Time Management

The key to successful achievement on the Foundation Degree is effective time-management. There are many ways in which you can manage you time. It certainly isn't the case that one size fits all and you'll have to work out for yourself how you can make time management work for you.

There are 3 main questions to ask yourself:

How can I balance conflicting priorities?
How can I deal with surprises in time scheduling?
What level of commitments can I handle?

Setting effective SMART targets will support you but you'll need to work out methods of managing your time too.

Consider some of these tips:

• A time log to find out how you spend your time. Write down every task, including eating, sleeping, leisure time, etc, and the amount of time it took. Then analyse how you spend your time and where you could have made your time usage more efficient
• Make a list of everything you have to do in a week and the amount of time that you need to accomplish this, include everything (sleeping, eating, studying, working, relax time, movies, class, exercise, going out with friends, travel time, etc.) Then total the amount of time for these activities.A week only has 168 hours in it (7 days X 24 hours).Most individuals will find that they are committed to more hours of week than there are actual hours.This requires the individual to prioritise the activities in their life.
• Make a “to-do list” everyday, and make it a goal to accomplish everything on your list
• Use a daily/weekly planner to keep track of what you need to accomplish.
• Use a long-term calendar to record test dates, important due dates, things that you need to plan ahead for.

Managing your time will give you more free-time - if that doesn't motivate you, then nothing will :)

Time Management Ideas:

• Many effective schedulers take 5-10 minutes, either in the morning or before they go to bed, to plan their day
• Allow larger blocks of time for grasping new and/or difficult concepts.
• Keep up with your schedule daily.Letting you get behind allows work to build up and it may take longer periods of time to get the work done if this happens
• Concentrate on learning material the first time around.Then work on reviewing and refreshing material.This will allow you to determine where you need to do more studying instead of reviewing material you are already strong in
• Avoid marathon study sessions.Most individuals’ attention spans range from 20-50 minutes in length depending on the subject matter.Be willing to take short breaks in order to refresh your attention span and recognize your own attention span.
• Use waiting time effectively! Many times you can accomplish a great deal of work in the short bits of time you have before or after class, while you wait for appointments, etc. This is valuable study time that allows you to distribute information over time
• Divide and conquer. Divide large projects into manageable sections and prepare a schedule for each section - you could even approach work as part of a team, sharing responsibility between you

Now investigate different methods of time management and choose one that works for you.

Write a short evaluation / summary of the different systems people employ to manage their time and why you've chosen the one you've chosen (You could even design it yourself)

Use your plan for a week or two and write a second comment on how effective it has proven to be.

Thanks

Kerry