3.7: Study Skills- Managing Your Workload

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You are going to college. Do you also have a job? Children? Responsibilities in your community? It can be hard to juggle the work you are doing for your college class with your everyday responsibilities.

Tips for Managing Your Workload

1. Get organized! You may prefer a paper calendar, or you may like to use online tools. It doesn’t matter which tool you use, but you need to write down what you have to do, and when you have to do it. In your planner, write the following:

All personal obligations: your job; your children’s activities and appointments, including school breaks; any medical appointments; birthdays and other celebrations; community responsibilities.
Your class times.
Your homework: as soon as you get a piece of homework, write down the task and the day it is due. Do the same with any tests you need to take.

2. Make lists. Every day, make a list of what needs to be done. Prioritize the items on your list: decide what is most important and what can wait until another day. As you check off items you have done, you will feel a sense of achievement.

3. Think back to Unit 2 and the questions you answered about your own study preferences. Use this information to help you plan your time. For example, if you decided you were a night owl, don’t plan to study at 7 a.m. You won’t be at your best.

4. Try to block off times for study. Can you trade childcare one evening per week with a neighbour? Can you arrange your shifts at work so that you have a day free each week?

5. Estimate how long each task should take. Don’t spend more time than necessary on a task. For example, if you have promised to help paint your friend’s apartment, tell yourself (and your friend) in advance that you can only spare half a day.

6. Understand what distracts you. If you tend to waste time watching television when you are trying to study, try doing your homework in another room. If you are constantly checking your phone for messages, leave your phone in your bag.

7. Ask for help. Can your partner do the laundry? Can your kids cook dinner? Don’t try to be Superman or Superwoman; it won’t matter if your house is untidy while you get caught up.

8. Reward yourself. When you finish a task, give yourself a treat. You don’t need to buy something expensive; it could be something very simple, like a phone call to a good friend or a bowl of your favourite ice cream. Knowing there is something good at the end will help you to stay focused.

One of the best ways to manage your time is to find out where your time is going. For one week, write down what you do every day. Use the chart to help you. Then see where you can make changes.

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY

How can you use this information to make better choices about how you use your time?