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Time Management
by Dr. Gregory Hall
Bentley College
If ever there was a boring topic, time management is it. However, the fact is that
poor time management is the most common reason for poor academic performance. Most
of us are highly skilled in the fine art of procrastination! Usually, we are lucky
enough to have someone like a parent or a teacher constantly nagging us to do
everything from getting up in the morning to completing homework. These counter
balances to procrastination don't exist in the college and university
environment. Professors assign the reading, exams and papers at the beginning
of the semester by listing 'due dates' in the course syllabus. Occasionally, a
professor might remind us of a pending assignment. Most professors aren't going
to be concerned about our attendance. For those of us who are resident students,
parents aren't available day in and day out to monitor our natural inclination to
procrastinate. We have to take responsibility for developing our own effective
time management skills. The good news is, it really isn't difficult or painful to
develop and practice good time management skills. Your college or university
probably has resources to assist you. Check with your advisor or with your student
affairs administrators.
Here are some tips to get you started:
- Effective time management requires balance. Any good college or university
balances resources to facilitate intellectual, social and personal development in
its students. For instance, academic majors, courses, faculty, the library and
classroom facilities are all there to facilitate our intellectual growth. The
campus center, clubs, student organizations, residence halls and campus events
are all in place to facilitate our social development. Advisors, counseling
professionals, health care staff, the gym and leadership opportunities exist to
facilitate our personal development. Your time should be balanced in a similar
manner.
- In order to determine how to allocate your time to intellectual, social and
personal growth, you must first establish goals in each of these domains:
- intellectual development: What are your goals for the
semester? For each course? Review your syllabi to determine realistic goals for
each course. Discuss your goals with the professor teaching the course to get
their estimate of the study time necessary to achieve your goal. Repeat this
process for each course.
- social development: What are your extra-curricular goals
for the semester? Being actively engaged in a couple of clubs or organizations
is a better use of time than marginal involvement in many organizations. How much
time do you plan to spend with friends? Which days of the week do you usually
devote to social activities? A healthy and balanced social life is important to
your overall success.
- personal development: First and foremost is your physical and
emotional health. How much sleep do you need each night? Do you have physical
exercise in your schedule at least every other day? Are you maintaining a balanced
diet? Sleep, exercise and diet often get disrupted during the college years. Some
of the warning signs of trouble include, being up until 3:00am on a regular basis;
skipping class due to oversleeping, ordering pizza or other 'junk food' deliveries
late at night on a regular basis; living the life of a 'couch potato'; lack of
concentration and increased forgetfulness. A balanced diet, proper sleep and
regular exercise will result in lower levels of stress and higher levels of energy.
- Develop a regular 'routine' (you will hear it referred to as a 'time management
plan') based upon your goals. Creating a weekly calendar that includes, class
times, study times, social time, exercise time and any other time necessary to
achieve your goals, is the best way to guard against procrastination.
For additional guidance click here .
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