I’ve had moments during my graduate study when I’ve questioned my decision to return to Uni. Those moments generally come at 3.49am on the morning of an assessment as I stare blankly at rambling paragraphs that refuse to make sense despite several rewordings. It’s at these times, in between infomercials, that the importance of good time management resonates in my mind. Time management is a fundamental skill for graduate students, and is often the difference being questioning your return to studying and having an enjoyable and valuable time in your graduate course.
I’m indicative of younger professional graduate students. I work full time, play sport on the weekend and socialize too much. Following a solid routine of these three areas for two years after undergrad, finding time to fit in study was quite difficult. During my first semester I struggled at times, with plenty of late nights and early starts to finish assessments. I soon found that the quality of my work wasn’t as good as it should be; I became overtired and found the material difficult to enjoy. Since that semester, I’ve restructured the way I approach my study to ensure that I have time for everything. I’ve done this in three ways.
Firstly, I’m a slave to my diary. Whereas for some time I kept track of my life via the message inbox on my mobile phone, I’m now uneasy traveling too far without my Moleskin in my pocket. Allocating and scheduling time means that I don’t leave things to the last minute, whilst also ensuring that nothing misses out. Of course life isn’t fully scripted, but I’ve found my diary to be very helpful for my study since I began scheduling my time more effectively.
Secondly, I’ve learned to start assessment early. I know, lame. But seriously, getting stuck into things early means you can think about ideas a little more and ‘work easy’. I’m yet to hand in an assessment early, but kicking off work early has been really good.
Thirdly, I take measures to avoid procrastinating. We all have Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Bebo, Verb and Dogspace to waste time on (what, I’ve got too many?!? I was just joshing; I don’t have Bebo), so in an effort to proactively avoid them, I don’t have the internet at home. I make sure that I have all the material I need for an essay saved onto my machine so that when I work it is productive and free from distraction.
These three little things have really helped me to enjoy my study. Whilst some people may advise you that you need to cut things out of your life when you return to study (like sport or hobbies), I really think it is just a matter of finding time for everything.
Comments
this is great advice~ however, I find that many students are lacking the Motivation to take such strategies, or lack the Belief in themselves to be able to actually complete their study commitments and so set them selves up (subconsciously) to fail~ self-fulling prophecy.
I find that Roger's idea of a Learning Contract~ Before~ the student uses any study strategy, makes the student aware of What they think they are capable of; What they need to do to achieve their goals; What the challenges will be; and the Strategies to navigate the challenges. But first they need to be motivated to do this step :-)
Posted by: Char | July 25, 2009 01:44 PM
I've found that moving to the other side of the world is also very effective... now I don't get any emails during the day at all because everyone in Australia is asleep. Sad because I love email interruptions at 5 minute intervals but now email checking happens first thing and then it's down to work. I am seriously about 75% more productive!
Posted by: Camilla | July 27, 2009 02:08 PM