5.6 Time Management Strategy: Scheduling

Once you’ve established priorities you can make a plan for how you’ll use your time in order to be successful. Some successful strategies might include the use of calendars and planners.

To choose a planner or calendar system, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I want to be able to look at the current term, month, or week as a whole in addition to each day?
• Will it help to have a calendar or planner I can carry with me or one that stays put on a wall or desk?
• Do I need a place to keep a task list, a schedule, or both?
• Would I benefit from multiple calendars or planners?
• Who will use this planner or calendar? Just me? Or will it be used for collaborators, like roommates or a family?
• If I choose a paper planner, how far into the future should it go?

Once you’ve selected a planner or calendar, start by filling in your daily calendar with set events first—those that aren’t flexible and cannot be moved, including things like class, office hours, standing family time, or work. These may be your A items from your ABC analysis. Block time on the calendar that you’ll need to put toward each of these items. With regards to class- and work-related commitments, you’ll likely be able to plan ahead, maybe for the next month, or even for an entire academic term. For other things, you may only be able to fill them in for the coming week. Do this as you are able and add things, like doctor or dentist appointments, as they come up.

Student Perspectives: Time Management Tips

Video Transcript

Calendar Step 1: Set Events

Calendar Step 2: More Flexible or Optional Events

Then, for the coming week, fill in more flexible items. These might be the B or C items from your ABC analysis for any given week. For example, you might block an hour for grocery shopping on Monday evening, and an hour and a half for pick-up basketball with your roommate on Tuesday.

Planner and Calendar Tips

As you fill in your calendar or planner, consider the following:

• Account for travel or prep time for each activity. Either include it in the duration of the activity as you enter it on your calendar, or add it as an item of its own. For example, if it takes you 20 minutes to pack your bag and walk to the courts, include this with the time you block for basketball.
• Schedule your activities for peak efficiency. Do the tasks that require more focus during the times of the day when your energy level is highest.
• Use the time you’ve set aside for each item for that task alone; be deliberate. Resist the urge to do other things. As much as you’re able, stick to the commitment you made with yourself. This means avoiding distractions and procrastination.
• Be strategic in overlapping tasks. You might find that you can plan to do some activities simultaneously; these might include reading coursework while you do laundry or scheduling a doctor’s appointment while you walk on a treadmill at the gym.
• Keep a list of non-priority tasks. You may realize that the B or C items from your ABC analysis are better kept as a brief list with your calendar as something to do if you find yourself with extra time. For example, if class is canceled unexpectedly, you might use that time for things that weren’t priority enough to have gotten their own times blocked on the calendar. These might include things like: making a haircut appointment, organizing your closet, or visiting a new restaurant.
• Reflect at the end of each day or week. Look back at how the day or week went and determine if you need to adjust any of the blocks you made on your calendar. For example, if it took longer to do your shopping, adjust upcoming shopping blocks or note it for next time you add shopping to your calendar. Spend time each week re-assessing whether your priorities have changed or where you need to make some changes. You might even add this reflection time to your calendar.

Keeping Your Plan Within Scope

Managing time is a powerful skill in helping you get closer to your goals and can be a very satisfying process once you find something that will work best for you. You may need to keep experimenting with various scheduling tools and ordering of tasks to determine how you’ll be most successful. Though planning ahead is an important part of prioritizing and managing time, we want to caution you that spending too much time scheduling might actually increase stress, as can creating a schedule that is too full or too rigid. It’s important to craft a schedule that includes some degree of flexibility in order for you to be able to respond if unexpected things come up. Consider two or three major goals or to-do’s each day that you can prioritize getting done. A schedule needs to be user-friendly and also leave a little wiggle room for last-minute surprises. Sometimes you won’t be able to stick to the plan you set.

It can also be helpful to ask yourself if your expectations for yourself are realistic. Are you expecting too much or too little of yourself with regards to how much you can get done in a day? If you feel overwhelmed or frustrated with how your days are going, or you’re often feeling rushed, you may need to examine your schedule and lists. What could you delete, postpone, or delegate to someone else?

Remember that every day has 24 hours. The key is to manage your time so that your priorities and values guide where it goes and work to ensure you’re setting yourself up for success in accomplishing what you’ve decided is most important. You can be flexible with the time that’s left, taking care to consider whether you’re feeling balanced and taking steps to incorporate things in your life that will contribute to your wellbeing.

Sometimes you won’t be able to stick to the plan you set earlier in the week. Life happens. It’s not always about how many things you accomplished. Perhaps a better measure of productivity or purpose is whether or not you focused on the things that were most important and whether or not you feel good about how you used your time. You will gradually learn what you can reasonably accomplish in a day and what kinds of things lead you to stray from your plan. Keep trying until you find something that works best for you.