Time Management Tips

Good time management techniques are critical to your success, because you have a lot more unstructured time at college or university. Here are some time management tips:

• Use a planner, either an electronic one like a personal digital assistant (PDA), Google Calendar or a paper organizer that includes a weekly and monthly calendar. Do not use more than one planner, and always carry it with you.

• Write up a study schedule with times to work on different academic tasks (e.g. readings, assignments).

• Reserve time each day to plan and prioritize academic tasks.

• Pay attention to your attention. Schedule school work at the time of day when you are most productive.

• Make sure to schedule time each week for housework, cooking and errands.

• Set aside time each day to review your lecture notes and consolidate the new information into your memory. Doing this 10 minutes per class will save hours and hours of cramming later on.

• Do not go to class and study all day, then go home and study all night, every night, or you will crash and burn. Use your daytime hours wisely, so you can enjoy guilt-free evenings off. Plan at least one day off each week as a reward for keeping up.

• Plan when, where and how to complete your reading, writing and other assignments.

• Break tasks down into manageable chunks.

• Take frequent breaks while studying.

• When you sit down to study, do the most dreaded task first.

• When doing school work, try to focus on the task at hand - as long as all tasks have been identified, prioritized and scheduled in - everything is under control.

Adapted from: Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC), Carleton University: www.carleton.ca/pmc.
Centre for Students with Disabilities, Algonquin College: www.algonquincollege.com/csd.

Check out: University of Minnesota’s Assignment Calculator lets you type in your assignment start and end dates, and sets up a schedule for you. It will even email you reminders.