August 20th, 2010
Time Management from A-Z for Nursing Students
Attendance
Every hour you spend in class will save you three hours of study time. If you are going to cut corners somewhere, go to class and skimp on study time. Attend every class.
Budgeting
Most students claim they just don’t have enough time. Yet every student has all the time there is: 168 hours per week, no more and no less. Therefore managing your time becomes more important than managing your money because once time is spent, you can’t earn more.
To make sure you use each day to the maximum, buy a pocket-sized daily planner and keep it with you. Buy a jumbo calendar to keep track of major events. Scope the whole term, marking out such milestones as exams, term papers and research projects. Block out all clinical times.
Approach being a student as you would a job. Plan to be at it 40 hours a week. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you have only one class on Tuesday and no class on Thursday those are your “days off”. Actually, those are the days when you can really get down to business; although it is important to use every fragment of time, it is even more important to schedule large blocks of uninterrupted study time lasting 2 or 3 hours.
Concentration
One key to success is undivided attention. Eliminate all distractions. Clear your work area and your mind of all clutter. Keep on the desk only what you need for a particular assignment. If your mind wanders, order it back to the task at hand. Superstudents not only do first things first, they do only one thing at a time.
Dirty Jobs
Look at your “to-do-today” list and circle the task you dread doing most. Tackle that one first. When it is finished, you will feel exhilarated. If you postpone doing a boring, tough or unpleasant task, it will nag you all day. Your ability to concentrate will be nil. As the day wears on, you will begin to think about putting it off until tomorrow. That way the task will ruin 2 days instead of 1. So take the plunge and do the dirty job first.
Equipment
Have a ready supply of pens, pencils, paper, note cards, folders and papers. Invest in the latest edition of each required textbook. Should you buy a used book? Buying a pre-owned book is like buying a used car. If the previous owner is a straight-A student, the yellow highlights and scribbles in the margin may be a godsend. Unfortunately, most straight-A students keep their books. The market is flooded by C-minus students. If your eye is easily distracted, buy a new one.
Filing System
With the “it-must-be-here-somewhere” filing system, you will not only lose time, you will also lose your temper. Browse at the local bookstore for a filing system that meets your needs. If you can’t afford what’s in the store, go behind the store and get a sturdy cardboard box from the trash. Keep everything together. Put all papers pertaining to a certain class in one folder and keep all folders for the current term in one box.
Once the term is over, take all those folders and move them to an under-the-bed storage box. That way the stuff will be out of sight but easily accessible. Then when your classroom studies are focused on the renal system but you find yourself caring for a pregnant schizophrenic with a broken leg, you can quickly find your notes from the last term or even last year.
Goals
Goals may be as simple as reading two chapters before bedtime or as complex as becoming a nurse-midwife in Borneo. Some may take 10 minutes to accomplish; others take 10 years.
Being goal-oriented helps you focus your time and energy for maximum effect. It enables you to weed out irrelevant people and activities. Dozens of daily decisions become automatic. If you find yourself wishing you could get a better grade in Anatomy and Physiology, or get more help with the housework, stop wishing and convert those wishes into goals. Sit down and work through the following:
- List the steps you need to take to achieve the goal.
- Decide which steps you are able to take to achieve the goal.
- Decide which steps you are willing to take to achieve the goal.
- Identify people who can help you achieve the goal.
- Consider how you might get yourself or others sabotage your good intentions.
If you take the time to write down a goal and your plan for achieving it, you won’t need a fairy godmother to make sure your dreams come true.
Hanging In There
When the going gets tough, hang in there. As the difficulty of any task increases, so does the attractiveness of any distraction. As you squirm in your chair, doing your laundry seems suddenly vital. Ignore the laundry. Knuckle down and work through the problem at hand. If you abandon a task when you feel you are losing, you’ll find it much harder to return to it. Active avoidance coupled with passive procrastination will cost you lots of time. Instead, stop work at the point where you feel you are winning. Then you will be willing, even eager, to return to the task later.
Investments
Think of class attendance, library time and study sessions as “deposits”. Even brief moments, like small change can add up to something big. One student tucked chemical formulas into her ski boot and memorized them on the chairlift.
Learn to prioritize. Invest time in high pay-off activities. Required classes take priority over electives. Nursing classes takes priority over any other classes. Studying for an exam that makes up 50 percent of your grade takes precedence over studying for an exam that only makes up 10 percent of a grade. And so on.
Jotting It Down
Make lists and use them. It’s the best way to keep organized and avoid wasted motion. Lists help you consolidate errands so that you make two trips instead of twenty. Lists help you arrive prepared and ready for action.
Efficiency experts suggest you make a list each evening for the following day. List the six most critical things that have to be done. Rank them in order of importance. The next day, begin with Number One and work it through before going to anything else. Continue down the list. Your productivity will skyrocket.
Knocking Off
When you reach the point of diminishing returns, discontinue an activity. Settle for an A—don’t knock your brains out striving for an A-plus. No one wastes more time than a perfectionist. Remember Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the amount of time available to do it.” Set reasonable deadlines and stick to them. Then move on to the next task.
Librarian
No one on campus can help you save as much time as the librarian. Just ask.
Majoring in minor activities.
Busywork gives many students a false sense of accomplishment. Each night they fall into bed exhausted, insisting they are working as hard as they can. They’re right. They’re just not working as smart as they can. Learn to organize busy work for what it is. Don’t take pride in your efforts. Take pride only in results.
No
The greatest time-saving device ever invented.
Other people’s time
Time-wise students know how to divide chores and delegate everything they possibly can. They are also aware of some important considerations when relying on other people’s time. For example, if you are hiring someone to type your term paper, get the material to the typist well in advance of the due date. One campus typist, tired of last-minute hysterics, posted this notice on her wall: “A LACK OF PLANNING ON YOUR PART DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY ON MINE”. If you are relying on other people’s time, plan far ahead.
Prime Time
Every person has 2 or 3 hours a day when he or she is in his top form. Most of us have our prime time in the morning. Find your prime time and protect it. Invest it in high-priority items that demand concentration, creativity and judgment. Use your less-than-prime time fro legwork.
Questions
Several times each day, ask yourself questions such as the following:
- Is this the best use of my time right now?
- Is this activity helping me achieve one of my goals?
- Is this worth the amount of time it will take?
- Is this still worth doing?
- If I didn’t do this, what would happen?
Regrets
Don’t squander time mourning what might have been. Don’t waste time wallowing in guilt or self-pity. When you begin to say, “If only________,” quickly change the statement to “Next time __________.” Then get on with the business at hand.
Saving Time
Impossible! It is also impossible to find time or make time. You can only put the time you have to better use.
Tomorrow
It never comes. Do it TODAY.
Urgency!
Urgent things are not always important. Important things are not always urgent. Tending to the important and ignoring the pseudoimportant things that clamor for attention are what separate good students from great students.
Vacillating
Indecision robs students of enough time to be classified as grand as grand larceny. Be decisive. Establish your own operating policies. If you give yourself a deadline, stick to it. If you decide your regular study period will be from 2 to 4 P.M. Monday through Friday, don’t violate that policy. Studying anything is better than studying nothing.
Wastebasket
Use it!
Xeroxing
For dimes and quarters you can cut your library time to the bone. Use your less-than-prime time to round up all appropriate books and journals. Scan 2 minutes for articles, 3 minutes for books. Photocopy anything that appears pertinent. Use your prime time to study, memorize, integrate, synthesize and use the information. Keep copies of all your written papers and major assignments. It’s dirt-cheap insurance policy against loss.
Yakety Yak
Don’t let the telephone or drop-in visitor ruin your study time. Tell callers, “I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you back at 9 o’clock.” If you can’t do that, unplug the phone or go where there are no phones.
Close your door. If someone pops in and asks, “Have you got a minute,” say “No, but I’ll have a minute at 9 o’clock.” Offer to meet in his or her room or in the coffee shop. That way you can control the length of visit.
Zzzzzs
Schedule rest-and-relaxation periods. Get the sleep you need so you will be alert enough to put all these time-management suggestions to good use.