Guidelines for Organising Your Time Efficiently
When organising your time, perhaps some of the following tips will help you.
Remember, there are 7 days (168 hours) in a week. Essentials like sleep, work, exercise, free time,
quality time with others, family and domestic commitments, travel, and household chores all have to
be allocated times slots in your calendar. You cannot leave the ordinary world and devote yourself
entirely to studying, however appealing this prospect might seem as yet more and more dust settles.
There are times when you should perhaps put studying on hold, for the very simple reason that it
might be counter-productive to try and do all things at all times. For example, do not study if you are
tired; instead peel the spuds or polish the car.
Work with your time constraints rather than against them.
Use whatever time is available
For example, be happy to block in hour/half-hour study slots on your timetable, rather than feeling
that you always have to set aside at least two -three hours at a time to get any study done. The
approach suggested here will help you to develop the habit of regular, frequent short study sessions,
and is probably more realistic and more time-effective than waiting forever for that elusive “three
hours/whole day” (which never happens).
Practise “clumping” like with like
Make all your phone calls together/pay all bills in the one journey/ do the shopping/ironing/cooking at
particular times. (One student only cooked twice weekly: 3 meals each time, which he froze, and used
in rotation. In time his family grew to like the regularity of at least having a dinner on the table, and
forgot to quibble about the limited menu.)
Pass on your chores around the house
Alternatively, persuade your offspring/partner/loved ones to become independent, caring people who
take their turn with chores. Anyone, male or female, can change a plug, wash clothes, cook a meal,
run kids to class, or do the weekly shopping. It does not have to be you! In a way, your decision to
study involves a real adjustment for everyone in the house, not just you. Those you live with will need
to be prepared to adjust to the new routines in your life, and the new demands on your time. You
may be able to achieve this state of affairs by negotiating upfront. But if you have been in the habit
of doing everything for everybody, you may find that the people around you are slow to adjust, and
you need to “train them in” a little. Be heartless about it. You really need that time.
For example: Wash clothes on washday, not on demand. Better still; don’t wash them at all if you can
avoid it. One student ruined her teenagers’ clothes once too often, and was banned absolutely from
ever again washing their clothes. (With practice, this will also work with badly ironed clothes too)
Write into your timetable exactly what you plan to do or are committed to doing at different times.
For example a student, whose job involved a lot of travelling, carried tapes of what she needed to
learn, and played them as she drove along. This works great for learning a language, and you can
tape lectures too. There are taped versions of books available, or you can make your own.
Visualise yourself succeeding.
Imagine yourself wearing a mortarboard and gown, whatever. Top athletes and performers practise
visualisation techniques of being successful to sustain their motivation. Borrow their ideas. Believe in
them. There will be tough times. Learn to “roll with the punches”!
Distinguish between urgent and important tasks.
Refuse to live your life in “crisis management” mode. If you only deal with urgent tasks, your life will
be one lurch from crisis to crisis. This is reactive living, and leaves you with little sense of control.
Pre-empt crises. Avoid them. Avert them. Stock up on food/treats/brownie points etc. Then, when
times really get bad, you will be able to allocate time for a real crisis.
Do not expect to remember everything. Manage your time better.
• Do not waste time. Use it.
• Once you have decided what you will do, do it.
- Finish what you start. Time will expand and contract according to your needs.
• Time yourself. Get the task done within your set limits.
• Break tasks into smaller, manageable parts or segments, if you are struggling.
• Tidy up at the end of every study session. Do not leave your physical workspace in a “state of chassis”.
• Make a summary of what you have achieved, where you are now, and outline where
you next need to go. Move on
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