- When you receive an assignment, break it into small tasks. You know the joke: “How do you eat an elephant?” One bite at a time. Accomplishing small pieces of the larger task will empower and encourage you to keep going. For each small piece, estimate how long you think it will take (be generous, most things take longer than we expect.) Then assign a degree of difficulty — you can create your own scale or simply use 1 to represent easy, 2 for medium, and 3 for hard.
- If you have a big exam to study for, break it into bite-size pieces. If your attention span is 15–20 minutes, use that as your guide. List each step and the estimated time next to it as well as the degree of difficulty.
- Each evening, look at what needs to get done. Each task should have an estimated time assigned to its well as a degree of difficulty. Update the list for new assignments and adjust estimated time and degree of difficulty, as needed.
- Take out your calendar and be sure to schedule. Fill in classes and other ‘fixed’ variables. Then, look at your list of tasks and decide which need to get done immediately. By prioritizing your to-do list every day, nothing will fall through the cracks or be forgotten. Your calendar is a great tool and will serve as your road map each day.
- Consider the times during the day when you are most alert and attentive. Everyone has windows of peak performance. Put simply, it’s the time of day when you find it easiest to focus and get your most difficult work done. Schedule your harder tasks during these times but be sure to allow for regular breaks. If you find yourself tired and sluggish in the late afternoon, be sure to plan easier work to be done during that time.
- The Pomodoro method suggests 25 minutes of concentration followed by 5 minutes of relaxation. You can use this as a guide or adjust the 25 to 20 minutes if that’s your optimal working time.
- Scheduling a specific time to study and get work done. Making appointments in your calendar to get your tasks done will enable you to get your studying and assignments done more efficiently. You will also find that scheduling out your time makes you realize that when you work effectively, there is plenty of time to do things you enjoy (dinner with friends, exercise, movies, etc.) It may not be as much time as you would like (especially during finals) but you will spend less time studying and find that the time you spend is more effective.
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