As a Paralegal, there are many days where you wish there were more hours in the day to finish your assignments, attend to your family, relax etc. Some days you feel so stressed, like you just can’t get a gripe on the time. You end up feeling like you accomplished nothing. Lucky for us, It’s finally spring, which means its time to enjoy longer days. For some of us, this may also mean we feel the need to add more to both our personal to do list and work to do list. Before you start doing that, remember to make time for the important things in life. Time is such a priceless commodity, we must manage it carefully. Learning to manage your time is crucial in the legal field. Paralegals must learn to manage the stressful things that come along with the career and learn to balance their daily work and personal commitments. Here are a few ways in which you can manage your time:

Expand Your Mind

Continually feed your brain. I know, you are wondering how this will help you with time management. Easy, expanding your mind by reading more or attending CLE’s involves increasing your awareness and knowledge, remembering more, thinking faster, and connecting to new ideas. It’s, in theory, an exercise for the mind which will only help you strengthen your mind. When you learn new things, you exercise the brain and make the tiny connections in the brain stronger, which ultimately makes your brain stronger. Thus, expanding the mind makes you smarter. This will help reduce the amount of time it takes to understand a task or even help you determine how much time should really be allocated to an assignment.

Make Time for You

You must take time to unwind. Self care is important. Whether it is taking a daily walk, reading, watching your favorite Netflix series or treating yourself to a manicure, never feel guilty about taking time for yourself. Block off a specific amount of time for yourself everyday. Even if it’s only 30 mins ( although I recommend more, it does not have to be consecutive. You can break up the time into 15 minute intervals) take time to just step away from work, family, friends etc.

Learn to say no

It’s such a small word that holds great power, and yet, most of us are afraid to use it. For whatever reasons, whether it be out of fear or from never learning how to use it. We simply do not use it enough. Although we are living in such great technological times, we are not robots. I don’t care if you’ve already purchased real estate in the metaverse and/or only use crypto as you main form of currency. Learning to say no at work, at home, to others and even to yourself will help you manage your time. You cannot do it all, so don’t act like you can. It’s a waste of time saying you can do something when you know you absolutely do not have the time. People will understand and will appreciate your honestly. Most people would rather you say “no” instead of yes and you don’t come through.

Your daily exercise: Try using the word “No” at least once today and let us now how you feel afterwards.