Time Management Resources: Online Student Success Center Learning Resources

Effective time management is essential for college students to balance classes, social life, and personal tasks. It boosts academic performance and enriches the college experience. This guide provides strategies to overcome procrastination, manage commitments, and dispel common misconceptions about time management. These skills not only contribute to academic success but also prepare you for your future career and personal endeavors. Embrace these techniques to maximize your college years.

Time Management

In school, success isn't about being smart in class—it's about managing your time well. Juggling classes, social life, and personal stuff can be challenging. Learning to manage your time effectively boosts your grades and makes your college life more enjoyable. Whether you struggle with procrastination or have a lot on your plate, this page has tips to help. These skills aren't crucial for school; they benefit your future career and life. Let's learn more about time management to make the most of your college experience!

Scheduling

Set up a semester schedule. Include all academic deadlines and personal events in a calendar and update it regularly.

Prioritizing

Order all upcoming tasks for your day and week based on urgency and importance to allocate your time effectively.

Detail-Oriented

Break down your week into tasks like classes, study sessions, and personal commitments.

Watch this short video for more time management tips.

Transcript

Do you ever feel like 24 hours a day is not enough? We all feel like we don’t have enough time, but the fact is that 24 hours a day is the same for everyone. What we often lack is the skill of time management and organizing our work. Today, let’s explore a few tips to manage your time better.

First, make a to-do list for the day, and then manage your priorities using the Eisenhower Matrix. Here's how it works:

**Urgent and Important:** These tasks must be worked on immediately, such as deadlines or important matters.

- **Urgent but Not Important:** These need immediate attention but aren’t overly important, and you can delegate them to someone else.
- **Not Urgent and Not Important:** These are the tasks to avoid.
**Important but Not Urgent:** These tasks are important but can be completed later.

It’s up to you to prioritize your tasks and decide where they fit within each quadrant. This method helps you complete your work faster and more effectively by dividing tasks into specific levels instead of just looking at a long, overwhelming list.

The second technique is called **Power Hour**. This is a short period of time, typically the first hour of your day, where you focus on your most difficult task. The goal is to help you hyper-focus for 60 minutes without distractions. It helps overcome procrastination and boosts energy and motivation for the rest of your day.

The key here is to avoid distractions, like social media, that can steal your time. Pick a job, and don’t allow yourself to check Facebook, open YouTube, or get caught up with your phone. Distractions are your worst enemy when managing time, so when you focus, block out everything that can take your attention away. Put your phone away and avoid checking notifications until you finish your work.

**Organizing your workspace** is another important tip. A cluttered workspace with piles of documents—both important and unimportant—makes you feel confused and wastes time when you need to find something. Keeping your workspace organized helps prevent wasted time.

**Deadlines** are crucial for time management. When working on a task, set a deadline and stick to it. Don’t procrastinate. Challenge yourself to meet your deadline, and don’t forget to reward yourself afterward.

Avoid **multitasking**, as it can lead to mistakes and missed details, which will slow down your work. Stay focused and tackle tasks one at a time.

Lastly, practice **discipline**. Set rules for yourself and follow them. It may be difficult and frustrating at first, but with practice, you’ll get used to it. Over time, everything will be in order, and you’ll find you have more time for both work and life. This will help end the constant race against time, allowing things to work more smoothly.

Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video!

The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique (developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s) uses a timer to break tasks into 25-minute intervals, called Pomodoros, separated by short breaks. Named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used, this method involves 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break. It helps reduce mental fatigue, and improve concentration and productivity while working on a task.

Steps to a Successful Pomodoro Session

Choose a Task: Decide on the task you want to work on.
Set a Timer: Set a timer for 25 minutes (or your preferred Pomodoro length).
Work on the Task: Focus on the task until the timer goes off. Write down any distractions to handle later.
Take a Short Break: Then, take a 5-10 minute break.
Repeat: Repeat steps 2-4 for a total of three Pomodoros.
Take a Longer Break: After three Pomodoros, take a longer break of 20-30 minutes before starting the cycle again.

Use the interaction below to practice the Pomodoro Technique now!

Spacing Rather Than Cramming

You've likely noticed that cramming is an ineffective study strategy, but do you know why? Research on memory shows that spacing out study sessions helps improve long-term retention.

Here's how it works:

Forgetting Helps Learning: When you give yourself time between study sessions, you might forget some information. However, relearning what you've forgotten strengthens your understanding and memory of the material.
Better Retention: Each time you revisit and relearn information, it reinforces your knowledge, making it easier to remember in the long run.

Example of Spacing

Suppose you need to study for a Sociology exam and have four hours to spend:

Cramming: You spend most of those four hours the night before the exam.
Spacing: You study a little bit each day leading up to the exam.

By spacing your study sessions, you reinforce your memory and understanding of the material more effectively.

Weekly schedule with example study times
	M	T	W	Th	F
Cram				Study for 4 hours	Sociology Test
Space	Study for 1 hour	Study for 1 hour	Study for 1 hour	Study for 1 hour	Sociology Test

Dealing With Procrastination

Procrastination isn't a sign of laziness; it's a habit developed as a way to relieve stress. For online students, where self-discipline is crucial, breaking this habit is essential for success. Here's how you can do it:

1. Acknowledge Your Stress

Recognize when you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed about an assignment, project, or studying. Understand that this stress is triggering your urge to procrastinate.

2. Interrupt the Procrastination Habit with a Countdown

Use the 5-4-3-2-1 technique to disrupt your automatic response of avoidance. Counting down engages your brain's prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and action.

3. Make a Conscious Choice to Act

After the countdown, deliberately choose not to engage in distracting activities (like checking social media or watching videos). Decide to focus on the task at hand instead.

4. Start Working for Just Five Minutes

Commit to working on your task for at least five minutes. Beginning is often the hardest part; once you start, you're likely to keep going.

Remember: Breaking the procrastination habit takes practice, but by consistently applying these steps, you'll improve your productivity and reduce stress in your academic life.

Watch this video to give you ideas on how to overcome procrastination.

Transcript

You’re not a procrastinator; you have a habit of procrastinating—big difference. Because if it’s a habit, I can teach you to use science to break it. So let’s talk a little bit about procrastination. I always thought procrastination had to do with the thing I was procrastinating around, right? Like that procrastination has something to do with work. Believe it or not, procrastination has nothing to do with your work. Procrastination is a form of stress relief.

Let’s say that you’ve got some stuff going on in your life—who doesn’t? Maybe you’re fighting with your significant other, maybe mom’s or dad’s health is failing, and it’s really upsetting you. Maybe you’ve got some financial stress because you put too much of your savings into Bitcoin, and now that it’s crashed, you’re stressed out about it. So you go into work, and you’ve got stuff to do. You walk in with this big stress ball subconsciously hanging over your head. You sit down, knowing you’ve got phone calls to make, and you’ve been chickening out on making the tough ones. As you sit down to do it, your brain starts to resist, “Wait a minute, you want me to make a call to somebody that I’m scared to make? Absolutely not. Can we just watch some cat videos for a minute?” And next thing you know, an hour’s gone by, and then, of course, you beat yourself up.

The only way to break this habit—and that’s an important word for you to hear—is to understand you’re not a procrastinator; you have a habit of procrastinating. Big difference. Because if it’s a habit, I can teach you to use science to break it. All habits have three parts: there’s a trigger, and in the case of procrastination, the trigger is always stress. Then there’s a pattern you repeat, and in the case of procrastination, it is to avoid doing something. And then there’s a reward; you get a little stress relief. The only way to break a habit is not to deal with the triggers—you’re never going to get rid of the stress in your life—but you can 100% change your pattern of avoiding work.

So next time you’re in a situation where you feel yourself hesitate, you’ve spent way too much time checking out the highlights from last night’s scores, what you’re going to do is you’re going to go, “Oh, I must be stressed out about something.” Acknowledge the stress, then go 5-4-3-2-1. I want you to count to yourself because I want you to interrupt the habit that’s stored here, and I want you to awaken your prefrontal cortex. Then I want you to just work, just for five minutes. The reason why I want you to only work for five minutes is that your problem isn’t working; it’s the habit of avoiding. I just need you to start. And here’s the other cool thing: we know based on research that if we can get you to start, 80% of you are going to keep going.

[Music]

Use the tool below to help you break the habit of procrastination!

3 Ways to Manage Your Time

Balancing academic, social, and personal responsibilities in college is a complex yet crucial skill. It's about making intentional choices with your time to shape the college experience you desire. This approach enhances your academic success and enriches your overall well-being.

Consider what a successful year in college looks like for you. What are your academic, social, and personal goals? Reflecting on these areas can help set a clear direction. Once you have your goals, regularly assess and adjust your weekly plans to align with them. Setting goals and adapting plans is a fundamental aspect of effective time management.

Now, let's explore three practical ways to manage your time effectively:

Create a semester schedule: Incorporate all significant academic deadlines and personal events into a single calendar. Regularly updating this calendar will help you plan your weeks efficiently.
Prioritize your weekly to-do list: List all your upcoming tasks and rank them based on urgency and importance. This helps in allocating your time where it's most needed.
Develop a detailed weekly schedule: Break down your week into specific tasks, including classes, study sessions, and personal commitments. This granular approach helps you utilize each hour productively.

These strategies can help you navigate the complexities of college life and ensure that you invest your time in the most meaningful ways. Use the Canvas calendar's Month, Week, and Agenda sections below to practice these three tips.

Time Management Resources

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