312: Beyond Time Blocking: 8 Flexible Time Management Strategies for Neurodivergent and First-Gen Students

312: Beyond Time Blocking: 8 Flexible Time Management Strategies for Neurodivergent & First-Gen Students with Full Lives

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Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: [00:00:00] Grad school, along with many other academic and professional spaces, wasn't built for first gen and BIPOC folks like us. And yet here you are, navigating it all, often without the adequate support you deserve. That's why I created Office Hours with me, Doktora Yvette, a budget friendly, high impact coaching and consulting space designed specifically for first gen, BIPOC, and or neurodivergent grad students, postdocs, and early career professionals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It's a 50 minute small group drop in session where you can ask me anything about productivity, imposter phenomenon, burnout, setting boundaries. grad school apps, funding and financial literacy, career development, and more. You can even stop by and just have me chat it up with you about a recent podcast episode if that works for you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: You'll receive strategies [00:01:00] and a supportive space to figure things out together. Spots are capped at eight participants to keep it intimate and interactive, and to make sure I can answer everyone's questions. Sessions happen twice a month for a limited time. To be honest, I'm not sure how long I'll keep this offer available.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So, sign up now at the link in the show notes, and let's get you the support that you deserve.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Raise one finger if you've ever felt like a time management failure because you can't stick to your perfect schedule. Raise another finger if you've ever felt personally victimized by a beautifully color coded calendar that again you couldn't stick to. Raise another finger if you agree that time blocking is the kale smoothie of productivity advice.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Everybody says that you should love it, but what if you just don't have that acquired taste? [00:02:00] And raise another finger if someone once told you that, Oh, you would be so much more successful if you could just manage your time better. All right, raise one last finger. If you feel like your to do list is laughing at your schedule.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Every single day, because you just can't stick to it. If any of this resonates, then this episode is for you, because I'm going to be talking about the ever popular or common conundrum of what to do when time blocking doesn't work.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Welcome

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: to the award winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast, the place for first gen BIPOCs to listen in on inclusive grad school stories and learn about personal development and productivity tips. This is Dr. Yvette [00:03:00] Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, and author, and I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you reach your personal and professional goals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring Podcast.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Today, I have a really fun episode full of time management strategies that are flexible enough for those of us for whom time blocking doesn't quite work out. And why doesn't it always work for everyone? We'll start there. Well, firstly, It assumes that there is such a thing as an ideal, perfect schedule, and that we can stick to it every single time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It also assumes that we can accurately account for how long [00:04:00] things take. And if you're like me, a lot of us will underestimate how long things take. We think, Oh, it's only going to take an hour or two. And then in actuality, it takes us more time. So time blocking doesn't always allow us to account for those inaccuracies.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Also, I work with clients who have very full lives. And because they have full lives, that means that life happens. A lot of my clients. are self identified women. They're people with ovaries. We go through fluctuations in our energy and our cognitive functioning that's impacted by our monthly cycles. And also, just in general, I work with a lot of folks who are neurodivergent, who may have ADHD, and for them, focusing can be an issue sometimes, or they might find themselves feeling more distracted, or they might just be busy moms that have a lot of interruptions in their lives.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: In fact, a couple folks I [00:05:00] work with, I found it so interesting, they have their workspace set up in their living space. So it's no wonder that they have so many disruptions when you've got kids, you've got a partner, and you're working in the middle of the living space. Come on now.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So in any case, that means that if you time block and that doesn't account for the many interruptions you might be dealing with or the shifting of your energy levels that you might be dealing with, it might not always work. And then of course, there's just some of us for whom, even if we work well with a routine and with a schedule, sometimes it just feels too restrictive.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Sometimes it feels almost too rigid. And I say that as someone who I'm actually, I guess you can call me a rigid person and that I thrive in routines, but sometimes if you, [00:06:00] if it's a set time and a set time block that can feel too strict, too rigid, and that can increase your stress or decrease your motivation.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: We don't want that. And then of course, so many of us, because we have full lives, we have a lot of obligations , that means that sometimes emergencies happen, sometimes things that are urgent come up and that time block doesn't allow for us to be able to be as responsive to the things that come up that are important to us.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So. Whether that's caregiving responsibilities, community work, or any other things that are important to you, that can also sometimes cut into your time blocking. So what do we do about this? I'm going to give you eight different strategies. I'm going to try to get through them relatively quickly. I want to keep this episode to approximately [00:07:00] 15 to 20 minutes and I've already taken the first five minutes just to introduce this topic so let's get straight to it with the first one, which is consider task batching by energy levels.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So remember how I mentioned a lot of us have shifting energy levels? Instead of time blocking, what if you group your tasks based on which ones are for high energy and which ones are for low energy moments. And that way you can gauge how you're feeling and how much energy you have and what you can actually do that matches that energy level.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The second thing you can try is priority based to do lists. Specifically I want to recommend the three things method. So stick to no more than three things per day. That doesn't mean that you can't do more than three things, but it just means that every [00:08:00] day you identify your top three things. So for today, instead of looking at my ever long to do list, that's just going to haunt you because you can never finish it, reminding yourself, okay, today's mini to do list is just these three things.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Forget about the rest, focus on just these three things. And if you can focus on these three things that push the needle forward, then great. Sometimes, that list becomes just one thing, depending on how I'm feeling, if my energy is just really, really low, or I'm not feeling that great. Well, I mean, it depends.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: If I'm really, really not feeling great, sometimes I just can't do any work at all, and it is what it is but if I'm not feeling great, but I'm still able to do some work depending on my energy levels. Sometimes it's not even my top three. It's like, what is the most important thing that I can get done today that's going to move the needle forward in terms of my biggest goals?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So priority based to do list and reminding [00:09:00] yourself of your top three things is the second strategy.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The third strategy is adaptive and flexible timers. And so it's similar to implementing a Pomodoro method, but with the Pomodoro method, usually you have 25 minutes of work and five minutes of break time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And then you do that a couple of times and then you take a longer break. But in this case, you want to set your timer in short focus bursts and adjust it based on how focused you are in that moment. So if you're struggling to focus, do the shorter timers. If you are very focused, you can prolong the timer and go in longer bursts of time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So instead of feeling like, oh my gosh, I only have to stick to these 30 minute time blocks that are part of my Pomodoro. What if you could start with a 15 minute [00:10:00] timer? And then if you start to gain focus, maybe increase it to 40 minutes. And if you start to gain focus, maybe increase it to 60 minutes and then see how it feels and work based off that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The fourth strategy is time tracking, not time blocking. So instead of time blocking and trying to guess how long things are going to take, going back and documenting how long things actually took, and then learning from that reflection. So once you assess and you have an idea of, well, last time I did this, it took me about this long.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Now you can predict more accurately how long it's going to take you. And I've done this before. I do this for my speaking engagements where I usually give myself approximately 10 hours to prep for a speaking engagement total, like from beginning to end. That includes the time to [00:11:00] prepare my slides, that includes the time to rehearse, that includes the time to ideate, et cetera, to check feedback from the entity hiring me.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I also sometimes ask my clients to get their students to ask questions in advance, so I make sure I address those questions throughout my slides, et cetera. So all that, no more than 10 hours. And if I know, historically, it'll take me no more than 10 hours, and before a speaking engagement, I have to make sure that I have enough time, whether you want to call it time blocking or not, but it doesn't have to be strict time blocks, but I just have to know that I have enough time based on the days that I have carved out to do this type of work to get that done.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So, time tracking is great if you can do it. I know it's not always easy to time track, but it is worth it for the types of tasks that you do often.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Hi Femtees, I'm gently interrupting the [00:12:00] show to let you know that you can be a sponsor for the Grad School Femtouring Podcast. Whether you're a small business owner, a book author, or part of an educational startup looking to reach a loyal audience, this is your chance to showcase your work. My listeners are first gen BIPOC college students, grad students and early career professionals who value mentorship, education, and empowerment. If it sounds like a fit, head to the show notes to learn more about sponsoring an episode.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Strategy number five is all about making sure that you give yourself buffer time. So if you do want to time block, but you notice that maybe you're not being as accurate with your time blocking instead of sticking to rigid blocks, just adding some buffer.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So just in case you need extra [00:13:00] time, adding some wiggle room in your schedule. And I say this because again, just to remind you, most of us will underestimate how long something will take. And so if you give yourself more buffer time, that can reduce your stress and prevent burnout. Even if you know how long something will take.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It's still nice to give yourself a buffer, so that way in case life happens and you for some reason are taking longer than usual, you have accounted for that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Strategy six is to consider working based off rituals rather than strict or rigid routines. And I really, really love this one because it's really about developing a rhythm of how you do your work rather than a rigid schedule. You have to start at X hour, otherwise you've already failed. So [00:14:00] this can look like having a rhythm of every day after breakfast, and after I get ready, I will write something along those lines of just having a rhythm.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And I apply this in my schedule to in that my mornings are usually slower, and they're slower intentionally, because I usually don't feel my best in the mornings. But I have a rhythm of what I do every morning. And I do have a set start time in terms of my meetings. But it's usually later than when, there are some days I could start a little bit earlier, but I don't know how I'm gonna feel on any given morning, so I account for that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I give myself that like wiggle room before my first meeting and I have this set ritual of these things that I do regularly to make sure that I am performing at my best or that I can manage my symptoms my best every day. So rituals instead of rigid schedules. [00:15:00]

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Number seven is applying what and I'm so sorry, I don't have the name of the entrepreneur that came up with this time system.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: But the time system is called the entrepreneurial time system of having focus days, having buffer days, and then having rest days. So giving yourself dedicated days that you have focused work. And those are the days where you try to reduce or not have any meetings. And then giving yourself buffer days are the days that you have more meetings, or you have more that you have to get done more errands, etc.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: You're just doing more. And so you only do the smaller tasks that don't require a lot of energy on those buffer days. So having a combination of dedicated focus days, buffer days, and of course rest days, because you want to make sure that you are restoring yourself too, and you're not just working all the [00:16:00] time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Strategy eight is applying the Eisenhower matrix to your schedule. And so by this, we mean, if you don't know what the Eisenhower matrix is, it's a prioritization method. And it literally looks like a

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: quadrant with four squares. And in that quadrant, you've got one square that includes the urgent and important tasks, another square that includes the important but not urgent tasks, A third square that includes urgent, but not important tasks. And then a fourth square that includes neither urgent nor important tasks.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And ideally you want to live in the important, but not urgent square, because these are the things that are going to help to move the needle forward. And you don't want to wait until it becomes [00:17:00] urgent because that's when your stress increases. And a lot of the people I work with, they live in that urgent and important square and sometimes they're doing stuff that's neither urgent nor important and we got to cut that out so how do you apply this in to your calendaring or your time management It's scheduling in the things that move the needle forward first, or if you don't want to schedule it in, making it a ritual to start with those things that matter most first.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So start with the not urgent and important tasks first in the days that you can prioritize focus work or in the days that are dedicated work days for you. Those were the eight strategies. Oh my goodness. I went through them pretty quickly, although I'm still going to be slightly over time, but that's fine [00:18:00] because y'all are still here with me.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So just as a review, the first strategy was task batching by energy levels. Strategy two was to apply the three things method and focusing on three things per day. Strategy three is an adaptive timer method. So instead of a strict pomodoro, you do 15, 40, 60 minutes sprints or whatever timed sprint works for you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Strategy four is time tracking instead of time blocking. Strategy five is giving yourself buffer time. So that way, even if you underestimate, you still have enough time to get your work done. Strategy six is focusing on rituals instead of rigid schedules. Strategy seven is the entrepreneurial time system of scheduling focused, buffer and rest days and strategy eight is using the Eisenhower [00:19:00] matrix in your scheduling so that you schedule in the most important, but not urgent tasks first.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: All right, that's it for today's. episode. I hope that you found at least one strategy that you're willing to implement. And if it doesn't work, try out something else. It's all iterative. Eventually you will find what works and you will develop your own system. And before you know it, you're going to be feeling pretty good about what you're getting done and doing work that matters most to you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And just to close things off, I want to remind you that your identities matter, your growth matters, your sustainable productivity matters, and your holistic success matters. Join us again for more femtoring next week. And as always, I'll talk to you all next time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thanks so much for [00:20:00] listening. If you liked what you heard, here are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, worksheets, and podcast playlists on all things grad school, productivity, and personal development.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The third way to support my show is to follow me on social media. You can find me on Instagram with the handle at gradschoolfemtoring and on LinkedIn by searching my name. Thanks again for listening. And until next time.