Time Management & Other Tips

1. Time Management & Other Tips Presented by Chareane Wimbley-Gouveia Learning Center WH 228

2. Your Life Plan: Achieved One Step at a Time! SUCCESS!!! Your dreams in life Your Long -term goals for each dream Your Short-term goals for each dream Your weekly action plan to achieve each dream Your daily to-do lists

3. To get whatever you want from life, you have only to set in motion the appropriate cause, and the effect will take care of itself. ---Keith Ellis, author of The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People

4. Activity: 1 Time Management Questionnaire • Fill out the half sheet that begins: “Answer YES or NO to the following questions.” 2. Total your points. • Be ready to share with a show of hands, your score: A. above 6 ? B. below 6?

5. When you want more hours in your day, find your Time Wasters • Telephone, Television, Internet Game • Unscheduled visitors • Procrastination • Poor Planning • Lack of self-discipline • Inability to set limits

6. Activity 2: Icebreaker • Get in groups of two or three: • Introduce yourselves • Identify THREE Ways you waste your time. • When you hear the bell, I’ll call for volunteers to call out time wasters

7. Activity: 3 Finding Time • Fill out the long half sheet titled: “Where does your time go?” • Total your time spent on various activities. • Subtract your total from 168 hours: 168. 0 hours per week - ____ hours of activities = ____ hours to study

8. The 2:1 Study Ratio Is Just an Average Many instructors suggest you study TWO hours for every ONE credit you are taking. Hint: This is Just an Average. Average Students make Average Grades Your learning style, academic preparation, and knowledge of subject matter will determine how much time YOU need to study 3+:1

9. Planning Your Schedule • Term Calendar: Tests, papers, appointments, other commitments Find an LBCC monthly Planning Guide !! On-line, On Your Phone, On Your Computer On your Wall • Fixed Commitment Calendar: • Sleep, Class, Work, Family, Commute Time, etc. • Use it to find your open times for studying and achieving your goals!

10. Weekly/Daily To-Do List • List of all the things you need to get done • Start with verbs and be specific • Study chapter 3 & 4 • Solve math problems 10-30 pp 136 • Rank the importance Urgent: Must do or bad things will happen • Need to do: but can put off for a bit Nice to do at some point

11. Make your Schedule Work • Study Difficult or Boring Subjects First…while you are most alert • Identify the best time of day to study • Use the same place to study – enhances concentration • Use the Library or Learning Center: signals your body and brain to get to work! • Avoid distractions – research shows that multi-tasking doesn’t work!

12. What’s Important In College • Not how long it takes you to graduate, but whether you get good grades. • Advice: Never take more credits than you have time to earn straight “A”s without getting overly stressed! Example: 12 credits = 36 hours to study

13. Planning: Why Do It? • Greater chance of achieving your long term goals • Sense of order, progress and accomplishment • Allows evaluation: am I meeting my goals or should I change them?

14. Action Planning to the Rescue! • Goal: A specific thing you are trying to achieve • Target date (the due date) • Action tasks (10-30 minutes max. each) • Materials needed (to get you organized) • To Do date (earlier than the target date) • Evaluation ( actual time it took – save for later) • Outcome: Did you meet your goal?

15. Accept that Life will throw you Challenges… And schedule “extra time” as a cushion to prepare for them! (Don’t wait until the last minute! ) Example: If a paper is due in three weeks, strive to finish it two and a half weeks

16. Why do we procrastinate? • We’re overscheduled • We’re behind • We think the project has no value • We’ve got better things to do • We’re waiting for the perfect time to start • We think the project won’t take so long • BIGGEST: We’re afraid we can’t do it

17. Overcoming Procrastination • Procrastination is normal • To overcome it, break big projects into tasks you can manage with an Action Plan • Tasks should not take longer than 10-30 minutes • Tasks should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and easy to see if you’ve completed them! • Make a weekly appointment with yourself to review your goals

18. Procrastination Caused by Fear • Fear of the unknown • Fear of Success • Fear of Failure • Fear of Difficulty • To beat your fear, face it squarely • Break the task into smaller bits, and do just one! • Ask for help: Career Counseling Center,

19. Ask yourself: What will I do TODAY that will take me closer to my goal? • The student who is working for certification will focus on the topics she needs to know this week. • The student who wants to ace a test will listen to a relaxation tape to reduce his test anxiety.