Student Time Management Vs Normal Time Management

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My clients and my classmates often ask me about a student’s time management vs. regular time management. And as my quizzical stare startles them, it dawns on me that they’ve made some kind of artificial distinction between regular time management and student time management. There is no distinction between a student managing time and anyone else outside of how much time you can study (though if you’re sedentary a lot, do some yoga for your own sake… trust me). But with that in mind, I’ll gear this toward the student.

Many people like the standard time management system where they have a set time to do everything. And if you like that, then rock it. All you really need to do is just decide what tasks you need to get done over the semester and how long you think each one will take. Then, schedule a time each day to crack at that larger overall goal.

For instance, if you’re in two English classes, a science class, and two humanities, then you’ll have slightly different set of needs in each class, but mostly overlapping needs.

So, the first thing to do would be to open a calendar (Google Calendars is great for this) and just block off all the time that you’re in class.

Next, figure out how much reading you need to do for each class. Estimate how long you think that’ll take you. Then, add a bit of time to that estimate, somewhere between 1/10th and an 1/4th of the overall time. (It’s always good to over-prepare for time–you can always use another break, trust me!) Now, break this down into daily, manageable chunks and schedule it in your calendar.

Do the same with writing papers and projects (including the extra time–it’s even more important here because you can live without finishing all the reading… ). And of course with studying for tests and anything else you may have to do regularly.

You can schedule free time and sleeping if you want; however, you may just decide that unscheduled time is free time and you can sleep whenever you want during it (I’d recommend the latter).

If you have everything scheduled and have planned more than enough time to do it, then the only thing left to do is do it. There are also alternatives to this, for instance, you can schedule all your reading for one day, all your writing for another, etc.

However, there is an alternative method. It’s called task management and is basically the same idea, but rather than doing things on a set schedule, you do them in order of priority on that day. You just figure out what you need to do, prioritize it, put a time limit on it, and then do the tasks in order of priority within the time limit.

But remember, it’s your time, so ultimately student time management is up to you. Just remember that whatever works best for you is what’s key because ultimately it’s about getting yourself to get as much done as possible everyday while still having time to enjoy your life, right? So, it’s worth tweaking and testing systems until you find one that works just right for you…

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Source by Joshua Howard