Right?

Wrong. Sorry.

Most of your assignments are due almost at the end of term, which only gives you one week to study before exams. It’s certainly possible to study only for that week, and pass – if you’re very (very) good at studying, and at sitting exams. But -

(a) If you don’t think you’re very, very good at studying and sitting exams, you might need to do a bit more, and

(b) If you want to do more than just pass, you might need to do a bit more.

Here’s how:

1. Single-task, don’t multi-task.
2. Plan out your study time.
3. Study smart, not hard.

1. Multi-tasking vs Single-tasking

We can’t do more than one thing at once – not well, anyway. It’s easier if we do one thing, concentrate on that thing, then put it down and do the next thing. So, when you study, pick one thing to work on for that session, and do that. This lets you get all the information you need together, keep it in your RAM (short term memory), and put it together efficiently. When you’ve got lots of different assignments and exams to work on, that means planning smart study sessions so that you can get through them all.

2. Plan out your study time

You need to:

a. Make a list of all the tasks you have to do: assignments, exams, housework, commitments etc. All of the tasks.

b. Prioritise based on importance, not urgency. Some things are more important than others. Check which papers are compulsory – they’re more important than optional ones. You’re going to have to make some hard choices here: do you go to the pub with your mates every night, or study some of those nights? This post will help you prioritise.

c. Then plan out when you can study, and break it into hour-long sessions. Schedule the tasks from step 1 into these sessions, most important first. This post will help you plan a good amount of study and still have a life too.

3. Study smarter, not harder.

Check out the Study Skills series from April for ideas on how to study smarter, not harder.

Then do the things you know you should: Follow your plan. Don’t let interruptions or temptations get in the way of your study: if a mate turns up, tell them you need to study. Keep what is important in mind. Don’t get raging drunk so that your next morning is a write-off. Eat healthy and exercise.

You know what you should be doing – it’s doing it that’s the hard thing. Hey – it’s only for a few weeks.

And if you’re procrastinating, check out this post

1. Break the work into tasks. In my case this is: do literature review; write first draft; write second draft; write conclusion, introduction and abstract; and polish.

2. Estimate how long each task will take you. Be generous here – it’s better to have spare time than run late. My estimates were 2 days for the literature review (I already had a lot of information), one day for the first draft, one day for the 2nd draft, and one day to polish.

3. Work out when you could start and finish if you started each task on the earliest possible date from today. I started on February 18th, and can do research every Friday, so my dates went like this:

4. Adjust to meet the due date. Unfortunately, that’s March 14th. If I get up early Saturday morning, I can do a full day’s work by lunchtime, so that gives me an extra day a week. Now my plan looks like this:

This also gives me some slack time in case things don’t go as planned – although not a lot.

5. Monitor your progress and adjust the plan as needed. The literature review took an extra day, so I had to find time during the week to work on it. I’m half way through the 2nd draft, and it’s looking good – but it’s March 2nd, so I need to finish that today (not a planned working day) to stay on track. Why did this happen? Because that’s life. I didn’t know about the deadline until recently (correction – I didn’t think to find out about the deadline til recently), I had hoped to work on it during the week, but in the first few weeks of the semester that’s impossible… other things get in the way. Sound familiar?

To get an even better plan:

6. Work out the latest start dates as well: From the deadline, work backwards -

7. Put reminder notes in your diary in big red letters – 8th Feb – Must start literature review today!!!! 15 Feb – must finish literature review today!!! That way you won’t let things slip pas those dates, because you know in advance that you have to start on those dates to finish on time.

Try it for yourself – it only takes a few minutes, and saves a lot of panic at the end.

1. Get a diary. Look for something:

• cheap – as you use it more your requirements will change, so you’ll want to upgrade. Don’t go for an expensive solution until you’re sure it’s perfect.
• easy to carry – small is good
• enough space to write what you want – so not too small
• easy to write in and check at a glance (paper great, pda ok, laptop bad, PC awful).
• the ability to add in more pages (see step 4)
• at least 2 views: annual calendar and daily. A monthly calendr is ok, but annual is better.
• have enough room in the daily page to write down all the things you need to do and remember in that day. I dunno about you, but I need at least one full page for that.
• preferably customisable, so that you can write absolutely in your diary – addresses, notes, lists, etc etc, and add in more pages when and where you need to. . They don’t need to cost the earth – I’ve seen them for about $5 at Whitcoulls. Also check out KMart and the 2 dollar stores. Or try a hipsterPDA.

Online solutions and time management software are great, until you’re in the car, on the underground, or at the beach. They’re not portable so you’ll need at least 2 systems (one to carry around): one is easier.  The same goes for home and work: one combined system is easier.

2. Collect everything you have to do, ready to set up your diary.

3. Schedule in all your appointments in THREE places (yup – three places). This also applies to anything with a due date.

One: In the daily page for the day of the appointment.

Two: In the calendar page, on the day of the appointment.

Three: A few days/weeks before the appointment, as a reminder (in the daily page). How far in advance depends on whether you need to prepare for it. If it’s important, put in a couple of reminders.

Put in a reminder even if you think you’ll check what’s coming up in advance. One day you won’t, and you’ll be scuppered.

4. Create a master To Do list.

This is a part of your diary to write down everything – everything – that you need to do. This list will get added to – lots – and crossed off – lots, hopefully – so will look like a real mess over time. This is where a customisable diary is great – you can add more pages and replace the old ones. I put mine right at the front of the diary.

5. Prioritise your master To Do list.

The aim of the game is to mark which stuff is to be done first, in whatever way makes sense to you. Think about what’s important to you (rather than just urgent). Some ideas:

• Highlight the Quadrant 2’s so they’re easier to spot
• Eliminate as many Quadrant 3 & 4’s as possible
• Add dates next to anything with a due date (repeat step 3 if you haven’t already scheduled them).
• Don’t number all tasks from 1 – n, unless you have a very small list
• You could create a “priority” code – 1 for “do now”, 2 for “do soon”, 3 for “someday/maybe” (hello, GTDers).

6. Plan your first day: choose no more than seven (7) things to schedule into your day.

Remember – big rocks first (that’s those Quadrant 2’s).

Stick to 7. 7 is doable. More than 7, you set yourself up for failure, because of all the little things that crop up. If you finish early, you can always start tomorrow’s list.

7. Choose ONE MIT (Most Important Thing) from your list. Hightlight it. You’re going to do that one first.

8. Do it. When it’s done, cross the task off the daily list. As new stuff comes up, add it to the master To Do list. Schedule new appointments straight away (see step 3).

9. Review it. At the end of the day, update the master To Do list. Then plan tomorrow (steps 6 & 7). Check what appointments you have coming up in the next few days.

10. Done.

Acknowledgements and further reading:

My first time management system was based on a Daytimers  planner, a great, and beautiful – but expensive – system, and I learnt steps 3 & 4 from them.
I learnt about MITs from Leo at Zen Habits (thanks Leo).
The Quadrants come from Stephen Covey, of course. Check out the previous posts in this series for more about them.
The “someday/maybe” category is from David Allen’s excellent Getting Things Done (GTD) system – there’s lots on information about it on the internet.
My current system is a hipsterPDA, which I read about from Merlin Mann, another GTDer.

All libraries have books in time management, and there is lots and lots of good information on the web. However don’t get into “analysis paralysis” – start now, get a system going, then customise it as you learn what you want.

I also find a new school year a good time to set up new living habits. I’ve been away for 6 weeks, so the old habits are broken. I have a month before things get busy again, so I have the mindspace to build new ones, and the time to think about how I’d like my days to work.

My first task when the holidays are over is to plan how this year is going to work for me. I make a list of all the upcoming projects I’d like to work on, and all the regular tasks that I do. I sort out my timetable and identify assessment due dates, then plan around that to block out time for the other things – preparing for classes, marking, research and so on. I work out what time I want to arrive and leave each day, and what I need to do to make that happen. For example I have two 8 o’clock classes this semester, so have to get up at 6am (urgh). I’ve decided to schedule myself 8 o’clock “classes” for the other days too – an hour where I work on my research – so I just get up at 6am every day. That also means I can leave earlier, when I have more energy to work on personal projects or have some fun.

In upcoming posts I will look at how to set some goals for the year, and plan the time to work on then. Until then – how do you want your days to work this year?