Time Management 101

General Guidelines Tips and Strategies

 Know where your time is going (track your time for one week).

 Identify your free spaces of time and assign study blocks to your schedule. Have a spare 30 minutes after class and before work? Designate that time to study or do homework.

 Don’t forget to also schedule in breaks or fun activities.

 Be realistic about how much time you need to complete an assignment (don’t allow yourself only 1 hour to complete an intensive research paper).

 Constantly check in with your habits. If you’re studying but your grades don’t reflect that, you need to rethink your strategies.

Prioritize

 Prioritize your tasks each week so that you are completing the most important & urgent items first.

 Use a planner (paper or digital) that has a month view, weekly view, and a place for to-do lists.

 Set aside time each week for organizing your calendar and creating to-do lists for the week.

 If you have multiple tasks to complete, do your hardest task first and it will be much easier to complete the rest.

 Pomodoro Technique: Get the jump on procrastination by setting a timer for 20 minutes and focusing all of your energy on one subject until the timer stops, then take a 5-minute break. Repeat until you have completed everything or feel comfortable. Just getting started is sometimes the hardest part and this technique helps overcome that challenge. The key to this technique is removing all distractions during those 20 minutes (including your phone!).

 Time Blocking: A great strategy for anyone who has to complete a lot of homework or studying in one day. With this strategy, you dedicate/ block hours of time to complete related tasks. For example, you might dedicate 2 hours to work only on Math.