Time Management

By: Ivelisse Franceschi

Time Management Key Points

There are different ways to stay organized in different aspects of your life, and they’re all

important for maintaining a manageable lifestyle and study time.

1. Stay Organized

Ya, ya you all know that! But are we actually organized with a clean work or study area? From

personal experience I have learned having a space to study that is free from clutter is a major area to

maximize your productivity.

The cleaner your space is, the more focused you will be. Take time to clean up and get organized and make sure everything is in it’s proper place

and is easily accessible. It will have you time and money on the long run.

Time Verses Money

2. Get the small stuff out of the way first.

This includes your to do list and all the small stuff that consume the least amount of time, and making sure you have all the necessary study tools and materials you need before it’s time to get serious. Always be ready!

This is very similar to keeping an organized work space, only instead of keeping a physical space

free of clutter, you’re keeping your daily life free of clutter. The moment you’re presented with

something small, get it out of the way right away. The small tasks are the ones that can pile up the

fastest.

For example when the syllabus is made available, go through it and organize your self accordingly. Download your textbooks as soon as you know which ones you need. Do it now, so you don’t

forget about it later.

3. Use to-do lists for daily and long-term goals.

When you have a clear understanding of the work you

need to get done on a daily basis, and a weekly (and even

monthly) basis, it helps you better understand the scale of

what's ahead. When everything is laid out, you’ll have an easier

time categorizing and prioritizing work by due date, amount of

effort, and importance.

What helped me was to break down large goals into smaller

ones that are easier to manage. Getting those big tasks become much more manageable when you understand the bits and

pieces of work required to make the larger project a success.

If you have an assignment or project due, set aside enough time such as specific

dates and times to spend as study time in order to prepare. Dedicate certain amount of time researching and revise all the final

assignments.

Not only will this help you with the project at hand, it will help make your time

management skills stronger as a whole, because you’re learning how to get a feel for your own pace, and how to judge the

necessary time commitments to get certain types of work done.

STUDY TIME

Understand Your Limits

We are not computers. With the amount of

work you have to do, the amount of

information you need to process, the number

of tests you need to prepare for, it’s crucial to remember your own

physical and mental limits when preparing for those particularly

work loads.

4. Organize study time around what works for you.

Obviously, but there’s more to it than you may think. Ask yourself, do you work best

at nights, or in the mornings?

Alone, or in groups?

Get a feel for the circumstances that help you be the most productive you can be,

and try to plan your prime study sessions in accordance with those

If you’re not someone who can work first thing in the morning, spend the early hours of your day getting those smaller, mindless tasks we talked about earlier out of the way. Send emails, mark dates, go over your to-do list, take some time to wake up.

Just as, if you’re not someone who can work late into the night, power through the day and treat yourself with a good night’s sleep.

5. Be aware of your health, and make plans to maintain it.Three, major key factors are sleep, eat and

exercise. You need at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep daily while maintaining healthy eating

habits all along with exercise. No matter what there is no reason to let your physical health and sanity slip because of it. I know you might think taking a break here and

there might be a waste of time, but that’s only the case if you’re doing it in excess –

that’s called procrastination.

Kicking back one or two times during a long study session, grabbing some food

and going on a quick walk will actually help you focus for longer periods of time.

In conclusion you’re saving time by allowing yourself a quick break to re-energize and re-focus your mind, than you would be if you tried to power through your work with no relaxation in sight. That’s the perfect way to crash and burn, and end up being less productive in the long run. As we all know maintain a healthy diet and exercise are necessary to stay productive and focused.

All images obtain from http://compfight.com/search/rest/1-2-1-1