Page 238 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Think critically about time management
• Create an efficient weekly schedule
• Create prioritized task lists
• Prioritize based upon the criteria of importance, urgency, effort, and impact

READING

Turning Your Time into a Schedule

The first step in time management is to become aware of how you are currently spending your time. Once
this determination is made, regardless of your current situation, you can take action to make improvements.
A good tool to monitor your time is a day-planner that breaks down each day into certain time increments.
Day-planners are readily available in bookstores or you can easily create your own day-planner.

Monday Time Duration Category
Personal Maintenance
Task 7:00-8:00 am 1 hour Online time
Getting ready for day Meals
Check e-mail & web 8:00-8:30 am 30 mins Driving/Riding
Breakfast
Drive to school 8:30-9:00 am 30 mins

9:30-10:00 am 30 mins

Be diligent in recording your activities throughout the period of a week. Break down how you spend your
time into various categories (such as in-class time, studying, sleeping, eating, time with friends, recreation,
e-mail and Internet, television, travel, etc.). Don’t be too general in your use of time category headings.

Be sure to identify any ‘missing time’ in your
records. In the example above, there were 30
minutes between finishing breakfast and starting
the drive to school. How did you spend those 30
minutes? Did you watch TV? Did you spend it
looking for your keys? Account for all the time
you possibly can. Don’t judge that time at this
stage; simply account for it.

At the end of a week, sum the totals in the
various time categories. Analyze the time data
you collected.

232 Foundations of Learning