Time Management Tips
Time Saving Tips
- Don't waste time feeling guilty about what you didn't do. It's gone now; move ahead.
- Try to find a new technique each day that you can use to help gain time.
- Eat a light lunch so that you don't get sleepy in the afternoon.
- Examine old habits for possible elimination or streamlining.
- Carry blank 3 x 5 index cards in your pocket to jot down notes and ideas.
- Plan activities first thing in the morning and set priorities for the day.
- Keep a list of specific items to be done each day, arrange them in priority order, and then do your best to get the important ones done as soon as possible.
- Give yourself time off and special rewards when you complete the important tasks.
- Once on campus, stay on campus. Avoid useless trips back to your apartment or room unless you have a definite purpose to accomplish.
- Give yourself enough time to concentrate on high priority items.
- Concentrate on one task at a time.
- Keep pushing and be persistent when you sense you can be a winner.
- Train yourself to go down your "To Do List" without skipping over the difficult items.
- Set deadlines for yourself and others.
- Find a place for everything (so you waste as little time as possible looking for things).
- Try not to think of work on weekends.
- Frequently ask yourself: "What is the best use of my time right now?"
- It ain't over til it's over. Your paper isn't finished until the last word is typed; the Quarter isn't over until the last exam is done. Do 100%. See your work through to completion.
Tips for Setting Up a Study Schedule
- Find a good place to study and organize it.
- Have all of the necessary study equipment (textbooks, pencils, notes, etc.)
- Make your study periods fit the length of time you can concentrate effectively. Plan for definite periods of study, rest and relaxation. A short, active break (taking a 10-minute walk, for example) every hour or so will keep you alert and relaxed.
- Use a schedule to achieve your goals. Revise your schedule when your goals change.
- Eliminate dead hours - odd bits of time in which little is accomplished.
- List academic tasks according to priorities.
- Avoid making extremely detailed schedules. It usually just wastes more time.
Go to sleep each night and get up every morning about the same time. You'll be more alert.
Deese, James and Ellen K. Deese. How To Study. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1979.
Lakein, Alan. How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. New York: Peter H. Wyden, Inc., 1973.
Pauk, Walter. How To Study In College (2nd ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.
Raygor, Alton L. and David Wark. Systems For Study. New York: McGraw- Hill, Inc, 1970.
Staton, Thomas F. and Emma D. Staton. How To Study. 6th ed. Montgomery, AL, 1977.