Time Management for Students
In time management, it's much better to aim your sights at the results than to worry about the process. Too often we get bogged down in the means and lose sight of the end.
Efficiency means doing things right. Effectiveness means doing the right things. Working efficiently is doing things with least amount of wasted effort. Efficiency gets you from point A to point B via a straight line. Inefficiency goes in circles. Effectiveness means doing the things that yield results.
ELIMINATING TIME WASTER
Time wasters come from the people around you as well as from within yourself. Some time wasters are unavoidable, but reducible nonetheless. Identify the most frequent sources of time wasters in your day. As a means of comparison, we've included a list of time wasters.
SETTING PRIORITIE
When setting your priorities, there are two famous laws to remember. The first law states that work tends to expand to fill the time allotted for its completion and the second law states that 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your efforts.
USING "TO DO" LIST
A list of "things to do" for each day and week is a valuable aid to managing your time. A "to do" list organizes your thinking and planning onto one form in the least amount of time with the maximum amount of efficiency.
PROCRASTINATION
Procrastination is like a virus. It creeps up on you slowly, drains you of energy, and is difficult to get rid of if your resistance is low. These suggestions will help you conquer the virus.
1) Give yourself deadlines
2) don't duck the difficult problems
3) Don't let, perfectionism paralyze you.
HANDLING PAPER WORK
Try to answer any correspondence immediately. If you receive a magazine, peruse it and clip out articles you intend to read. Adopt a policy of picking up paperwork only once. This means you should not look at something and put it back down where you found it.
YOUR USE OF DOWN TIME
Down time is also useful for making phone calls, unless, of course, you're in traffic.
TELEPHONE CALLS
The telephone is, of course, one of life's greatest time savers. It saves time over writing letters, making trips, and meeting with people. It can also be a great time waster.
RELAXATION AND STRESS REDUCTION
Frequent periods of relaxation and stress reduction are important to the longevity of our bodies and minds.
CHANGE YOUR BAD HABITS
Managing your time efficiently and effectively will require some changes in your behavior and thinking. Those changes require practice.
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