The Trick to Time

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Research shows that if you learn two different things at once, you’ll learn them better. This is called interleaved practice. Though this is very much Mona’s story, de Waal creates a plethora of memorable characters that you grow to care about almost as much as the main character, from William to Karl, the aging man who starts to pursue a relationship with Mona. The whole book is suffused with a kind of poignant longing- regret for the past, maybe- and watching Mona try to open up throughout the novel is really heartbreaking. As a character, she’s easily one of the most memorable I’ve recently read- not just because of how her past and future interlink so seamlessly, but because she’s a strong, fearless heroine who has coped with everything life has thrown at her and more. Though at times she can come across as indecisive and hesitant, she’s also so relatable: she feels like a real person, with a real person’s regrets, life experiences and past. We have met Mona as a little girl and as a young woman, but the main character is the adult Mona, turning 60. Her good pal tells her: For an even simpler approach, create a task list and mark each item as urgent or important. Often, we prioritize urgent tasks instead of important ones—such as tasks that may be creative, important, and fulfilling but do not have a deadline—so identifying and labeling them can be a helpful step toward accomplishing your personal and professional goals. 3. Employ methods to “chunk” your time.

By that logic, memorizing just before you go to sleep is a nice way of strengthening that memory. While you sleep, your brain should work on that memory’s consolidation and reconsolidation. Repeat the process of working for 25 minutes and then taking a five minute break four times. Then, after the fourth working session, take a longer 20-30 minute break. 4. Eat the Frog A young Irish girl meets a young Irish boy as the two of them travel to England to find their fortunes. Predictably, they fall in love but soon a tragedy tears them apart. Over 40 years later, Mona is helping other women overcome their trauma, while still grieving for her own loss. We can’t be productive every single minute of the day. We need to make cups of tea, go to the toilet, and stare out of the window every now and then. Heidi suggests: ‘Allow yourself enough time to complete tasks. You don’t want to over-commit yourself and find you don’t have enough time to do everything.’

Most of the time, we’re trying to memorize something all day but when the right time comes, our memory fails to support us. If taking a break feels hard to do, you’re not alone. According to our research, 32% of knowledge workers who feel burnout report not being able to switch off or disconnect as something that fuels their burnout. Because they can’t switch off, they get burnt out, and when they’re burnt out, they can’t switch off—it’s a never-ending cycle.

Improve productivity. There are a variety of time management tips to help reduce procrastination and increase productivity. By identifying your main priorities for the day, you won’t just be more productive—you can also feel confident that you’re working on the right things each day.You may or may not like using an established time management strategy to organize your work. Not every time management strategy is effective for every person—that’s why there are so many of them in the first place. Instead, try these six tips to build your time management skills. 1. Connect daily work to goals You might be a bit concerned about how valid this theory is, given that it was initially presented in the 19th century. The only criticism I have for the book is, it felt a bit incomplete by not knowing the story from William's side. I really would have loved to know more of what he's been through and how he ended up where he did. I felt it was a bit disorganised and there were gaps where we could get more out of the story completing the picture.