TIME-management: the SECRET to 4.0 GPA w/ 8 hr of sleep and a LIFE | Ft. my digital planner

Summary

In this video, Amy shares her top time management tips for balancing good grades, social life, and sleep. She emphasizes scheduling non-negotiables early, using Notion for efficient planning, and prioritizing tasks over time blocks. Amy also encourages viewers to seize opportunities, like studying during movie days, and to focus on 'heck yes' activities that truly matter. She introduces a Notion template she created to help students stay organized and productive.

Takeaways

• 📅 **Schedule Early**: Schedule non-negotiable tasks and commitments as early as possible to reduce procrastination and create more efficient use of time.
• 🌞 **Morning Habits**: Prioritize morning activities to encourage earlier bedtimes and more productive days.
• 🗓️ **Use Digital Tools**: Utilize digital tools like Notion for time management to combine the benefits of physical planners with the convenience of digital reminders.
• 🎯 **Prioritize Tasks**: Focus on completing the most important tasks first, rather than being constrained by time blocks.
• 🏋️‍♀️ **No Negotiation**: Create a strict schedule with no room for negotiation to force efficiency and productivity.
• 📱 **Limit Distractions**: Minimize distractions by associating specific spaces and times with dedicated activities, such as studying or sleeping.
• 📚 **Compile Resources**: Gather all necessary study materials and resources in one place to streamline the study process.
• 🔍 **Active Recall**: Use active recall techniques, like generating questions from study materials, to enhance learning and retention.
• 📈 **Track Progress**: Regularly review and adjust your schedule to ensure you're making the best use of your time.
• 🚫 **Eliminate Non-Essentials**: Identify and cut out non-essential activities to free up time for more important tasks, such as studying or resting.

Q & A

What is the main focus of Amy's video?

The main focus of Amy's video is to discuss her habits and strategies for effective time management that allowed her to excel academically while maintaining a social life and getting enough sleep.

What is the significance of scheduling non-negotiables early in the day?

Scheduling non-negotiables early in the day is significant because it reduces 'dead time' and forces one to be more efficient with their time, leading to better time management.

Why does Amy recommend scheduling commitments earlier than necessary?

Amy recommends scheduling commitments earlier than necessary to create a sense of urgency and to prevent procrastination, which can lead to better time management and productivity.

What is the benefit of using a digital planner like Notion according to Amy?

Amy suggests that using a digital planner like Notion is beneficial because it combines the features of a physical planner with the convenience of digital notifications and customization options, making it easier to manage and track tasks.

How does Amy use music to enhance her studying routine?

Amy uses music, specifically songs in a different language like BTS, to pump herself up and avoid distractions from lyrics she understands, thus enhancing her studying routine.

What is the purpose of setting up key resources for studying in Notion?

The purpose of setting up key resources for studying in Notion is to have a centralized location for all study materials, making it easier to prepare for tests and assignments without having to search through multiple sources.

Why does Amy suggest using the 'board view' feature in Notion?

Amy suggests using the 'board view' feature in Notion to visually organize tasks and deadlines, making it easier to see what needs to be done and when, thus improving time management.

How does Amy use the AI feature in Notion to aid her studies?

Amy uses the AI feature in Notion to generate questions for active recall and to summarize study materials, making the study process more efficient and focused.

What is the importance of prioritizing health according to Amy's video?

According to Amy, prioritizing health is important because it ensures that one has the energy and focus needed to be productive and successful in academics and other areas of life.

Why does Amy recommend against time blocking?

Amy recommends against time blocking because she finds it too restrictive and prefers to prioritize tasks and focus on completing them rather than adhering to a strict time schedule.

What does Amy mean by 'heck yes' and 'hell no'?

Amy uses 'heck yes' to refer to activities and tasks that are highly valuable and worth her time, while 'hell no' refers to things that are not beneficial and should be eliminated from her schedule.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Time Management for Success

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of time management for achieving success in academics, social life, and personal well-being. The speaker, Amy, shares her personal experience of balancing her time effectively, even as a valedictorian and varsity athlete. She introduces the notion of scheduling non-negotiables early to reduce 'dead time' and increase productivity. Amy also discusses her habit of scheduling tasks as early as possible to maintain a healthy sleep schedule and avoid procrastination. She highlights the use of tools like physical planners and Google Calendar, and then introduces the Notion app as an organizational game-changer, which she has used to create a digital study planner template for her audience.

05:01

📅 Mastering the Art of Planning with Notion

Amy provides a detailed walkthrough of how to use the Notion app for effective time management and organization. She explains how to set up classes, key resources, and study materials within Notion. She also demonstrates how to create a personalized planner, set reminders, and manage tasks with different views. The paragraph showcases the app's features, such as the ability to drag and drop tasks, use AI for generating study questions, and summarize lengthy notes. Amy's enthusiasm for Notion is evident as she shares her digital planner template with the audience, aiming to help them improve their time management skills.

10:04

🏋️‍♀️ Prioritizing Health and Opportunities

In this paragraph, Amy stresses the importance of prioritizing health and seizing opportunities throughout the day to stay ahead in tasks. She advises against shifting work from one day to another just because there's perceived free time and encourages using idle moments, such as waiting in lines, to review quick study materials. Amy also shares her personal strategy of not time-blocking but instead tracking tasks and focusing on their completion rather than the time spent. She suggests that the environment plays a significant role in productivity and recommends using spaces like beds and study areas exclusively for their intended purposes to train the mind to associate those spaces with specific activities.

15:04

🚫 Cutting Out the Noise for Productivity

Amy concludes the script by discussing the strategy of cutting out non-essential activities to make room for what truly matters. She refers to this as 'heck yes' activities, which include quality time with friends, family, and rest, as well as productive work. She contrasts these with distractions like gossip and entertainment that do not contribute to personal growth. Amy encourages viewers to identify and eliminate these distractions and to make gradual changes to their routines instead of overhauling their entire system. She invites feedback on whether the audience would like a full tutorial on using Notion for productivity and ends with a motivational note to get some rest.

Keywords

💡Time management

Time management refers to the process of planning and controlling how much time is spent on each activity, particularly to increase effectiveness, productivity, and success. In the video, time management is essential for balancing good grades, social life, and sleep. The script mentions scheduling non-negotiables early to eliminate dead time and increase efficiency.

💡Notion

Notion is a flexible all-in-one workspace tool that combines notes, databases, wikis, and project management into a single platform. In the video, the presenter mentions using Notion for school time management and shares a custom template, highlighting its use for organizing classes, tasks, and study materials.

💡Non-negotiables

Non-negotiables are tasks or commitments that are essential and cannot be skipped or compromised. In the context of the video, scheduling non-negotiables early in the day, such as meetings or lab work, helps to maintain a disciplined routine and ensures these critical tasks are completed.

💡Procrastination

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks or actions. The script discusses how scheduling tasks early can reduce procrastination by eliminating the tendency to leave tasks until the last minute, thus creating a more efficient use of time.

💡Prioritization

Prioritization is the process of arranging tasks or activities in order of importance. The video emphasizes the importance of prioritizing tasks by focusing on the most important ones first and then moving on to the next, rather than worrying about the time spent on each task.

💡Environment

Environment, in the context of the video, refers to the physical or mental setting in which tasks are performed. The presenter advises designing an environment that is conducive to the task at hand, such as using the bed only for sleep and the study space only for productive activities.

💡Focus mode

Focus mode is a state of concentration where an individual is fully engaged in a task at hand. The video suggests that by associating certain spaces with specific activities, such as sitting at a desk for studying, one can more easily enter focus mode and be more productive.

💡Heck yeses

Heck yeses are activities or tasks that are highly valuable and worth one's time and energy. The script encourages viewers to fill their schedules with 'heck yes' activities and cut out anything that is not essential or valuable to their goals.

💡Opportunities

Opportunities, in the context of the video, refer to moments or situations that can be leveraged to be productive. The presenter gives an example of using 'movie days' at school as an opportunity to do homework or study, turning what could be leisure time into productive time.

💡AI

AI, or artificial intelligence, is used within the Notion tool to automate tasks and enhance productivity. The video shows how AI can generate questions for active recall and summarize information, making the study process more efficient and personalized.

💡Gradual changes

Gradual changes are small, incremental adjustments made over time. The video suggests implementing one strategy at a time for better time management, such as starting with a simple planner system in Notion and then gradually adding more features as one becomes comfortable.

Highlights

Time management is crucial for achieving good grades, social life, and sleep.

Secret tips for efficient studying and managing time are shared.

The speaker achieved 8 hours of sleep each night and became a valedictorian while being a varsity athlete.

Notion is introduced as an awesome tool for school time management.

A notion template is provided for efficient time management.

Scheduling non-negotiables early is a key strategy to reduce dead time.

Eliminating procrastination by scheduling tasks early can increase efficiency.

The benefits of waking up early and the rationale behind it are discussed.

Using notion for a combination of physical planner and Google Calendar features.

The importance of prioritizing tasks and not just time blocks is emphasized.

Using notion AI for active recall and summarizing information.

The concept of 'heck yes' and 'hell no' for prioritizing activities.

Cutting out non-essential activities to make time for important tasks.

The importance of using your bed only for sleeping to improve rest quality.

The idea of using your study space only for productive activities.

Focusing on completing tasks rather than the time spent on them.

The speaker's personal experience with time management and prioritization.

The digital planner template is available in the video description.

Transcripts

good grades social life sleep pick two

but what if I told you you can have all

three time management is essential for

crushing your grades while staying

healthy and happy with my secret tips I

got 8 hours of sleep each night even on

the road to becoming valedictorian as a

varsity athlete hey it's Amy you L my

video about efficient studying so today

we're going over my habits that made it

seem like I have more than 24 hours a

day as part of that I've been wanting to

show you guys an awesome tool called

notion you might have heard this before

and I'm so grateful that they're

actually sponsoring this video yay I

spent over 4 hours creating a notion

template for you guys and I've never

seen anyone use notion this way for

school time management before so hope

you guys like it let's go schedule

non-negotiables to be early essentially

there's a lot of dead time in your

schedules the time you spent scrolling

before you go to bed the time in the

morning when you decide to sleep in and

of course time we procrastinate you have

a whole week to do something and you do

it in one day on the last day when you

could have done it in one day on the

first or second day so this first tip

cuts out a ton of dead time this is

where if I have something I need to

schedule like meeting with a friend

going to lab talking with a teacher I

will always try and find the earliest

time to schedule it even earlier than I

think I can actually make it for example

at celtech I worked in Dr prin Arnold's

lab I could have picked to go in in the

afternoons but instead I chose my time

to go in to be every morning at 8:00

a.m. that really forced me to go to bed

at a normaler hour and since I would

sleep as much as I could in the morning

then right when I wake up I would have

to be fast and get to the lab I think

that innately we are all lazy like I

consider myself a lazy person so by

giving myself no wiggle room to

negotiate and to go later I force myself

to be much more efficient and better at

managing my time this way there's far

less dead time I hate myself in the

Moment Like trust me I hate myself when

I have to wake up that early sometimes

but I never ever regret it a way that

you can apply this would be to vote for

your club meetings to be in the mornings

instead of the afternoons this saves you

a larger chunk of time to be after

school and it may prevent you from didly

dling as you get ready for school if you

are setting up a meeting with your

counselor where before that meeting you

have to prepare a college list then I

would try to schedule that meeting to be

earlier than you think you can make it

my habit of scheduling things in the

morning also scheduling commitments on

earlier days clears up things later you

never know what might come up and it's

really good to have that flexibility

when you need it if you're really extra

like me I also use this tip to wake up

earlyish on the weekends as well so I'd

schedule club meetings on Saturdays and

Sunday mornings if you force yourself to

get off your phone you can technically

still stay on your phone but with this

literally your non-negotiables you don't

have a

choice nice and you'll actually follow

through every time and feel so good

about yourself after when I was in high

school I used a physical planner and

then in college I used Google Calendar

mostly I really wish that I had a

combination of these it would be great

if the assignments I put in my physical

planner gave me notifications every time

something comes up but guess what I

discovered way too late for me now but

there is a combination you can use and

that is notion I finally caved in and

started using notion earlier this year

and it has been an

organization life changer and that's

period even though I'm not in school yet

I've been using it to track my Youtube

upload schedules managing my to-do list

my reading list you name it and once I

learned about how to customize it I was

like dang I can make a digital planner I

can just make this template myself for

you guys out there still in school tada

this is the ultimate time management

organization tool here we have this

adorable stretching Shiva Yu you can

change it but how could you not like it

it's so cute you can of course replace

this with your own playlist the tip I

like to pump myself up by listening to

songs that are in a different language

like BTS this way I'm not distracted by

the lyrics cuz I can't understand them

the first song is dope cuz we are all

dope I put planner first because you're

actually going to be accessing it more

but classes is what you're going to go

to first to set things up under classes

this is going to be where all your

classes surprise surprise are going to

be housed right now I just put two

filler classes as examples so you can

see how this works I've also made a

template for you guys such that when you

click new Boom for each of these classes

I added some nice little pockets of

information you can add quote here

because I love quotes and I think

they're really inspiring you can

customize them for each class you can

put when they are and where they are

this is good to keep track of everything

for that one class we're going to scroll

to the bottom and here you have the key

resources for studying I love listing

these out for my classes because then

when it comes time to study for a huge

test I know all the resources I need to

pull out right away I also have a table

for the best YouTube videos a like how

to a math by yours truly and you can

list the biggest takeaways in this

rightmost column so this is a single

area for your class that you compile all

of the things such that again when it

comes time to the final you don't have

to be looking in so many different areas

to find what your biggest tips are like

for myself when I make a mistake like I

forget to simplify square roots in the

final answer I'll add it here as a tip

for myself so I don't miss those easy

points now into the meat the pl planner

this is basically the effective planner

system that I used but better on the

first tab is just like the physical

planner with Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday seven days a week and

you can just click new to add a new task

you can say read chapter 2 boom it's on

Saturday you click open add a deadline

you can add what class this is for you

can even add a priority like this might

be medium maybe you have to remember to

annotate the chapter as you read what's

great about this is that you can also

add a reminder for yourself so right

here under remind there are many options

like day of event even a week before the

due date in my planner I put things on

the days I want to do them for example

this algebra worksheet I put Monday as

my went too I I have a due date my class

you can actually click on the class too

directly so

convenient okay this tutorial is getting

a lot longer than I expected it to be

maybe you guys are impatient like oh

this just for the sponsorship but no the

sponsor actually only asked for 3

minutes I make videos for you so this is

just a reminder that all the stuff I'm

going to cover is because I think it's

really genuinely helpful from me to you

so hang in there I promise you'll get

value if you watch it through thank you

a really good habit that I used was to

add every key date I knew so from the

moment you get your syllabus or your

teacher tells you the dates of some

tests I would put them in my planner in

this case you would add to do later for

example math final click open and the

date of this final is December 6th then

in my physical planner I would flip to a

week before and write math final next

week but notion is better because you

can just add a reminder Remer that's one

week before and it will send you an

automatic notification so why didn't I

have this this way you can always see

what's upcoming you can sort them by the

due date and you will always be reminded

of when you should be preparing for

these tests but wait there's more you

can view all of your tasks in different

views so if you click by class which I

set up for you guys you can see all the

tasks for the specific classes so I see

here that math final I should actually

label this as math in my planner I would

add everything I had to do clubs admin

stuff so just feel free to dump

everything can also go into the board

view on Monday I said I will write an

essay outline about happiness and I will

do my algebra worksheet but let's say

this algebra worksheet is due on

Thursday and I ran out of time on my

planner I would just write a really ugly

Arrow from Monday to to Tuesday but with

notion you can

just drag it over so now it's a Tuesday

task don't worry I'm a Noob with notion

I'm not nearly as fancy as those

aesthetic people out there this is a

really easy thing for you guys to get

started with that will be lifechanging

to your time management bonus timesaver

go into classes and under key Concepts

you can use built-in notion AI to make

life easier you lucky ducks you get

notion and AI I wish I was born a few

years later anyway say you had to

understand something about the Odyssey

great so you look up some Spark Notes

but this is still too long so I'm going

to copy this Odyssey theme into my key

concept section things I should remember

all I do is Select this sparkle ask AI

I'm going to ask it to generate three

questions for me for active

recall wow so fast and you can click

insert below s that boom like how

amazing is that you don't have to write

your own questions you don't have to

Google on Quizlet and now you can test

yourself one more timesaver is that you

can select this ask Ai and you can

summarize make it even shorter an

amazing summary so many options I hope

you guys really take advantage of this

because everything just lives so

conveniently within notion itself my

planner system with notion is super easy

for beginners as well and there are a

lot more amazing things you can do in

here but I can't cover them all in this

video so I encourage you to play around

with it yourself with a link in the

description I worked really hard on this

digital planner for you and it'll make a

big difference your time management open

your eyes to Opportunities get in the

habit of looking at what time you can

squeeze out throughout your day in high

school we would have movie days yay fun

we get to relax and watch a movie but I

use that as an opportunity to do my

homework or to study for a class because

I would have to do that anyway so things

like this are a chance to get ahead but

this is what you shouldn't do say you

have homework that you're going to do on

Tuesday and then you know you're going

to watch a movie on Wednesday don't

shift your homework from Tuesday to

Wednesday just because you think you

have time the next day it's only finding

an opportunity if during the movie on

Wednesday you're doing the stuff that

you would have done later like Wednesday

night or Thursday use wait time if

you're waiting in lines if you're

waiting for your tennis match to start

like I did pull out something you can

read or something easy that you can do

you don't have to be writing a five

paragraph essay while you're waiting in

line for lunch but if there are some

quick formulas that you have to review

just pull it out I know you guys are on

your phones anyway so put that math on

your phone or something when I was

waiting for my singles tennis match some

people were chatting but I knew I had a

quiz tomorrow so I would open my thick

textbook and be reading that outside

this is a great example while I was

filming my phone ran out of storage and

I only have an hour I had to finish

filming and eating so while I was

clearing my storage now I'm eating

basically I switched the order I could

have just browsed the internet and

waited until my storage was free again

but instead I chose to fill it with a

task that I had to do later it feels

weird saying eating's a task but it is a

task prioritize Health guys I don't know

your specific schedule but just keep

your eyes peeled and adapt to your

situations don't time block just track

tasks I personally don't really like

time blocking because it seems too

restrictive I know those productivity

gurus Rave about it but I not for me on

my Google Calendar yes I put things in

relative areas but I never really

followed them anyway so don't stress

about not following through your time

blocks all I do is check in with myself

throughout the day to see if I'm using

my time well if I have been using my

time well well then there's no stress if

I didn't finish a task from 10 to 11:

and it's certainly okay if I didn't get

everything I wanted to done instead of

time blocking just prioritize your tasks

and in a day do your first most

important task first and then just move

on to the second one don't really care

about how much time is taking you all

you have to worry about is whether that

time you were using on that task was

really fully for that task so if you had

to study chapter 1 of math instead of

the goal being study that for 1 hour

your goal is to focus on studying

chapter 1 as much as possible until

you're done with a chapter this is much

more efficient because when your end

goal is to complete the thing you're not

constantly looking at the clock counting

for the time to pass when you say you

study for 1 hour that doesn't even mean

that you studied really for 1 hour so

you should really be paying attention to

the tasks and not the time it takes it's

just like how when I work out I would

rather count 10 burpees then do burpees

for 30 seconds I will do the 10 burpees

well quickly and I'll be done but 30

seconds I'm like I could be doing

anything within that 30 seconds and

they're very lazy burpees but one thing

you should block is your environment we

are the product of our environment so

design it in a more optimal way and

something you really really should do is

to only use your bed for sleeping don't

do anything else on your bed because

then when you're trying to fall asleep

you can more easily fall asleep and get

quality rest same thing for your study

space only use your study space for

productive things if you're going to use

your phone even for a break physically

just stand up and go to the couch and

use your phone there correlate the space

with what you want to do because then

it'll train yourself to recognize that

once you sit down at your desk it's game

time Focus mode even better if you don't

even have your phone at your desk less

is more if it's not a heck yes then it's

a hell no oh hell

no everyone only has 24 hours news flash

so the nose you say clear out time for

your heck yeses I think that one of my

biggest strengths was cutting out crap

unapologetically other kids in class

would be on their phones after the

teacher finishes talking or interested

in the latest Netflix series even though

I couldn't really talk to my classmates

about the latest celebrity gossip I

really didn't mind at all I was just

doing my own thing and doing what I

thought was best for myself Netflix

shows what your friend wore on vacation

Taylor S new boyfri they all don't

matter but the work you put in now will

pay off and actually give yourself value

and that's why the productive things

should be heck yeses that also includes

spending quality time with your friends

your family and rest those are all heck

yeses in my book go through an entire

day and see how many NOS you can find

and once you cut them out you'll be like

wow where did all this time come from

not only can you do this from a task

standpoint but you can also do it with

your activities what extracurriculars

are not really helping you can you cut

them out so you have more time for

studying or sleep as I always say employ

one strategy at a time to actually see

results make gradual changes don't

overhaul your whole system because

that's going to take so much time and

energy and then you won't even keep up

with it just like how with notion I

recommend this simple planner system

first and taking advantage of AI and

then once you get familiar with it you

can add on the other cool fancy features

just one habit or tool can transform

your time management over time with

notion you can gradually discover what

ways you can customize it to suit your

needs let me know in the comments if

you'd like to see a full tutorial about

how I use notion to stay productive

outside of school remember to check out

my digital planner I promise it's so

cool guys Linked In the description and

if you'd like to know how I stay

motivated to work so hard then check out

this video thanks so much peace good gr

good GS GS and sleeps social leavs and

sleeps sleeps get some z's benefit from

this