Time Management Notes/Tips

Time management is a very important when you are studying and working out a time management plan is an essential exercise to be successful at what you are trying to achieve.

Good time management is based on two concepts:

1. Allocating time where it is needed most – setting priorities including eating and sleeping; and
2. Using that time productively – having tangible outcomes for your time.

As a part-time student who works fulltime, it is probably best to first find out what time and where the time is available, and the best way to do this is to fill out a weekly planner like the one below. It is important to mark in your work hours and other social commitments but not forgetting family time.

From this position you can see where you may able to slot in some study time.

Once you have your time slots worked out, you need to look for time patterns that suit you – best times during the day for doing the harder/easier tasks, how long is your concentration span during these times. From here you need to be more specific (set goals) about what you want to achieve in those time slots.

Your goals should be revised regularly to ensure that you are staying on track. Keep a diary/planner to write your goals in and make sure your goals are:

• Specific (know exactly what you are going to tackle in that time slot);
• Manageable/realistic (eg Telnet task – ½ hour);
• Measurable (eg read first part of Module Two, answer first two questions);
• Integrated – clearly linked to the bigger plan (completing the course).

Personally, I get up an hour or so earlier weekdays and Sundays (because it is the quietest time in our house) to do some of the readings (I have it printed out so I can have it with a coffee and make notes on the page) and I schedule time during the evenings after 9.00pm to make entries on blogs and the discussion board and to work on the tasks. I get half an hour for lunch, so I use this time to quickly scan over the discussion board or blogs and make notes on who I want to reply to. As you can see from the table below, I have left Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights as flexible time, this is time that I can use if I feel that I need extra time or if something comes up during the week and I can’t do the study in the allocated time – for example State of Origin night, there is no way that I get any study done that night so I swap the time allocated on Wednesday night for a couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday.

For further information you could check out the following websites:
Open Universities Australia - once you have logged on you have access to the Quick Skills Modules, which has units on Project Managing, plus links to Time Management.
James Cook University - this site has online tutorials which are interactive and very informative.
The Unabridged Student Counseling Virtual Pamphlet Collection - - a collection of websites mainly form USA universities) that cover a lot of topics for uni students but most importantly lots of websites on stress, study skills, test taking and time management.