Managing your time on a day-to-day basis is a difficult task in any culture. However, when we move to another country—with different realities—we go through a deep process of adaptation. This process involves finding new ways to do familiar activities. What happens is that some activities or situations that we’re used to now take a longer time to do.
In Brazil, the time I needed to write a paper for college was significantly less than what I need here. That’s because here I need to figure out how best to build the sentence to make sure the teacher understands exactly what my point of view is. I also need some time to review the grammar and style format, which is totally different than it is in my country.
This new time management involves not only school activities but also day-to-day situations. For example, in comparison to Brazil, friendships here need more time to evolve. In my country, it’s common to make friends quickly, especially if you have a class almost every day with the same person. So I never thought I’d need to manage my time for nurturing friendships on a day-to-day basis.
When we put all these new situations together, time disappears and we become exhausted with routine activities. This situation can’t be solved with just common time management strategies like “stop procrastinating.” It’s not that simple, so my tip is to be patient and plan yourself.
Patience is important because the adaptation phase does not last forever; during daily living, we will naturally integrate into our new culture. But for this to happen, we need planning. While the new time management is not automatic, we need to organize our day-to-day well and commit to each activity we are doing.
It’s important to dedicate yourself exclusively to what you are doing at the moment. If you’re in a bar with friends, live that moment intensely and try to enjoy the bond of friendship that is forming, without thinking about the work you have left to do. If you’re working, focus your attention on understanding how the culture of the company works, without letting text messages take your attention away.
These tips may seem basic and even obvious, but they will help you live each day intensely and manage your time.