Sykes for theory of organic chem and ms Chauhan and himanshu pandey for org chem questions(almost all of my batchmates used to do it) and JD Lee for inorganic(this is used even in our college). But don’t forget that just doing books is not enough..you should remember all the concepts as well as the reactions along with their mechanisms.

For Maths, the previous year questions will be the perfect key to preparation. I bought just trigo SL loney in class 11th just for inverse trigo(but ended up doing some trigo equations etc). Then in class 12th, I bought cengage g tewani for calculus. I believe it’s a must for calculus(or you can buy Arihant too). My roommate (CSE only) used Sanjay Mishra for algebra. There is cengage also  available for algebra if you want to do but I won’t recommend it because it contains a hell lot of questions and you may find yourself in a confusion whether to do it or not. Remember that being confused is the last thing you should do while preparation. It reduces confidence to a large extent. For coordinate geometry, SL Loney again would be a great choice. It covers almost everything.

Also, remember that the archive i.e. the previous year questions are the most important thing to do and should be their first priority.

Coming to my preparation strategy, I can proudly say that I followed the correct path. By correct path I mean the correct planning required. Some students, despite of studying for a lot of hours are not able to perform well because they don’t have any proper planning and management as to when to study, when to relax, when to revise, and many other things. I do not suggest making a proper timetable for studying because most of the time, we are unable to follow it which leads to backlogs. I used to do as much as I could do effectively. It was never fruitful when I used to force myself to study while I was stressed or had my mind wandering over various other things. Aim for small targets(like completing 10 ques in 1 hour or so for eg) and complete them. This was my mantra and I used to gain a lot of confidence from this. I used to study about 8-10 hours on an avg per day. I think any jee aspirant aiming for a decent enough rank should study that much at least.

Lastly, I want to talk about the most important thing, exam temperament. There are many students who study very hard but are unable to produce a great result. All depends on exam temper. I used to remain calm and composed while giving any mock test or any paper. This composure comes by itself when you have practiced enough. Try to attempt as much mock papers etc as you can..make mistakes and learn from them. But I used to do that only after I had revised everything and had full confidence in most of the topics. Also through attempting more test papers, you get to know your weaknesses and are able to focus more on them. So try to develop exam temperament through the tests you give.

Best of luck to all aspirants!!!

Thanks, Kalpit for giving me the opportunity to reach out to many students through your blog."

Thanks, Shalabh!

Feel free to post your doubts here.

Also check : Best books for JEE , A complete JEE preparation guide, Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra, Motivation