Essay Example on Personal Time Management Plan

Time is a scarce resource that everyone yearns for. Time management is very important as it enables one to avoid distractions and study with significant focus. This paper researches and synthesizes different articles on time management tips and strategies, and establishes a personal plan for time management to support educational goals as well as family and workplace responsibilities (Karim & Kandy, 2011). Graduate school presents a great opportunity for a student to acquire new knowledge and skills that are deemed necessary within any field that is studied. These skills and knowledge will enable students to become creative thinkers. They are gained through many forums, which include being taught in class, doing research, coursework, and internships. Different strategies can be used in managing time, as discussed below.

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Specific goals

It is important to set specific goals and prioritize them. Avoiding distractions is also the key strategy for focusing on specific goals. The student must learn to say 'no' whenever distracted by something or other people. However, this comes from self-determination. Graduate students are motivated to multitask and have the ability to indulge in their activities to the end. Being dependable, intelligent, and hardworking may make one try and offer contributions to every opportunity they get. It is important to use self-determination to turn down some opportunities to avoid losing track of the main objectives. One needs to complete the tasks that are most important for the long-term benefits before considering such distractive opportunities (Gasevic, Matcha, Jovanovic, Pardo, Lim & Gentili, 2019).

Techniques and approaches

It is important to come up with a working calendar system that schedules activities to be completed in a day, a week, a month, or broadly within the academic term. These elements that need to be captured in the schedule include the papers, assessments, and assignments to be done, major readings, and the meetings that need to be attended. All the activities and tasks that need to be completed are accounted for at the end of the coursework through the marks awarded by the examiner or educator (professor). While preparing the working schedule, it is important to consider giving priority to what is most important to growth and success. The schedule is important by acting as a reminder of which tasks the student needs to complete on any given day, as well as what time to do it. Besides having a weekly or monthly calendar plan, a daily to-do list will be very helpful (Karim & Kandy, 2011).

Also, it is worthwhile to protect the time when one is most alert. One may experience long days of many hours of commitment but without accomplishing what is targeted. Such days cause exhaustion such that one may feel unable to do anything else. As they say, "too much of something is poisonous," the student will need to consider taking some time away from studies and/or work.

It is also important to develop ways of reading efficiently. For example, the main points of the reading or chapter can be captured by skimming short notes in either margin. Acronyms with highlights within the text can be used to capture the main points illustrated in a paragraph for easier memorization and tracing of information. While studying on their own, students can write down the main points and raise questions for discussion with the class, a friend, or with the professor (Karim & Kandy, 2011).

Managing Challenges and Stress Levels

The challenges likely to be encountered include failing to complete tasks in time and as desired. Therefore, engaging in self-compassion and self-care will be important. One should make peace with the fact that he or she will not be able to achieve everything as desired. Therefore, they should not be too hard on themselves or become disappointed when things don't work out. This will help in dealing with stress and other emotional feelings that may stall one from completing tasks. It will be worthwhile to schedule time for activities like watching sports and engaging in physical activity for self-care and compassion. Also, spending quality time with family and friends will help reduce burnout and provide room for restructuring (Bazrafkan, Shokrpour, Yousefi & Yamani, 2016).

Personality preferences

It will be important to spend the time taken away from studying and working with family members and friends, especially on the nights that follow busy days. To cover for unmet tasks, the student will utilize the time left on shorter days to complete the unfinished work (Karim & Kandy, 2011).

Assessments

There is plenty of lost time when one is waiting for a service, a class, a meeting, traveling on a train or bus, or while driving. It will be meaningful to use the time spent waiting in reviewing coursework, readings, or completing other tasks in efforts to prepare for assessments. It is guaranteed that one can accomplish so much within such time. When driving home or to class, a student can listen to textbooks and other readings recorded on tape. This will enable one to catch up with others or to grasp important information for his or her course (Karim & Kandy, 2011).

In conclusion, it is quite normal for new students to be surprised by the amount of work that they need to complete each day. The work to be done may seem like a lot to do, but with a good personal time management plan, it can be broken down into attainable segments. The plan will enable the students to balance between several roles undertaken every day by managing their limited time effectively.

References

Bazrafkan, L., Shokrpour, N., Yousefi, A., & Yamani, N. (2016). Management of stress and anxiety among Ph.D. students during thesis writing: a qualitative study. The health care manager, 35(3), 231-240. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/healthcaremanagerjournal/Abstract/2016/07000/Management_of_Stress_and_Anxiety_Among_PhD.7.aspx

Gasevic, D., Matcha, W., Jovanovic, J., Pardo, A., Lim, L. A., & Gentili, S. (2019, September). Discovering Time Management Strategies in Learning Processes Using Process Mining Techniques. In European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 555-569). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-29736-7_41

Karim, S., & Kandy, M. (2011). Time management skills impact on self-efficacy and academic performance. Journal of American Science, 7(12), 720-726. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&qsp=16&q=academic+time+management+skills&qst=bh