STEPS TO IMPROVED TIME MANAGEMENT

FOUR STEPS TO IMPROVED TIME MANAGEMENT

There are four strategies that can be very useful for managing time more effectively.

They are:

• Create a semester schedule
• Assess and plan your work load each week
• Adjust your plan each day
• Evaluate your schedule

CREATE A SEMESTER SCHEDULE

Record known class assignments including quizzes, tests, projects and papers	Recording your class assignments from the beginning of the semester creates a framework for your semester. It lets you know when you are likely to have high academic demands and when you will have more flexibility for scheduling pleasurable activities.
Record co-curricular activities including work hours, meetings, social commitments and out-of-town weekends	Recording co-curricular activities allows you to have a more accurate picture of how full or open your schedule will be throughout the semester. These activities are important for providing balance in your schedule.
It will be important to update you semester schedule regularly. Assignment due dates change, assignments are added and activities are planned. Keeping an accurate semester schedule facilitates the next step of this process, assessing and planning your weekly workload. ASSESSING AND PLANNING YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE Make a list of what you have to accomplish during the coming week, including class assignments and class attendance. Being inclusive in your list of school work that must be done for the week is essential for making your schedule work. Everything takes take time, whether it's reading a chapter, working problems, or writing an outline for a research paper. Include co-curricular activities, work hours, errands, exercise, meals and time with friends on your list of things to do for the week. Daily living activities and co-curricular activities are important and provide balance in your schedule but take time away from study time. Preparing dinner and cleaning up afterwards or attending a student organization meeting can take as much time as reading a chapter in a textbook. Estimate how long each task will take. This is an essential, but often overlooked step in the time scheduling process. Activities take different amounts of time so to effectively use your time, it is important to estimate how long a task will take and allow that amount of time for the task. It's better to estimate conservatively if you don't know how long something will take. If you finish 30 minutes or an hour early, you can use that time however you would like but if you haven't allowed enough time, you'll have to take time away from another task to complete the one that is taking longer than planned. Identify the day on which you will accomplish each task, keeping in mind the amount of time the task will take and other things you must also do that day. This facilitates the next step of this process, making a daily schedule. By looking at your whole week and realizing everything you need to accomplish during that week, you are more likely to avoid missing deadlines. You can make adjustments throughout the week instead of finding that you have a 6 hour task with only three hours remaining before the deadline. Making your schedule for the next week is a good activity for Friday afternoon or evening, before beginning your weekend. Weekends provide the largest blocks of time for study so if you will have a very full week ahead, it may be helpful to complete some of the tasks on the weekend to decrease the time crunch during the coming week. ADJUST YOUR SCHEDULE EVERY DAY Write out a daily schedule at the beginning of each day. Include uncompleted tasks from the previous day as well as new tasks. This should only take a few minutes because you can use your weekly schedule to create it quickly. Use an index card or a daily planner. Carry your schedule with you so you can refer to it as needed and cross items off once they are completed. This last step provides a sense of accomplishment. As you write out your daily schedule, assess your priorities. Some activities must be done on a particular day while others may be optional for that day. You can use the A, B, C system of prioritizing your tasks. A's must be done that day and C's are optional. B's are important but not as important as A's. Try to accomplish all your A tasks before moving on to the B tasks and finally the C tasks. This can reduce your stress level.