Time Management

1. Time Management
An Essential College Readiness Skill

2. How Much Time Is There?
 Did you know that there are…
 Only 60 seconds in a minute
 Only 60 minutes in an hour
 Only 24 hours in a day
 Only 168 hours in a week
 Only 720 hours per month
 Only 8,760 hours in a year
 Only 525,600 minutes in a year
 Only 31,536,000 seconds in a year
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3. Make Every Second Count
 What you accomplish during a 24-hour period
depends on your own motivation, your energy,
your skills and abilities, and other resources.
 Since there are always demands on your time, it
may be helpful to think about what you will do
with your time and to consider some strategies
for more effective time management.
 Time management is not a way to make you
work harder and longer, but a means to help you
work smarter to accomplish your work more
easily and rapidly.

4. Benefits of Managing Time Effectively
 If you manage your time effectively,
you will be rewarded in a variety of
ways:
– you will be more productive
 Efficient
 Successful – you will achieve goals
and great accomplishments
 Healthier – you will feel more
energetic and less stressed
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5. 3 Steps to Managing Your Time
 1. Set Goals
 2.
Prioritize, Organize, and Make
a Schedule
 3. Revisit and Revise Your Plan

6. 1. Set Goals
 Make your goals specific and concrete.
Don’t be vague.
 Set both long-term goals and short-term
ones to support them.
 Set a deadline for your goals.
 Integrate your goals: school, personal and
career.
 Realize that goals change, but know which
goals to stick to!

7. 2. Prioritize
From your goals, set priorities.
 What’s important and what isn’t?
 What order do things need to be done in?
 Once you know what your priorities are,
you need to plan out a schedule for the
semester, the week and the day.
 Planning may seem hard at first, but the
more you do it, the easier and more
natural it gets.
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8. 2. Prioritize
 After you have ordered your tasks, you must:
• Address the urgent – Take care of things with short-term
consequences as soon as possible.
• Accomplish what you can early – Assignments, homework
and projects that can be handled early should come next.
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
• Attach deadlines to things you delay – When you have
determined that something can definitely wait, don’t just
toss it aside until later. Establish a deadline for the task in
your schedule, and make a note to remind you to begin
working on it.
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9. 2. Organize
 As you prioritize tasks and set deadlines, you will
want to organize your plans and actions.
 Planners: Use a planner with a calendar and plenty of
space to make notes. Many planners contain space for
daily activities and “to do” lists.
 Computer Organizers: Use a computer to help you
organize your time. Computers come equipped with
software programs that include calendars, task lists, and
reminders.
 Calendar/Planner Apps: Many smart phones have
calendar and planner applications. Use these apps to
keep you organized. Because you always have your
phone with you, you will also carry your planner with you.

10. 2. Organize
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11. 2. Make a Schedule
 Creating a daily schedule activity is a great way
of keeping track of your time and is essential for
time management.
 While planning out your week, ask yourself:
 What do I expect to accomplish?
 What will I have to do to reach these goals?
 What tasks are more important than others?
 How much time will each activity take?
 When will I do each activity?
 How flexible do I have to be to allow for unexpected
things?

12. Daily Schedule Activity
 We are going to keep track of your time, scheduled events,
appointments, and other responsibilities.
 Using a sheet of paper, separate into 8 vertical columns
and name each column (Time, Monday, Tuesday, etc.)
 Create rows with times in hours. See below the example.

13. Daily Schedule Activity
 Now we are going to fill in your daily schedule.
 First of all, block out time for sleep. You should get at least 8
hours of sleep each night to be properly rested for the next day.
 Now, block out time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
 Next, block out the time you use to shower/bathe.
 Next, block out the time you spend getting to and from school.
 Next, fill in your class schedule.
 Now, fill in regularly scheduled activities such as practices and
tutoring.
 Next, fill in any church activities or chores that you must do.
 Next, block out time for homework and study.
 Finally, analyze how much time you have left. Write down free-
time activities that you enjoy.

14. Now What?
 After completing the activity, think about the following
questions and answer them on the back of your
handout:
 How was this activity helpful? What did you find out?
 How much time did you have left to fill in extra activities?
 How might keeping track of our time help you manage it
better?
 Why is managing our time important?
 In what other ways, can you keep track of your time?
 As it was previously stated, you can keep track of your
time through cell phone calendar/planner apps, paper
planners, and through computer-based
calendars/planners (ex. Microsoft Outlook).

15. 3. Revisit and Revise Your Plan
 After you have used your weekly plan, revisit it and
think about the following questions. If necessary,
revise it so that it works.
 Which tasks were you able to do? What didn’t get done?
 Was your energy level appropriate? Your stress level?
 What changes need to be made to
your weekly schedule? How can
 What are persistent time wasters? I fix it?
 Could better communication have
helped you stick to your plan?
 Was procrastination an issue?

16. Procrastination
 Procrastination is when you put things off for a
later time. Forms of procrastination include:
 Ignoring the task, hoping it will go away
 Underestimating how long it will take
 Overestimating your abilities and resources
 Telling yourself that poor performance is okay
 Doing something else that isn’t very important
 Believing that repeated “minor” delays won’t hurt you
 Talking about a hard job rather than doing it
 Putting all your work on only one part of the task
 Becoming paralyzed when having to make choices

17. How to Overcome Procrastination
 Win the mental battle by committing to
being on time.
 Set and keep deadlines.
 Organize, schedule & plan.
 Divide a big job into smaller ones.
 Find a way to make a game of your
work or make it fun.
 Reward yourself when you are done.
 Tell your friends and parents to remind
you of priorities and deadlines.
 Learn to say “no” to time wasters.

18. Tackle Time Wasters
 First, learn to recognize when you’re
wasting time.
 Decide what you need to do and can realistically
do.
 Learn how to say “NO” when you don’t have time.
 Turn off your cell phone when working. It is a
major time killer. Learn to say “I can’t talk right
now. I’ll get back to you.”
 Wasting time is often linked to a lack of self-
discipline. Ask yourself, “Do I really need to do
this or not?”

19. Avoid Distractions
 Avoid the temptation to socialize (texting, hanging
out, chatting) when you’ve scheduled work.
 If friends ask you to join them last minute, decline
outright, but ask if you could get together later in
the week.
 Socializing is important when you don’t have
other things to worry about!
 Study somewhere you won’t be tempted to chat,
watch movies or YouTube, or use social utilities
like Facebook.

20. Learn to Say “NO”
 Learn to say “No” when you have too much to do and
cannot handle more commitments.
 To be able to say “NO” you will have to accept that:
1. I realize that I can’t do everything
2. I won’t agree to undertake a task or project that I know I
will not be able to complete in the timeframe required
3. I will not make commitments that are not consistent with
the goals and objectives I have set for myself
 Ifyou keep these principles in mind, you will find it
easier to justify (and explain) why some requests must
be turned down. You will also find that you are better
able to accomplish the things that you have prioritized
as “must do.”

21. Review
• Set Goals
• Prioritize, Organize, and Make
Schedule
• Revisit and Revise Schedule
• Avoid Procrastination
• Tackle Time Wasters
• Avoid Distractions
• Learn When to Say “NO”
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22. Time Management Expert
 If you follow all the strategies of effective
time management, you will be able to
meet your goals, be successful, and
become a time management expert.

23. Video: The Big Rocks of Life
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24. Video: How to Manage Your Time
 Howcast Video: How to Manage Your Time