Schedules and Calendars
You have 168 hours every week to decide how to spend. How many of these do you spend
- sleeping? (8 hours per night = 56 hours)
- eating? (3 hours per day = 21 hours)
- class, labs, etc.? (15-20 hours per week depending on your course load)
- working? (campus jobs at Xavier are typically 10 hours or less per week)
This leaves only 63 hours (9 per day) where you have to decide what to do. Make a calendar, allocate this time, don't just let it pass without your knowing how it was spent.
Types of Calendars
|Pen & Paper||Easy to hold on to, can go anywhere.||Messy to change. Easy to lose.|
|Cell phone app; outlook calendar; online calendars||Easy to hold on to, can go anywhere.||Difficult for people who don't like or work well with technology. Able to be lost, especially if you don't back it up.|
Principles of Scheduling
- Don't worry if you don't stick to the schedule for every minute, or hour, of the day. It may take a while to get used to a new time management habit. Just don't get too impatient and give up completely.
- Try not to over-schedule yourself. Leave time free each day for "fudge" time.
- Schedule time for sleep.
- Trade, don't steal, time from your schedule. (If you go out while you scheduled study time, study some during time scheduled for socializing.)
- One hour studying. Set aside at least one hour each day to work on homework, even if you don't have anything due the next day. Get into the habit of studying every day.