Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
2.3 Organizing Your Time - Coggle Diagram
2.3 Organizing Your Time
Learning Objectives
-
-
-
-
Use a calendar planner and daily to-do list to plan ahead for study tasks and manage your time effectively.
Learn effective time management techniques for students who work, students with family, and student athletes.
Key Takeaways
People “use” time very differently. To develop strategies for managing your time, discover your time personality and observe how much time you spend in different activities in the course of a week.
Plan your schedule with two hours of study time for each hour in class. Use your most alert times of day, break up large tasks into smaller pieces and stages, take breaks to help you stay focused, avoid distractions, and reward yourself for successful accomplishments.
Procrastination has many different causes for different people but is a problem for most students. Different techniques can help you battle procrastination so you can get the job done.
Use a weekly calendar planner to block out study times and plan well ahead for examinations and key assignments to achieve success in school.
Use a daily to-do list along with your weekly planner to avoid overlooking even smaller tasks and to make the most of your time throughout the day.
Students who work, live with family, or are athletes often face significant time pressures and must make a special effort to stay organized and plan ahead for efficient studying.
-
-
Battling Procrastination
-
-
Just as there are different causes, there are different possible solutions for procrastination. Different strategies work for different people.
The time management strategies described earlier can help you avoid procrastination. Because this is a psychological issue, some additional psychological strategies can also help:
Since procrastination is usually a habit, accept that and work on breaking it as you would any other bad habit: one day at a time.
Schedule times for studying using a daily or weekly planner. Carry it with you and look at it often. Just being aware of the time and what you need to do today can help you get organized and stay on track.
If you keep thinking of something else you might forget to do later (making you feel like you “must” do it now), write yourself a note about it for later and get it out of your mind.
Counter a negative with a positive. If you’re procrastinating because you’re not looking forward to a certain task, try to think of the positive future results of doing the work.
Counter a negative with a worse negative. If thinking about the positive results of completing the task doesn’t motivate you to get started, think about what could happen if you keep procrastinating.
On the other hand, fear causes procrastination in some people—so don’t dwell on the thought of failing.
Study with a motivated friend. Form a study group with other students who are motivated and won’t procrastinate along with you. You’ll learn good habits from them while getting the work done now.
Keep a study journal. At least once a day write an entry about how you have used your time and whether you succeeded with your schedule for the day.
Get help. If you really can’t stay on track with your study schedule, or if you’re always putting things off until the last minute, see a college counselor.
-
Your Daily To-Do List
People use to-do lists in different ways, and you should find what works best for you. As with your planner, consistent use of your to-do list will make it an effective habit.
Some people prefer not to carry their planner everywhere but instead copy the key information for the day onto a to-do list.
Using this approach, your daily to-do list starts out with your key scheduled activities and then adds other things you hope to do today.
Some people use their to-do list only for things not on their planner, such as short errands, phone calls or e-mail, and the like. This still includes important things—but they’re not scheduled out for specific times.
Although we call it a daily list, the to-do list can also include things you may not get to today but don’t want to forget about.
Start every day with a fresh to-do list written in a special small notebook or on a clean page in your planner.
Some items won’t require much time, but other activities such as assignments will. Include a time estimate for these so that later you can do them when you have enough free time.
-