Ideas on Time Management

• Have an hour say at the start and the finish of the day to attend to emails. Set aside another hour or so close to this for phone calls, a time for meetings. Let others know these are set times and at these times you will attend to those matters and not any other time.
• The same goes on the home or domestic scene. Have a set time you walk the dog, a set time for hobbies, a set time to help children with their homework, then around this allocate definite days and times for study and times for some decent relaxation and time off to yourself. It is surprising when you look closely how much time you can find that you can make more productive for study and you time.
• As a parent you can help children set aside their own timetable similar to this and make out one for themselves that works well with their fin activities and study activities worked out for a week.
• The obvious way to manage your study time is to create a schedule, allocating certain times throughout the week or day to undertake certain study tasks.
  Some people though, have great difficulty sticking to a schedule- they procrastinate! About half students can find some easy distraction and reason not to study. It is easy to do when you do not think you will be good a something, it is all new, you have failed at some things in the past, it does not seem like a pleasant or fun activity. Most of this is just a psychological filter or blocking system your brain activates when it thinks something is threatening. This is where positive thinking works well.
• Turn your thinking and reasoning ideas around so they are positive and future directed breaking tasks into smaller sections, factoring in breaks and rewards along the way as incentives, picturing in your mind from the start that you will be successful and it will be something enjoyable.
• Focus not on the enormity or complicated aspects of the task but the rewards along the way and especially at the end when you achieve success.  All make a great different your motivation and getting started. It is largely in the mindset and you have control yourself over how you choose to respond to the challenge, with optimism for the unknown, not fear!!
• When planning to study, for people who find study tedious; another way to manage time is to schedule the “fun things” in life instead of scheduling the “tedious”.  An alternative is instead of allocating 20 hours a week for study; and looking forward to having left over time for fun; reverse the method- you might schedule 20 hours a week for fun and commit to spending left over time on study (This can sometimes trick the mind into getting studies done that might otherwise be avoided) Just make sure you have booked in the time slot for study and take it seriously or of course the FUN can fill out…. all the time! Remember that positive focus on future rewards it will bring!

This great tip on Time Management has been taken from our ebook- Learning, Tips and insights for more successful study.