3 Techniques Interns Can Use To Make Managing Time While Working From Home Simple and Easy
With millions working remotely during the global pandemic, it is crucial to manage your time well when there is no schedule in place for you. Thankfully, I am among some of the lucky people who get to pursue an internship from home. I work at Beautini, a bridal hair a nd makeup service company in New York City as a business strategy intern. My main jobs are to help bring Beautini’s first product to market, streamline data processes, and manage Pinterest. This job is a dream come true and a long awaited entrance to the beauty industry but to get it done, I had to put my time management skills to the test.
On Monday mornings, the other intern, Devin, and I are given multiple assignments for the week with varying deadlines, and it is completely up to us to schedule out our time to get them done. I took time to reflect on all of the organizational and scheduling techniques that I’ve used in the past, and brought together the strategies that worked best for me. It is so important to segregate a small amount of time in your day to organize. Organization can provide you with clarity and help you work much more efficiently, saving you time and helping get projects in before the deadline. Here are 3 organization strategies I use every day to manage my time:
1. Hour-by-Hour Master Schedule
I am very visual, so I use techniques that clearly show me what I need to work on and when. Color coding has become my best friend for completing projects on time. My master schedule is a table in OneNote that gives me an hour by hour breakdown of my day. I rely on this constantly to keep me on track. At the end of every day, I reflect on what I completed, and create a schedule for the next day or so. It’s color coded in a way that separates my work, daily life, and hobbies or personal projects.
2. Trello Boards
My boss, Brittany Lo, already had Trello set up when I began my internship. I really love using this for a more detailed description of my projects. One of my assignments was to research and propose ways Beautini can better utilize Trello, so I got to learn a lot about the project management software. We use it for weekly tasks in an HQ board and it is great to keep everyone on the same page. Trello has a deadline feature to keep you focused on when assignments need to be completed. There is also a label feature to track the progress of or clarify the type of project. With a layout similar to sticky notes on a whiteboard, it is easy to visualize exactly what needs to be done in detail and is a perfect place to come for reference regularly.
3. Google Calendar
Google calendar works great for me to keep track of meetings. Working remotely has made me look forward to meetings so much, just because I get to talk to people! It is also so important to be on time and prepared for meetings because they are your chance to speak your mind, ask questions, and get to know your coworkers. I use Google calendar to schedule meetings and send me reminders 30 minutes before so I know to start prepping for that call or video chat. I like to only put meetings here so I can use the amount of white space for each day to help me visualize how much time I have for individual projects.
These strategies plus sticky notes for small reminders help keep me on track so I can bring my best work to the table every day. While working remotely with hours on your hands to spend how you choose may seem daunting, using these techniques can help make time management simple and easy.