Goal Setting
Set yourself specific and realistic goals. Remember to prioritize assessments according to their percentage of your grade. For example, an assessment worth 30% should be prioritized over an assessment worth 10%.
Semester Planner
Use a semester planner (scroll down to Further resources) to mark all your activities over the entire semester. Note all important dates for each assessment on the semester planner. Include other commitments relating to paid work, family and friends. This gives you the ‘big picture’ of all your commitments. Identify the busy periods so that you can spread out your workload across the semester.
- What to include:
- Deadlines for special projects, reports, writing/lab assignments
- Scheduled tests, midterms, and final exams
- Special events, meetings, workshops, or conferences
- Holidays
- Scheduled time for tutors, study groups, or other support services
- Personal appointments
- Important social engagements
- Where to begin:
- Gather the campus calendar, your syllabi, and your personal calendar
- Write the dates for all of the items on each. (color coding can be helpful, aka Red for English, Blue for History, etc.)
- Put your term schedule somewhere you can easily access it to create your weekly schedule.
- Update your term schedule throughout the semester as new assignments or events pop up.
Weekly Planner
Weekly Planner
Use the weekly planner to mark all your activities over each week of the semester. This will identify time available for planning outside class study or any group work that is required.
- What to include:
- Events big and small.
- Plan out your days in time blocks. Remember: This is a guide to your day, not a firm commitment. Things can change!
- Where to begin:
- Write all of your fixed activities first. This includes class times, work schedules, meal times, special appointments, commute times, and sleep.
- Next focus on fixed study times. These are high priority. Keep in mind that you can dedicate blocks of time to specific courses so be strategic in their placement. (aka you don’t want to study math on the same day you have math).
- Add flexible study times. These are safety nets that can help you out if you’ve hit a difficult subject area or just need more time to grasp a concept. When you finish early these can be converted to free time.
- Add time for personal goals and responsibilities. Whether it is doing laundry, spending time with family, or anything else important to your life, it is important to remember that time management is designed to help you balance your life. That means that personal time is balanced with work and school.
- Leisure time. Going to the movies, playing a game, checking on what’s trending, whatever you do in your free time. Its important to schedule it, especially for a perfectionist mindset. You don’t want to feel guilty about having “me” time.
Daily Planner
Use a daily planner or ‘To-do’ list to identify and keep track of what you must do each day. Write the tasks as a list of dot points and rank them in order of importance. Cross them off as you complete each task and reward yourself at the end of the day.
- What to include:
- Tasks you complete over a single day. This is pulled from your weekly schedule.
- Where to begin:
- The day before (or in the morning) write down what you have planned to do the next day.
- Keep that list in a convenient location throughout the day.
Assignment Planner
Use the Assignment Planner to create a schedule for completing your assignment on time.
Hint: use an end date that is at least 3 days prior to the actual due date to allow time for the unexpected or interruptions outside your control.
Time Management Resources
Remember! To use templates from Google Docs or Sheets, you'll need to make a copy of the file first. Find instructions on how to make a copy of Google Drive using the FAQ below.
Don't Count the Yes's, Count the No's and Time Management Skills That Work by Type: eBookISBN: 9781722500214Publication Date: 2018-10-09Time management is the single most important skill you can master when it comes to your life, career or business! Now, Warren Greshes teaches you how to effectively manage your time, while taking you through a time test to determine what progress you have made so far. Learn how to prepare for and plan tasks according to priority and save extra time each day.
Effortless by Type: eBookISBN: 9780593135655Publication Date: 2021-04-27Effortless offers actionable advice for making the most essential activities the easiest ones, so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781250834386Publication Date: Aug 10, 2021Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management.
From To-Do to Done : How to Go From Busy to Productive by Mastering Your To-Do List by Type: eBookISBN: 9781728234847Publication Date: 2021Trying to remember a bunch of details and tasks isn't the best use of your brainpower. This is not another book on time management; this is a book on how to take back control of your busy life.
Get Organized by Type: eBookISBN: 9781504055222Publication Date: 2018-07-31Develop organizational techniques, streamline study time, and avoid the stress of disorderly spaces and rushed schedules.
The Getting Things Done Workbook : 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity by Type: eBookISBN: 9780525505228Publication Date: 2019An accessible, practical, step-by-step how-to guide that supplements Getting Things Done by providing the details, the how-to's, and the practices to apply GTD more fully and easily in daily life. The workbook divides the process into small, manageable segments to allow for easier learning and doing. Each chapter identifies a challenge the reader may be facing--such as being overwhelmed by too many to-do lists, a messy desk, or email overload--and explains the GTD concept to address. The lessons can be learned and implemented in almost any order, and whichever is adopted will provide immediate benefits.
Indistractable by Type: eBookISBN: 9781948836531Publication Date: 2019-09-10What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become 'indistractable?
The Lazy Genius Way by Type: eBookISBN: 9780525653929Publication Date: 2020-08-11Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn't. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra's thirteen Lazy Genius principles.
Master Your Motivation by Type: eBookISBN: 9781523098620Publication Date: 2019-06-04Fowler reveals compelling insights and actions to help you master and maintain your motivation. Traditional “motivators” such as fear, guilt, or the promise of a reward provide low-quality, short-term energy. Drawing on the latest empirical research, she proves that high-quality, optimal motivation is a skill that you can learn and apply.
Time Management Training by Type: eBookISBN: 9781607280927Publication Date: 2016-11-01Empower workshop participants to reclaim their time. Master trainer Lisa Downs has developed a collection of complete workshops and tools you'll need to empower workshop participants to strategically manage procrastination, negotiate priorities, and exercise control over how they spend their time by helping them develop their time management and productivity skills.
The Work-Life Balance Myth: Rethinking Your Optimal Balance for Success by Type: eBookISBN: 9781260468908Publication Date: 2021It begins with two important facts: 1) stress happens—you can't avoid it; and 2) your existence is composed of far more than “work” and “life. This relatively simple but profoundly critical concept is at the heart of the method David McNeff has used to transform the lives and careers of his clients.
Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Type: eAudioISBN: 9780593153932Publication Date: 2021-04-27It all starts with a simple principle: Not everything has to be so hard. The effortless way isn't the lazy way. It's the smart way. It may even be the only way. Not every hard thing in life can be made easy. But we can make it easier to do more of what matters most.
Make Time by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781984827968Publication Date: 2018-09-24A simple 4-step system for improving focus, finding greater joy in your work, and getting more out of every day. Make Time is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, it offers a customizable menu of bite-size tips and strategies that can be tailored to individual habits and lifestyles. Make Time isn't about productivity, or checking off more to-dos. Nor does it propose unrealistic solutions like throwing out your smartphone or swearing off social media. Making time isn't about radically overhauling your lifestyle; it's about making small shifts in your environment to liberate yourself from constant busyness and distraction.
Spending Time by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781630151782Publication Date: 2019-06-18Spending Time provides engaging insights into how people use their time and what determines their decisions about spending their time. That our time is limited by the number of hours in a day, days in a year, and years in our lives means that we face constraints and thus choices that involve trade-offs. Being stressed for time is central to modern life, and Hamermesh shows who is rushed, and why. With Americans working more than people in France, Germany, the U.K., Japan, and other rich countries, the book also offers a simple but radical proposal for changing Americans' lives and reducing the stress about time.
Ten Time Management Choices That Can Change Your Life by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781630152239Publication Date: 2019-05-28Get more out of every day! From goal setting, project management, and to-do lists to daily scheduling, creating new habits, and curing chronic lateness, this book will change busy listeners' lives.
Time Smart by Type: eAudioISBN: 9781705007549Publication Date: 2020-10-06Time Smart is your playbook for taking back the time you lose to mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. The techniques Whillans provides will free up seconds, minutes, and hours that, over the long term, become weeks and months that you can reinvest in positive, healthy activities.
- How I Use My Calendar EfficientlyIn this post, the author shows you how they used Google Calendar as a student, as well as how they use it today.
- Why You Must Stay Organized in CollegeStaying organized will help you better manage your time. Rather than spending countless minutes trying to find notes for class or taking the time to clean a huge mess before sitting to study, you will be able to maximize the time you spend getting things done when you are organized.
- A Student's Guide to Positive Habit BuildingHabits are small decisions and actions taken day after day, and account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day. Just as good habits can be formed over time, bad habits can be eliminated over time as well. For students entering college it’s important to form habits that will positively affect their success in school. Habits such as what to eat, how much to sleep, how active to be, how to get along with others, as well as the ability to set goals and follow-up on those goals. This video looks at a few areas where every student can improve their habit building skills and create great routines for success in college.
- Time ManagementCompared to high school, where the day is structured down to the minute, college is a blank do-it-yourself calendar. Classes, clubs, sports, part-time jobs…assignments, projects, exams…even time to hang out: all must be penciled in! Over the course of this three-section program, viewers will learn to sidestep common time-management errors and plan out their semesters so they can take control of their time and enjoy a healthy work/life balance.
- FreedomFreedom is an app and website blocker you can use to block distractions so you can get your work done. Block what you want, when you want, and be more productive.
- HabiticaHabitica is a free habit-building and productivity app that treats your real life like a game. With in-game rewards and punishments to motivate you and a strong social network to inspire you, Habitica can help you achieve your goals to become healthy, hard-working, and happy.
- Organization StrategiesFour tutorials from the Learning Express Library: Achiving Your Goals, Effective Multitasking, Get Organized, and Manage Your Time. You will need to create a free Learning Express Library to get started!
- Today Habit trackerToday is your free personal habit tracker that helps you organize your day and build life-changing habits. Quit bad habits and stay on track with Today's unique visual and rewarding approach based on proven methods from behavioral science.
- Google CalendarWith Google Calendar, you can keep tabs on every important occasion/event, and never miss out on anything. It comes as part of your TSTC email account so you can sync your assignments to your email for reminders and more.
- Google DriveKeeps your files backed up and synced across all your computers and devices, as well as on the web. Forget your paper on your home computer? No worries, it's in Drive.
- TrelloA fantastic tool for managing group projects, and it’s free. It essentially works by making each task a "card" that you move from list to list based on its status. Great for managing big, complicated projects.