TIME MANAGEMENT: A BALANCING ACT

Dr. Holly Brown-Wright 9/24/08

Do You Feel Like Overwhelmed?

 Do you feel like there are not enough hours in the day?

 Do you feel like you can never get it all done?

 Do you feel like you waste time?

 Do you feel constantly stressed out?

Control Your Life by Controlling Time  By taking control of your time you can:  Be more productive  Reduce your stress  Improve your self-esteem  Achieve balance in your life  Conquer multitasking  Establish an important career skill  Reach your goals

Stay on Time to Reach Your Goals  Set Completion Dates  Set Goals and Sub goals   When writing a term paper, work backward from the due date reserving enough time for each step assigning a completion date to each step Revisit goals regularly….are you track????

Plan for the Term, Week, and Day  Choose the Right Planning Tools  Paper-and-Pencil Planners- good for short-term planning  Electronic Planners- good for long-range planning  However, hand-held devices such as iPhones and Palm Pilots can be used for all sorts of time-management tasks

In Your Planner……  Write in vacations and holidays  Write down dates for exams, quizzes, assignments, and papers  Consider color coding different courses

Allocate Time for Studying  In a national survey, the more hours students spent studying or doing homework, the more they liked and stayed in college…..and got into graduate school  Are you studying enough???

Allocate Time for Studying  Two strategies for getting the most out of your weekly plan:  Swiss Cheese- poking holes in a bigger task by working on it in small bursts of time or odd times  Set Time- set aside a fixed amount of time to work on a task (6 hrs wk for Bio reading, M,W,S 4-6pm)  Plan for tomorrow by setting priorities and using to-do lists!!!

Defend Your Priorities  Unplug the Phone  Turn the Cell OFF  Get an Answering Machine  Hang a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door  Tell visitors you are too busy to talk and you will have to get back to them later

Tune into Biological Rhythms     Are you a “morning person” or a “night person”? What time of day are you most focused?

Respect that; work with that If you are a night person, take afternoon or evening classes and study at these times If you are stuck with an early class, get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, and get some exercise

Procrastination      We procrastinate in many ways: Ignoring the task, hoping it will go away Underestimating the work involved in the task or overestimating your abilities and resources Spending endless hours on computer games and surfing the Internet Deceiving yourself that a mediocre or bad performance is acceptable

Procrastination  Substituting a worthy but lower priority nonacademic activity  Believing that repeated “minor” delays won’t hurt you  Dramatizing a commitment to a task rather than doing it  Persevering on only one part of a task

Procrastination  Becoming paralyzed when having to choose between two alternatives

Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination  Put a deadline on your calendar  Get organized  Divide the task into smaller jobs  Take a stand  Use positive self-statements  Build in a reward for yourself