Time Management

"Dear CRCers" is a new feature; we'll share some frequently asked advising questions and our responses. Enjoy!

Dear CRCers:

Q:  I need to work on my time management skills. Any advice?

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A:  There are some time management workshops offered by Academic Support Services; in addition, the Academic Support peer coaches are trained to help students manage your schedule. These trained professionals and peers can help you with techniques and with building a realistic daily or weekly plan.

An electronic calendar (ex: Google calendar) or hard-copy planner is essential. You can get a hard-copy, semester-view calendar from University Hall 2nd floor or the CRC office and map out all of your assignments and exams, to help you plan ahead for time needed to prepare for them (drafts of papers, etc.).

Balance is key. It's important to think through your personal priorities--self-care towards health and well-being, spending time with friends and staying connected to family members, etc.  In addition to blocking out time for studying, make sure to schedule in downtime to increase your capacity for focus and productivity.

Here's one way to analyze and parse out what time you have: There are 168 hours in a week; ideally, you're sleeping 7-8 hours a night, or at least 50 of those 168 hours.  If you think of your four full-credit classes like a full-time job--you're spending at least 10-12 hours on each class (in-class time AND preparation...what professors say you should be spending)--then that leaves you with 168hrs - [50hrs for sleep + 40hrs for classes] = 78 hours per week; divide that by 7 days, and that's about 10-11 hours per day on average--to fit in other things like an on-campus job, going to meals, doing errands, weekly appointments, hanging out with friends, extracurriculars; if you're on a team or in a performance and have daily practice or rehearsal, that's even less time per day for fitting doing laundry!

Also remember that we come across unexpected situations, which may leave us feeling unbalanced. Being flexible to these unanticipated curveballs, such as catching the flu, needing to schedule an hour-long Skype interview for a summer job opportunity, a family emergency requiring a trip home, etc., is crucial. Remind yourself to be realistic about your other commitments!

CRCer Yuna Hur '18 says:

I rely on two things for scheduling/time management - my Google calendar and my agenda. I'd definitely consider myself a planner, and I enjoy structuring my days, weeks, and months in advance so I know what to expect. Of course, things change so it is essential that I am adaptable, but it helps me to fill in my calendar to keep myself organized and accountable. I use my Google calendar for events: set a specific color for all of my classes, office hours/TA hours; another color for meals/coffee breaks; another color for exercise; and another color for meetings. I typically use my agenda to schedule due dates and breaking down the workload per day for class assignments, readings, problem sets, and papers. Once you keep yourself accountable this way, putting a line through that assignment for the day is the best feeling ever! Also, feel free to stop by my CRC hours if you want to talk about time management - I'd love to help!