Time Management
Life is busy, and student life has certain time pressures that need to be managed. It can be difficult to balance school activities such as classes, studying, group work, projects and exams with everything else going on at work and at home.
Time Management is a set of skills you can apply to the rest of your life. Using time effectively and efficiently, planning, and prioritizing are all parts of the time management puzzle.
Developing Schedules
Developing schedules – semester, weekly and daily — is an excellent way to start managing your time. A semester schedule gives you an overview of all your assignment due dates and tests. A weekly schedule allows you to schedule your study time. And a daily schedule, which allows you to prioritize. See the resources below for helpful templates to get you started or try out one of the apps.
So what can you do to better manage your time?
If you plan ahead and build in some of these strategies, you will probably have more time!
- Focus on one task at a time without interruption for 25-minute blocks of time followed by a short break.
- Do your least favorite task first, when you’re likely to be less tired.
- Use the time of day when you are most alert for tasks that require concentration.
- Get started! It's tempting to procrastinate, but you can avoid it by starting with a small task for a single 25-minute block of time.
- Break up large tasks into smaller ones (see Assignment Calculator links in the Tools and Resources section below).
- Return to the same study area to do your work. This creates a study habit.
- Review notes shortly after classes.
- Take notes during class even if there is a PowerPoint available on Moodle, as this will help reinforce the material covered.
- Do assigned readings before class; this will help you make sense of the lecture and class discussion regarding the subject matter.
Tools and Resources
- Pomodoro Technique (2.25 minute video)
- Thomas Frank: How Do You Get So Much Done? (6 minute video)
- How Do I Use My Time?
- Video: 6 minutes to saving time
- Comprehensive Info on Time Management from York University
- Website of resources
- Thomas Frank #1 Method for Stopping Procrastination (7 minute video)