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How to be productive and deal with time management

Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE on June 23, 2022

Hi, my name is Julia, and I'm a self-taught Accessibility & Frontend Developer in my 30s who is now helping others make it into tech too. I'm ...
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Paul Knulst

Thanks for sharing your journey.

I totally understand the problem with time management. Have you ever tried to use techniques to master time management?

For example I often use the Pomodoro Technique. With this technique I am able to focus especially on specific task and avoid getting interrupted. Also with the planned breaks it optimizes my productivity during the day. I have written an article about this technique some time ago that could maybe help you (or others) if they want to test it: levelup.gitconnected.com/manage-yo...

Another nice approach to master time management issues is the Ivy Lee method. Currently I am working on an article covering how to apply it. It will be published this or next week at knulst.de

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE • Edited

Thanks for your input. I guess I do have some missleadings in my article, since I do not face problems with time management per se (actually I am pretty good at it, otherwise I would not be able to handle all the things I do 😅).

But I am sure others will profit from your suggestions! 🙃

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Paul Knulst • Edited

Oh then I totally misunderstand your article. I will read it again. Thx for clarifying!

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Jakob Attkinson

Thanks for sharing this.

My struggle with time management comes when I do have a clear goal, but not a clear path to it.

Say I want to start a project with a specific stack that doesn't have a lot of love from the internet. Enough to get started tho.
So, I create a quick plan on what I want to tackle in the first month. I finish my daily job at 18. So I plan 1.5h to work on my project. Around 7 hours a week, excluding weekends. Now, I have days where i work 3 hours, but then another when i meet people for dinner so no coding at all.

First 2 weeks, it works great. But then I stumble on a problem that doesn't have a clear solution on the internet. First day, I spend 5 hours on it. 2nd day, I spend 4 hours on it. First week, I'm over 20 hours (including the weekend), and I'm not on the solution. My time planning is out of the window, I'm consumed by this...
And there's nothing to show for all the time invested. Just 10 hours of youtube videos, with no real conversion and a bunch of solutions that failed....

No my time planning is ruined. Even if I find a solution, I feel like I need to catch up, cause I don't want my project to last 1 year...

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

I feel you. I was not able to finish any of my side projects in order to land a job. But I got lucky and got one anyway.

But after all these months I do now have more confidence and knowledge to finish them.

Don‘t give up. Maybe make your projects open source to find someone to helps you at certain stages.

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Dehua Li

Thanks a lot. I'm also in my 30s and have trouble with concentration. Your story inspired me so much.

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Glad it helped :)

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Assis Zang

Thanks for all these insights, I'm currently studying English, and your post motivated me even more! 👏🥇

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Glad it did.

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Luthira Geesilu

AMAZING! Thanks for sharing

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Thanks, Luthira :)

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Shivali Pandey

This one is really great!

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Thank you, Shivali :)

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Andrew Baisden

Great article Julia!

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Thanks Andrew.

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Ibrahim Nergiz

Thank you, great article 👏

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Kavisha Nethmini

Thank you so much for sharing this <3

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

You are very welcome.

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AR Imtiaz

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing journey and how you faced your struggles.

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Julia 👩🏻‍💻 GDE

Glad it helps 🙃