"How do I manage what little time I have?" With Salina

Kate sits down with Salina from @TheGuoTwins (HBA '25) to discuss strategies and relationships that helped keep her on track during her Ivey years. 

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The Ivey Career Management Podcast shares practical career advice, alumni insights, and expert perspectives to help Ivey students and graduates navigate their careers with confidence.

[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.]
Welcome to the Ivey Career Management Podcast.

Today we're stepping out of the studio to bring you stories and strategies from students, special guests, and the Career Management team.

While we find a quiet space, make yourself comfortable and let's get started.

Today we are talking with Salina. Salina, would you like to introduce yourself?

Yeah for sure. So I'm Salina, I'm in HBA2 and I previously studied BMOS in my first two years pre-Ivey,

and some of my experiences during uni include holding executive positions on clubs,

like the president position, as well as I have my own YouTube channel with my sister.

So this one does require some PR events in Toronto, so I'll have to go back and that takes up quite a bit of my time.

So I think over these years I've learned a few time management, uh, tips and tricks I'd love to share with you guys today.

Awesome. We know that it is rare for students from any program to feel as if they have enough time to do all the things that they need to do.

Um, what would you say are kind of your top tips for time management?

Yeah. For sure. So my top 3... So first is temptation bundling,

second is time blocking, and third is eliminating decision making.

So temptation bundling... it sounds like a big word,

but it's essentially pairing up activities that you need to do with things that you enjoy or want to do.

So for example, like, if you need or feel like you need to go to the gym,

you can pair it up with watching like a TV show that you've been meaning to watch, and then go on the treadmill and watch at the same time.

With recruiting, that could be going to a recruiting event and then making sure you ask a few key friends to come with you and you go get food after.

So that's one strategy. The second is time blocking.

So I love using Google Calendar, Outlook, Notion,

and that's essentially breaking down your tasks into hourly blocks in the day.

For example,

like applying for resumes and cover letters to jobs and breaking that down into one hour in a day and then trying to stick within that hour.

And then the third would be eliminating decision making.

So I actually got this book, this tip from a book called Atomic Habits, which is a pretty popular one by James Clear.

It's also featured in The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

Okay. So this one is essentially where you eliminate the decisions that you have to make in a day because you have a finite amount of willpower.

So whether that looks like planning your outfit the night before, before your 8:00 am so you can get up on time,

spend less time figuring out that outfit, and then spend more time doing the things that, you know, matter, that you care about.

Um, and these help you? Yes. Okay. Um, these seem like, tried and true ones for you,

and you mentioned that you you tend to juggle a lot as an Ivey student.

What... how did your time management strategies change for you between maybe like before you got to Ivey and HBA1,

and then also between your HBA1 and your HBA2 year?

And were there any changes? Maybe it was all the same. Yeah. So I think definitely. As, like a first year student coming into uni,

everything became a lot more digitalized from high school, and initially I thought that was something that worked for me,

but then I found in first year with like orientation week and extracurriculars and getting used to classes,

I found sticking to my traditional, like, physical paper agenda was what worked for me,

but then as I got to Ivey and there's recruiting events, that happened 6 to 8 p.m. or just random like Ivey section socials,

I found that the physical agenda was a add-on to my online calendar,

so I used Google Calendar and the agenda, and then going from HBA1 to HBA2, I found there was a lot less commitments, but they were bigger.

So I used to set a lot of reminders for on Google Calendar, for example, like 30 minutes advance,

I have a meeting coming up, but then HBA2 30 minutes wasn't enough time,

so I usually set it either a day in advance, for example, with my YouTube like PR events in Toronto,

so I have to book tickets, uh, transport back or just do 3 to 4 hours in advance.

Okay, wonderful. What other supports and resources have helped you stay on track?

Yeah. So I find, like, reaching out to people I'm close with and having someone else keep me accountable is something that really helped.

So for example, with the YouTube channel, it's very easy to just forget to make videos or forget what direction we're going in.

So every week on Sundays I have a calendar invite with my twin sister and it's called like YouTube, YouTube Strategy Check-in,

so we just discuss like the upcoming videos for the week.

Uh, with Ivey and school, I usually have a few friends that I'll check in with them and be like, "oh, are there

any big assignments, big recruiting events I should watch out for this week?"

So I remember to put on my calendar, bring my, you know, business casual/business formal attire and show up.

And yeah, I think those are the biggest ones. So definitely like having people that, you know, can keep you accountable.

Okay, and are there any other strategies or thoughts that you'd like to share with students as they negotiate

trying to spend time on recruitment and then everything else that goes on in life?

Yeah, for sure. So I think my biggest advice would be to prioritize consistency over volume.

So what I mean by this is, for example, spending an hour every day doing recruiting things,

whether that's editing resumes, writing cover letters, versus cramming five hours on one Saturday or Sunday,

and I just find that's a lot better for you to stay on top of the recruiting postings that come out, as they can often get very overwhelming,

and then you're also able to just continuously iterate on that. Another thing that I did

that's very Ivey per-, like specific, is that I visited Career Management in HBA1 to get them to look at my cover letter and resume,

and then I had a good base/foundation going forward,

and then when I had those other companies and jobs to apply for, I just tweaked and edited specific sentences,

but I knew my foundation was set. And then my second biggest tip would be... definitely, like, when you go into recruiting,

have a few firms that you want to focus on so you're able to really align yourself,

and if you make it to the final round, you're able to fully, actually get the job.

As based off my experiences, I got a lot of interviews; I made it to the final round,

but what I found differentiated, you know, the people got the job versus people get the interviews

is that alignment and why you really want it.

So figure that out ahead of time and then just choose like 3 to 4, 5 to 6... as much as you need, and focus on those.

And with those last experiences, Salina like it wasn't that your cover letter and resume weren't good.

It wasn't that you weren't interviewing well, it just like... that fit or that alignment piece. Exactly.

Okay, wonderful. Well, we know you're very busy. Thank you so much for taking the time to connect today and have a wonderful have a wonderful weekend!

Of course. Thank you so much, and feel free to to reach out to me if you have any questions.

I am a Career Peer so you can find all my information on the website. Thank you.

Thank you for watching. If you'd like to see more podcast content, check out your Career Management Community on LEARN.

If you'd like to connect with Career Management, you can book a one on one appointment via 12Twenty or visit us in room 2235.

Take good care.