Too much to do, too little time? Here are a few ideas to help you manage that precious commodity effectively.
No. 1: Early bird or night owl?
Figure out the time when you're most productive. Break your typical day into three to four time slots and, over a week, rank these slots from your most to least productive. Use the most productive time to do as much as possible.
No. 2: Set some goals.
These will help overcome procrastination. As much as you don’t want to tackle that assignment, you DO want the qualification. Keep the end goal in mind!
Ever heard he phrase 'work smarter, not harder'? Try setting some SMART goals to keep you on track. Not sure what that is? Go to the Learning Skills Centre shelf on Brightspace & click on "Learning".
No. 3: Prioritize.
Use the 80-20 Rule which claims 80% of the reward comes from 20% of the effort. The trick to prioritizing is identifying that valuable 20%. Once identified, focus on those items with the greatest reward.
No. 4: Make a To-Do List
Best completed at the beginning of the day. Write your tasks down then break them down into smaller, more do-able portions – sometimes known as the Swiss cheese method. Read about it here:
https://cmd.wichita.edu/hackett-in-management-swiss-cheese-approach/#:~….
e.g you have a 2000 word assignment due in two weeks. Break it down into smaller tasks that you assign to different days: research one day, an outline the next, compile your research to be more cohesive next day, then begin the writing process and so on.
No. 5 Use a planner (an extended form of the to-do list).
Schedule (using specific time frames) items to complete during different days of the week.
Check out the planners at:
https://holmesglen.libguides.com/studyskills/timemanagement
No. 6 Get organized!
Create a folder for each of your units and save assignments/your work there. That way you will not lose valuable time searching for hard-to-find documents.
SOME USEFUL TIME MANAGEMENT SITES:
Calendar Labs https://www.calendarlabs.com/printable-calendar.php
-Printable. Can customise 'study periods' (e.g. for a term or semester)
Google Calendar calendar.google.com/calendar
-Online. Syncs with all devices (e.g. Tablets, Laptops) and is viewable/editable on all these devices where a user is logged-in
Holmesglen Email
-Online. Perhaps the 'best' online calendar for students
-Can setup/receive appointments inside your email account. You can also go into your calendar and add events like assignment due dates etc.
Do you have any savvy time management tips you can share?
If so, write them in the comments section.
Need more help?
Contact Learning Skills Centre @ learningskillscentre@holmesglen.edu.au