Introduction to time management
Time management is an important discipline for college students, as it helps to prioritize the activities in order of their importance and find balance between time spent with a family and time dedicated to school work. By applying time management techniques, it becomes a lot easier to finish your task on time.
Time management is “the process of scheduling and organization time to determine how much time is required to complete multiple direct and indirect tasks, and when such tasks are required. In education, examples of direct tasks consist of: reading assignments, homework assignments, projects, test preparation. In addition, examples of indirect tasks consist of: work and family responsibilities, grocery shopping, and recreation” (The Connecticut Adult Learner)1. What makes time management important is yet another advantage of applying its principles to your daily routine, for those principles help you concentrate your efforts on the most important things, thus releasing you from unnecessary work overload.
What are the priorities in your life?
If you had asked me the same question a few months ago, I would have answered that the main priority was my family. This year my son passed away. The only priority left for me now is my own life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that I no longer think of the other members of my family, but on the contrary, I endlessly love my family. If not for them having encouraged me to believe in myself, I wouldn’t be going back to school. Support, love and understanding of the beloved and kindered people help me stay firm on the ground.
How is your daily time divided?
Since my classes started at school, I haven’t had much time but for school and work. Now having learned some time management techniques, I plan to adjust my schedule so that I have more time for myself. This course surely opened my eyes on better ways to deal with limited time: it’s high time I started prioritizing the order of my activities.
What are your time management strengths and how specifically do you use them? What are the biggest challenges in managing your responsibilities?
I’ve come to the conclusion that if I really want to achieve better results, I’m very good at concentrating all my strength on this endeavor, avoiding all distractions that may interfere with my work. That’s why I think one of my time management strengths is the ability to dedicate study space: being at home and doing homework with my door closed gives me an opportunity to shield myself from external distractions and structure my personal time between studying, resting and eating. Nevertheless the biggest challenge for me now is trying to keep up with my schedule. The main reason for it being hard enough is that I don’t get a proper sleep. I work thirteen hours a day and sleep six, that makes nineteen hours in a twenty four hour day, leaving only five hours as my personal time. I surely need to learn how to make better use of these five hours.
What is the benefit to being able to balance life?
Being able to balance life is my ultimate goal. I believe balance by definition purports stability, harmony and peace. I hope that by the time I finish school, I’ll learn how to get to this balance and maintain it, so that I’ll have more time for myself.
