One mistake made in seeking a goal is to focus so much on reaching the goal that we fail to enjoy the process of getting to it. We enjoy life more when we find satisfaction in our immediate efforts rather than thinking how nice it is going to be when we finally arrive at our distant goal.
For example, we enjoy a trip more if we decide to take an interest in the landmarks along the way rather than just enduring the ride until we arrive at our destination.
Similarly, we enjoy a class more if we explore the content beyond what is required rather than just do the bare minimum to pass the class.
Don’t make the mistake of setting unrealistic goals or having so many that it is impossible to reach them. We frequently do this at the beginning of the semester. We soon become discouraged when we realize we have neither the time nor the energy to accomplish all of our goals. Recognizing our physical, mental and emotional limits is an important component to realistic goal setting.
Now that you have your goals in mind, the next step is walking the road toward achieving them. That begins with time. Let’s explore how to become aware of the time you have available to you
TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE
It will help you manage your time well if you know where your time actually gets spent. One very helpful way of determining your actual usage of time is to track your time. The process here is like making a schedule, but it works in reverse. Instead of writing things in that you are planning to do, time logging is a process of writing down the things that you have already done. Doing this is sort of a get-to-know-
yourself exercise because this procedure will highlight many of your habits that you might selectively ignore currently.
For instance, some people find that every time they plan to do math homework they end up watching television. Instead of studying for that Psych test, they play Internet poker. Other people just can’t seem to follow their schedule until the week before finals.
Whatever your time habits, time tracking will help you adjust and fine-tune your time management practices. Having accurate information about your time usage patterns can serve as another important point of reference for self-monitoring. Following are a few ways to track your time. Take a moment to do this – it will truly help you open your eyes and take control of your time.
– Time tracking is fairly straightforward. At the end of every hour jot yourself a quick note about how you actually spent your time for that hour. The note needn’t be long – one sentence or less should suffice. If how you spent your time doesn’t match an already planned activity, simply enter a comment as to what you really did during that time. This way you will be able to review patterns that emerge in your use of time and make adjustments to improve your productivity.
– Some people find it helpful to modify the planning page to facilitate tracking time. The modifications are easy enough: make two columns on your paper for each day of the week. In one column, write down the plan you are trying to follow; in the second column, make notes on what you actually did with your time. The side-by-side comparison is very telling and an excellent way to figure our where you’re not using time in the way you intend.
– Another effective way to make changes and get results from your time management strategies is to summarize your time use by time category such as: sleep, study, work, travel and so on.
Before doing the summary, make a sheet with different columns for each category. Your log sheet might look something like this:
Estimate the amount of time that you think you spend on the various activities listed and enter these in the “expected” row of the summary sheet. Feel free to add any additional categories that might be helpful. Then log your time for one week on an hour by hour basis. When the week is over summarize your time by category for each day, add up the values for all seven days of the week, and write the totals in the “actual” row of the summary sheet.
Summarizing your time use allows you to understand how much time you really spend in the various areas of your life. It is almost certain that you will see a notable difference between the number of hours you expected to use in certain categories and the actual number of hours you spend.
If you find that you spend more time in one area than you wanted, and less in another, the weekly
summary of time use clearly indicates which activities to reduce to find the extra time you want for that neglected area of your life.
However you choose to understand the differences between your expected use of time and your actual use of time, your focus should be on trying to detect and adjust patterns in your own real use of time that spell trouble for you reaching your goals.
For those of you freaked out by knowing exactly where you spend your time because it only seems to reinforce your sense of time pressure, here’s something to think about.
We have 168 hours available in a week. Various published reports and informal studies report that fully half of those 168 hours – 84 hours – are used up for the “basics” like sleeping, eating, washing, etc. How do your own numbers compare? How will you spend the remaining 84 hours per week?
One valuable component of a time management program involves the use of a planner. Let’s explore that next.
YOUR PLANNER IS YOUR BEST
FRIEND
When you are organized, that will help you achieve your goals in a timely manner. You need to organize your tasks so you will know what needs to be accomplished and when they need to be accomplished. No student should be without a daily planner.
You have probably used various kinds of planning tools before, including a daily or weekly planner, a month-at-a-
glance planner, and so on. It is important to keep in mind that the purpose of scheduling is not to enslave you to your planner, but rather to record your decisions about when certain things should happen.
Planners can be found in many places and in many different formats. Most college students find that a daily, week-at-a-glance planner works best as it is easier to see information for a whole week and gives plenty of room to track what needs to be done that week. Check your campus bookstore or local discount store for a variety to choose from. You can even make your own with the help of Microsoft Word or Excel. Below is an example of a sample planner page created in Excel:
Your planner should include your schedule for classes, study time, social events, club meetings, exercise time, and any other time necessary to achieve your goals. Keep the planner with you during class and note all assignments along with the due dates of those assignments. Check them off as you complete them so you know where you are at all times with your projects.
Refer to your planner often – multiple times a day. Make this a regular part of your routine. When you get up in the morning, look at your planner to see what needs to be done for that day.
If you have an appointment, be sure to include a phone number next to the notation in case you have to cancel or change times.
Use a highlighter. Color-coding can help differentiate between appointments and assignments.