Time Management

[Maniac Craniac]

I happen to be very bad at this, but I have been making great improvements over the past few years. On this board, there are a lot of focused individuals, so I wanted to gather some tips from everyone.

I'm not one who can simply wake up in the morning and find myself getting busy. If I don't give myself clear direction for what I want to do with my day, I am liable to spend the entire day, literally, watching videos or playing games. Therefore, the methods that have worked best for me have been those that are systematic. I have systems. Lots of them.

Anyway, since I want to hear your ideas, I will only give out one tip. Two weeks ago, I got the genius idea to organize my to-do lists in the form of a concept map. I've been very pleased with the results. I like putting everything in such clear, radial, categorical perspective. It helps me to keep track of what I need to do to satisfy the major areas of my life and to consider a day to be progressive. In the middle bubble, usually where you would put the "main idea" or "topic," I write this (using today as an example)...

April 02, 2011
DUH, WINNING!!!!

At the end of the day, I can back-trace everything I did for the day and determine if my day was as WINNING as a day in the life of Mr.Sheen himself :roflol:

[ryoder]

Maniac - I feel for ya man. You have energy and intelligence and desire. Those are all key ingredients. Think of a laser. I can't remember how all those photons end up pointing in one direction but try to channel your energy and brainpower into a coherent beam and you will be able to rip through anything you want in life.

I had this problem in college. Thats why I dropped out. I cared more about writing video games than going to school. I spent the wee hours of the night focusing on the wrong thing.

Here is what I recommend. Everything you do, ask yourself if it is furthering your goals. If it is not, then don't do it.

This sounds incredibly harsh but it works. You need to start feeling guilty about playing video games, watching tv or anything else that is not studying.

Treat those actions as a reward. If you spend 8 hours working today, you get to spend the rest of the night playing Dragon Age 2 on xbox. Thats what I do.

I hate to say it, but realize where you waste the most time and shut those things off in your life. It might include message boards, facebook, email, engadget.com, ebay, whatever it may be.

I just wrote a paper about internet use policies and did you know that since Canada has such liberal privacy laws employees can surf the web without any monitoring. As a result the average company loses 1 day out of 5 due to employee web browsing.

Become your own policeman. This is why I recommend the REA books. You sit in a chair and read the book with no access to instantcert, messageboards etc. You can have hours of uninterrupted learning the old fashion way.

Good luck.

I have to get back to my final paper.

[FinancialWorld]

This is a very interesting topic. I've been wondering about this all week. I was even about to email ryoder about sharing some of his tips. My ears will be perked to anything that is said.

I find the internet my greatest distraction. You can get so caught up in just surfing any type of stuff. Though I'm not very consistent at it, my best strategy is to just make a list of what I want to get done that day. Some days its very hard to finish that because I keep thinking of other things that I want to do. It seems every time I sit down to work on studying, I then think of something else that I want to do. A scheduled list helps a lot.

[ryoder]

Do whatever it takes to focus your attention. For me its knowing my limitations. Its really about impulse control and keeping your eye on the ball.
Find a place that is free of distractions.

BTW I just got my 6th paper graded at 97%. I wrote that entire paper not on the weekends but in the mornings before work. It took 3 mornings to complete it but it was well worth it at 7/100 points for my course.

I have already logged 3 hours of research and writing today with a few breaks for food and degreeforum.

[methibosheth]

I've found that the easiest way to motivate myself to study is to schedule a test. You can't re-schedule infinitely, so all of the sudden you have a (gulp) DEADLINE! I had five more CLEPs I wanted to complete before starting my day job, and wasn't making much progress. So I made a bold move and scheduled all five of them a week apart. I knew from past CLEPs that a week was plenty of study time for me. Five weeks later, I had taken my last CLEP! Incidentally, this is my favorite time management technique: Create a deadline that includes consequences for not meeting said deadline. The most important part of this technique is the consequences for not meeting this deadline have to be something you wish to avoid at all costs. Its almost like giving yourself a spanking for not obeying yourself! hilarious

[STG]

I've found that the easiest way to motivate myself to study is to schedule a test. You can't re-schedule infinitely, so all of the sudden you have a (gulp) DEADLINE!

Great idea!! I just scheduled my Biology CLEP for a week from tomorrow...I've been studying for 2 months...but I keep pushing it off. Thanks!

[ShotoJuku]

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Red"]Study Time: How I Did It…[/SIZE]

Pre-Study-Prep: Obtain or set up whatever materials I will need to study (IC Flashcards, REA Books, Standard Deviants Videos, Pass-Your-Class Guides, and Petersons Practice Exams.

Week One: Begin to read books, review flashcards, watch videos. Call your test center and make an appointment in advance as they sometimes require a few weeks advance notice.

Week Two: Re-read books, review flashcards, watch videos Take 1-2 practice exams.

Week Three: Continue to review all materials, take additional/final practice exams. You should be passing these with room to spare. Take real exam at end of the week and PASS.

Note you should have at this point already acquired pre-study-prep materials for your next exam so as not to waste time.[/COLOR]

[ryoder]

Shotojuko - nice tips. I followed a very similar path.
BTW, where are you doing your MBA?

Purpleteen - go girl! Now get studying. Bio is not easy from what I hear.

[ShotoJuku]

ShotoJuku - nice tips. I followed a very similar path.
BTW, where are you doing your MBA?

Thanks and sent you a PM.

[burbuja0512]

...In bite sized chunks!

Break down your goals and make them small enough so that you can't fail! Can you commit to 15 minutes of solid study time every evening? No? Ok.. what about 15 minutes 5 days a week?

Give yourself bite-sized rewards too. One of the reasons I have become such a prolific poster this year is because I think I have ADHD. I seriously can't study for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. So, I will set a mini-goal along with my reward for accomplishing the mini-goal. It goes something like this:
If Burbuja gets through one set of IC cards, she can spend 15 minutes on IC forum and/or Facebook.

If it takes me more than 15 minutes on a set of cards (as it will if you're looking at a totally brand new concept), then just set a timer for 10-15 minutes to allow yourself a mini-reward.

Sometimes I luck out and this isn't an issue. When I was studying for the exams that interested me a lot, such as Humanities or Substance Abuse, I'd find myself lost on Wikipedia or other sites reading more about what IC had just scratched the surface of.

However, some tests are just painful or boring... or painfully boring lol. A timer and mini breaks/rewards are what has gotten me through my tests so quickly.

Also, one other point. I enrolled at COSC late June last year. I plunked down my 1400 bucks and didn't think that I would be finishing in a year. When November or December rolled around and I realized that graduation was feasible, all of the sudden, I had this huge 1400 savings if I didn't need to re-matriculate. The money was a HUGE motivator. There is no way I would have attempted to do my entire concentration in one month if the clock hadn't been ticking.

So.. this may be a foolish idea, but have you paid to enroll? Would paying first and having a ticking clock make you stick to your goals? If not, don't do it, but if it helps you, it's totally worth it.