Managing Your Time

Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.
-Dr. Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive

Many people find that the way to begin to gain control of their time is by discovering how their time is being spent. You accomplish this by keeping a time log from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, (or begin by logging your planning periods.) Design your time log so you can make notations every fifteen minutes. Within a week or two, you'll see where your time goes. As you examine the time log, look to see if time is being wasted on low priority tasks.Control of your time starts with planning. If you plan each day, there will always be time for the important things.

Get "absolute musts" accomplished early in the day when you have the most energy, and avoid that frantic feeling throughout the day.

Ask yourself, "How terrible would it be if I didn't do this low priority item." If the answer is "not too terrible," don't do it.

Use periods of rest and diversion during the day to restore your energy. It is inefficient to work when tired - a few minutes of rest may improve and increase your productivity to higher levels.

Say No. What do you do when someone asks you to do "one more thing"? If it won't result in losing your job, your family, or your life, say no. "No" is a responsible answer. To help you say no, you can.

Use your time efficiently. Choose activities that bring the highest return in value when measured against your goals. If you can determine exactly what you want, you are capable of determining how to get it.

Benefits of Scheduling

Prevents procrastination.

Helps you stay up to date and avoid last minute cramming.

Makes studying enjoyable.

Provides balance and time for guilt-free leisure time.

Keeps YOU in control of your priorities.

Actually saves time by providing a guide for you to follow.

The Principles of Scheduling

Use daylight hours.

Study before a discussion class or one that has frequent pop quizzes.

Study immediately after lecture class.

Study at the same time every day.

Plan enough time to study (at least one to two study hours for every class hour.)

Space study periods (50 to 90 minutes of study and then take a 10-15 minute break.)

List activities according to priorities.

Study during your prime time, the time when you are most alert.

Leave unscheduled time for flexibility.

Analyze your use of time.

5 Steps to Preparing a Master Schedule

Step One – Fill in the times with everything you have no choice about when you do them: classes, labs, job, picking up children at school, commuting, set weekly meetings.

Step Two – Count the number of blank spaces. (Yes, include Saturday and Sunday.) Write this number at the bottom of the Master Schedule. These are the number of hours that you can choose what you do. You will note that the Master Schedule accounts for only the hours between 7am and Midnight. You can create more choices by getting up earlier or accounting for hours after Midnight.

Step Three – Now fill in those blank spaces with things that you need to do but have a choice about when you do them. I assume that your first priority is school, so begin there. For each 3-hour class that you are taking, fill in three spaces with study time for that particular course. Don’t just fill in “Study”. Fill in “Study/math”. Make sure that you use what you already know about scheduling to make wise choices. Use daylight hours. Study right after a lecture class or right before a recitation type class. Treat these times as if they were classes. Miss that time only for the same reason you might miss class. Even if you don’t have homework to do, use this time to review or go ahead. This is allowing you one hour of study for every hour you are in class. You will probably need more time; however, you will find with a scheduled time for each class, you will actually be able to get things done faster and won’t leave things to the last minute.

Step Four– Now fill in other things that you need to do – recreation, shopping, meeting with friends, time with family, laundry, cooking eating, etc...

Step Five – The blanks left now are for you to use for whatever comes without guilt

Using the steps discussed above, see if you can complete your own Master Schedule.

Master Schedule

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
7-8
8-9
9-10
10-11
11-12
12-1
1-2
2-3
3-4
4-5
5-6
6-7
7-8
8-9
9-10
10-11
11-12

References

www.dsea.org/teachingtips/

www.mtsu.edu/~studsk1/

Return to Top