In a recent freshman, undergraduate course that I taught at a leading university in Chicago, I noticed that most of my students lacked a particular skill set.
This disturbed me very much as I was under the impression that part of the high school curriculum was to teach and implement this skill set.
I guess I was mistaken because it has come up more than once in different areas of the United States, ranging from New York, Dallas and San Diego.
What is this skill set you might ask? It is the skill of time management.
It was funny, because in a class I am currently teaching, I made sure to go over these strategies that I am going to touch on and when I introduced the topic, I heard a distinctive hum of disagreement and annoyance.
So, I wanted to give my students the benefit of the doubt and I asked them about time management in conjunction with school work and what it means to them.
I had one student tell me if I want proper time management, I need to get a watch.
Yes, that is correct answer but how will that help you with dealing and planning your homework.
He looked dumbfounded.
Needless to say, we proceeded with the class on time management.
What I want to address are seven strategies that I found useful and have found others also could use a refresher in.
These seven strategies include: 1.
Being Organized 2.
Planning Ahead 3.
Proper prioritization of tasks at hand 4.
Avoid Overload 5.
Utilizing Effective Studying Techniques 6.
Expect the Unexpected 7.
Think Big Picture For this article, we are going to cover the first three.
1.
Being Organized This strategy was one of the hardest for me to tackle.
I am a perpetual dropper and stasher of stuff anywhere that it should not be.
I never put anything away and I always forgot people's birthdays and other days of importance.
Here are some points on how to stay organized that I personally started using in my life and, low and behold, they seen to actually work: • Use calendars and/or a "to do list" • Use email and answering machines • Have an organized workspace 2.
Be able to Plan ahead When someone starts a task, they should be able to tell you, in confidence, when this task will be done.
What I have found is that this is never the case.
Take for instance construction on the toll ways in your hometown.
How many times do they go over budget and take two years longer to complete? Their project manager failed to plan ahead effectively.
Here is a quick list to think about: • Determine the length of the task • Consider if any activities can be combined to save time • Try to break down larger tasks into smaller tasks which are easier to schedule and complete.
3.
Being able to prioritize tasks effectively From a student's perspective, we need to look at Xbox or Facebook versus homework.
Which activity will take priority? Here are strategies to give priority to any tasks throughout the day: • Use the A-B-C rating system as a "to do" checklist.
Most of us learned about this system in grade school but it works for college students and working professionals.
Assign an A to the highest priority and continue forward.
As an example to Facebook versus homework, homework should receive that "A" and Facebook should be receive the "B" in priority standing.
• Look to your "to do list" to see if any additional resources will be needed.
If you need to start something, like a term paper or project but it is not due for a couple of weeks, even though you have time to complete it, you should still take into consideration all of the extra work such as researching topics and writing the paper.
If you do not work at taking care of the small priorities, then those small priorities will become big priorities at the end.
Word of advice, do not procrastinate.
I hope that these three strategies get you off to a good start.
Please be looking for the other four strategies very soon.
Copyright 2011 by DANIEL ZIMMERMAN All rights reserved.