Time and Task Management

Getting it all together

Before you start

Most students begin university with other commitments and so it is important to look at the year ahead and note the things you know will come up and which you must do. If you are employed there will be issues around work hours, travel and other obligations. At university there will be a new set of deadlines relating to enrolment, due dates for assignments, HECS, timetable and examination times and dates.

Think about your year and what is flexible a nd what is not. Make sure you collect your Student diary - it contains all the official university dates you will need to know.

Take some time to think about how you manage time in your everyday life, as this is an important clue to the sort of time management issues you will face in your first year. Are you the sort of person who likes routine? Are you always on time? Do you like organising your time? OR are you the kind of person who leaves things to the last minute? - someone who enjoys the challenge of a deadline?

Whichever sort of person you are there will be challenges to face in terms of adding university study to your life.

Q: If travelling to Bali, when do you pack?

Beware! Your answer will reveal your true self

1. one week before and leave the suitcase in the hall
2. a couple of days ahead
3. the night before
4. as the taxi is pulling up

Successfully managing your time and your study is not about changing your answer to the when do you pack question. Instead, you need to understand the implications of your answer in terms of a realistic appraisal of your use of time. For example, those who pack at the last minute have been packing the suitcase for days (in their head) in terms of ensuring that the needed clothes and other items are ready. It is not until one explores behaviour that different ways of managing tasks and time emerge.

This leaflet outlines some key issues in relation to getting the best out of the time you have to study.

Organising your timetable

1. List all university commitments lectures, tutorials and practicals.
2. Add other fixed commitments (paid work, house duties, sport other areas of responsibility).
3. Look for blocks of time that can be used for study group meetings, researching in the library, reading and writing up.

Using a timetable

If you discuss your study timetable with friends and family - and place the timetable on the fridge - it can greatly reduce the pressure you might find yourself working under; the arguments with girlfriends/boyfriends/children when you refuse to go out too many times in a row.

Managing tasks not time

A helpful way to reframe the idea of time management is to cease thinking about the time to do something and focus attention on what you want to do. If you manage the task the time can manage itself. The stress we feel around time is not time itself but the undone task. Getting on with it is the best way to manage time.

A task management approach

When trying to manage time the easiest way to fail is t o plan a series of tasks in the most general way eg:

2pm physics
2.30pm Biology

There is not enough planning here to ensure that you have the relevant material with you or that you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Compare this:

Monday
break down essay question
write a rough plan of issues
borrow books on reading list
read 2 articles

There are 24 hours in every day and so your task here is to complete these specific tasks. When you do it is flexible but you have noted that these tasks should be finished on Monday. If Tuesday arrives and these tasks are not completed then they must be added to Tuesday's list.

Don't worry. Be organised

Often, the worst part about having a lot to do is not the work itself but the worry associated with it. Find your own way of keeping track of what you have to do. Use your diary, a planner, write on a whiteboard, or keep lists on the fridge. Don't wait for the right time to start work. Anything that you do is assisting you finish. Sometimes grabbing half an hour can be the turning point to finishing.

Early bird or night owl?

You know whether you can work best in the morning or late at night. Managing study will require you to find a rhythm about your work with the possibility of making extra time. Establishing a pattern will be very important. Be as creative as you can. Getting up really early in the morning before coming to uni or going to work can provide an opportunity to catch up but not something you would do everyday because then you have no extra to give when you need to.

Procrastination is just a state of mind

For just about everything we do there is a preferred way of doing it. It can be really helpful to ask other students how they manage their time not so that you can copy them but so that you begin to recognise that managing time is personal.

If you have to battle procrastination it may be that you have not worked out a way of managing a task. Procrastination can be your mind's way of saying I don't know how to start. Frequently procrastinators can be very busy doing things instead of the thing they should be doing. It is not laziness it us just a lack of knowing where to begin.

Many students assume that study is about knowledge and subject content when in fact the best way to be a successful student is to know what to do with the information presented to you.

Study skills assist time management

Having processes in place is the best way to get a job done. It is obvious to us in non academic tasks that there is a method. Think of a hobby such as windsurfing, caving, collecting stamps, sewing or gardening. To do any of these things requires some tools or kit and an idea of achieving something. Academic tasks are no different and perhaps the best way for a procrastinator to get on with the job is to work out some clear steps to take.

Essay writing

Managing time around the task of writing an essay means planning each of the steps in the process so that you always know what you need to be doing. What is your writing plan? For example:

• Read the question.
• Rewrite and break down into issues that need addressing.
• Find and prepare reading materials, (borrow or photocopy).
• Take notes, use a notebook and keep good records of what you are reading in terms of author, date, title publisher and place. This way you won't need to go rushing back to the library. Using a notebook instead of bits of paper can save time when you are looking for that fantastic quote you remember reading.
• Write; rest (not you! The essay draft) and edit. You can have one draft resting while you begin another.

Reading

Students frequently complain that they have spent massive amounts of time reading but they can't remember anything the next day. One must ask why reading needs to be memorised. Note taking is the middle step that provides a bridge between the first reading and the decision to memorise for an exam.

Personal issues

Managing study tasks has to be achieved in relation to the rest of your life. Fitting everything in means making choices and as far as possible knowing what lies ahead. Sometimes managing time successfully means saying no to friends, family and overtime at work.

The essential element to managing time is to always know what you have to do, to have a plan for doing it, and to have worked out a method.

Develop the list habit. Use your diary, or emulate Ros Kelly and put a whiteboard in your room, but keep daily 'to do' lists.

Negotiate with the people in your life around your needs and what they want.

Create different time spaces for study and for life. If you have chosen to go out socially instead of studying don't waste it moping about not studying. Get back to the books the next day.