Do you often find yourself forgetting when your assignments are due? Or always running out of time to finish your homework, staying up all night and waking up the next day tired and stressed out? Oftentimes we find ourselves running from place to place, task to task, because we don't make a clear schedule of what needs to be done. And then when we run out of time, we only become more stressed out, lowering our efficiency the next day. This never-ending cycle can be vicious, and certainly a challenge to meeting our goals. But it doesn't always have to be this complicated! Here's a way to start breaking down your schedule.
Take my friend for example. He's a third year business student, taking a full load of classes. We're about a semester in already, and he's been running nonstop from one place to another. Not only is he rushed to finish each day's work, but he also has trouble sleeping, which only adds to his stress. So a couple days ago, he asked me to help him with his schedule. We started with what we already had - his class schedule. Simple enough, right? See schedule on slide 1.
Take my friend for example. He's a third year business student, taking a full load of classes. We're about a semester in already, and he's been running nonstop from one place to another. Not only is he rushed to finish each day's work, but he also has trouble sleeping, which only adds to his stress. So a couple days ago, he asked me to help him with his schedule. We started with what we already had - his class schedule. Simple enough, right? See schedule on slide 1.
Doesn't seem too bad right? Now here's the fun part. Starting with Monday, I asked him what he did for each hour of the day. Don't leave anything out! So we filled in homework time, significant other time, down time, etc. See the schedule on slide 2.
Don't panic! I know it looks a little overwhelming, but we're going to break this down even further. After filling out the entire schedule, I then began again with Monday's schedule until Friday, asking him specifically about the time he spent on homework. For example, on Tuesday's, he has almost a 3 hour slot for homework in the morning. But when I asked him if he truly did homework that entire time (knowing that he doesn't work well straight for long periods of time), he revealed that no, he didn't actually do homework in all of that time. So we divided the slots again, making sure to be as accurate as possible to the way he works and how long he can stay focused on an activity. We also decided to reallocate some of the time slots that were given to his significant other to allow for homework time. For example, he said that on Wednesday's, he often needed to ask his housemates for help on homework. The only times they were available were at night, so we decided that he would go home a little earlier on Wednesday nights to do homework during that time instead. See the schedule on slide 3.
Now the next step is to color code. I often find that this helps with seeing exactly how much time you spend on each activity. Try to keep similar activities within the same color family, for example, classes in light green and homework in dark green. See schedule on slide 4. Ah much better. Now I asked him how his schedule looked like - did he feel like he had enough time to do homework? Down time to take a break? We went over day by day, seeing if the homework slots he planned out seemed adequate enough. We also took in consideration that he would start to plan ahead during weekends, using the extra time he had to catch up on homework so that he would be less stressed out during the week. With these adjustments, he felt much more prepared for the week and the time he had to finish each task.
The last step was to address his sleeping problem. Because he often had trouble falling asleep, I wanted to make sure that he had enough time to account for that. I also knew that there were many times that he would go home, intending to sleep, but got distracted by video games, talking to his housemates, or would have to do homework. I asked him what days did he need the most energy - which were Mondays and Thursdays. So we decided that he would sleep by 12:30am the nights before to prepare for the next day, while he had until 1am on all other days. We put alarm reminders for 12:15am on days he would need to sleep earlier, and 12:45am reminders on days he could spend a little more down time relaxing before going to bed.
We put this entire calendar on his phone, knowing it would be easier to check on a consistent basis rather than simply on his computer. So here goes the first week on the new schedule! I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes! Let us know as well if you have other tips, questions, or ideas about blocking out your schedule!
Don't panic! I know it looks a little overwhelming, but we're going to break this down even further. After filling out the entire schedule, I then began again with Monday's schedule until Friday, asking him specifically about the time he spent on homework. For example, on Tuesday's, he has almost a 3 hour slot for homework in the morning. But when I asked him if he truly did homework that entire time (knowing that he doesn't work well straight for long periods of time), he revealed that no, he didn't actually do homework in all of that time. So we divided the slots again, making sure to be as accurate as possible to the way he works and how long he can stay focused on an activity. We also decided to reallocate some of the time slots that were given to his significant other to allow for homework time. For example, he said that on Wednesday's, he often needed to ask his housemates for help on homework. The only times they were available were at night, so we decided that he would go home a little earlier on Wednesday nights to do homework during that time instead. See the schedule on slide 3.
Now the next step is to color code. I often find that this helps with seeing exactly how much time you spend on each activity. Try to keep similar activities within the same color family, for example, classes in light green and homework in dark green. See schedule on slide 4. Ah much better. Now I asked him how his schedule looked like - did he feel like he had enough time to do homework? Down time to take a break? We went over day by day, seeing if the homework slots he planned out seemed adequate enough. We also took in consideration that he would start to plan ahead during weekends, using the extra time he had to catch up on homework so that he would be less stressed out during the week. With these adjustments, he felt much more prepared for the week and the time he had to finish each task.
The last step was to address his sleeping problem. Because he often had trouble falling asleep, I wanted to make sure that he had enough time to account for that. I also knew that there were many times that he would go home, intending to sleep, but got distracted by video games, talking to his housemates, or would have to do homework. I asked him what days did he need the most energy - which were Mondays and Thursdays. So we decided that he would sleep by 12:30am the nights before to prepare for the next day, while he had until 1am on all other days. We put alarm reminders for 12:15am on days he would need to sleep earlier, and 12:45am reminders on days he could spend a little more down time relaxing before going to bed.
We put this entire calendar on his phone, knowing it would be easier to check on a consistent basis rather than simply on his computer. So here goes the first week on the new schedule! I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes! Let us know as well if you have other tips, questions, or ideas about blocking out your schedule!