Time management
Time management is about balancing different aspects of your life in ways that make your goals achievable. Over time, your goals will change, so it is a good idea to review your time management at six monthly intervals, or more frequently if your situation changes.
Try the time management tool to see how much time you have to devote to your studies each week.
Short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals are all necessary to maintain motivation. If you only have short-term goals and live from day to day, your life can become totally unstructured and directionless. If you only have long-term goals, it can be difficult to focus on the day-to-day tasks required to achieve the goal. Your long-term goal might be to complete your course, but you need short-term and medium-term goals to make this a reality. Study goals Life goals Short-term goals (days to weeks away) Medium-term goals (weeks to months away) Long-term goals (months to years away) Keep a record of your activities for one week. Mark essential activities with an asterisk, such as sleeping and work. Add these up and subtract from 168 (i.e., the number of hours in a week) to get the number of hours at your disposal. If you have very little time left, you might need to reconsider your definition of essential. How you spend your available time will depend on what you are studying. Answer these questions about your subjects. The answers to these questions will help you to design an appropriate study timetable for each subject. They will help you to decide how much time you need to allow for each subject and how the time should be distributed. On a weekly planner, block in all the committed time you identified in the previous step (i.e. time devoted to essential or obligatory activities). Make several copies of the sheet. On one copy, indicate what you hope to achieve. On another, record what you actually do. At the end of each day, compare the two. Do not expect them to be exactly the same, and do not give up because they are different. Take note of what is planned for the following day and try again! Record your activities in this way for three to four weeks, then reassess your goals, and if necessary, adjust your plan. Some points to consider when planning your use of time:
Download the Yearly Planner (A1) for all the important academic dates and deadlines.