Description
WE all face challenges in our schedules. If you are making the transition from high school to college, you may be delighting in new freedoms, but also struggling to balance your many new responsibilities. Or you may be a student returning to school after spending a few years at work. You may be balancing work and family along with your classes.
How can you balance all of your life’s demands and be successful? Time management. Manage the time you have so that you can find the time you need.
In this section, I will outline a simple, four-step process for improving the way you make use of your time.
1. Keep a time-use diary to understand how you are using your time. You may be surprised at how much time you’re wasting.
2. Design a new schedule for using your time more effectively.
3. Make the most of your study time so that your new schedule will work for you.
4. If necessary, refine your new schedule, based on what you’ve learned.
How Are You UsingHow Are You Using Your Time Now?
Although everyone gets 24 hours in the day and seven days in the week, we fill those hours and days with different obligations and interests. If you are like most people, you probably use your time wisely in some ways, and not so wisely in others. Answering the questions in TABLE 1 can help you find trouble spots and hopefully more time for the things that matter most to you.
The next thing you need to know is how you actually spend your time. To find out, record your activities in a time-use diary for one week. Be realistic. Take notes on how much time you spend attending class, studying, working, commuting, meeting personal and family needs, fixing and eating meals, socializing (don’t forget texting, gaming, and social networking), exercising, and anything else that occupies your time, including life’s small practical tasks, which can take up plenty of your 24/7. As you record your activities, take notes on how you are feeling at various times of the day. When does your energy slump, and when do you feel most energetic?
Design a Better Schedule
Take a good look at your time-use diary. Where do you think you may be wasting time? Do you spend a lot of time commuting, for example? If so, could you use that time more productively? If you take public transportation, commuting is a great time to read and test yourself for review.
Did you remember to include time for meals, personal care, work schedules, family commitments, and other fixed activities?
How much do you sleep? In the battle to meet all of life’s daily commitments and interests, we tend to treat sleep as optional. Do your best to manage your life so that you can get enough sleep to feel rested. You will feel better and be healthier, and you will also do better academically and in relationships with your family and friends. (You will read more about this in Module 8.)
Are you dedicating enough time for focused study? Take a last look at your notes to see if any other patterns pop out. Now it’s time to create a new and more efficient schedule.
Plan the Term
Before you draw up your new schedule, think ahead. Use your phone’s calendar feature, or buy a portable calendar that covers the entire school term, with a writing space for each day. Using the course outlines provided by your instructors, enter the dates of all exams, term-paper deadlines, and other important assignments. Also be sure to enter your own long-range personal plans (work and family commitments, etc.). Keep your calendar up-to-date, refer to it often, and change it as needed. Through this process, you will develop a regular schedule that will help you achieve success.
Plan Your Week
To pass those exams, meet those deadlines, and keep up with your life outside of class, you will need to convert your long-term goals into a daily schedule. Be realistic you will be living with this routine for the entire school term. Here are some more things to add to your calendar.
1. Enter your class times, work hours, and any other fixed obligations. Be thorough. Allow plenty of time for such things as commuting, meals, and laundry
2. Set up a study schedule for each course. Remember what you learned about yourself in the study habits survey (TABLE 1) and your time-use diary. TABLE 2, More Tips for Effective Scheduling, offers some detailed guidance
drawn from psychology’s research.
3. After you have budgeted time for studying, fill in slots for other obligations, exercise, fun, and relaxatio