This is a good question to ask. When I was a student I had to juggle many competing demands on my time, such as studying, a social life and work obligations.
This made it very difficult to concentrate on the things that I had to do. I will put the steps in point form, which is the same advice that I give to my students who are now confronted with the same issues. 1. Write up all your obligations on a semester timetable. When your assessments are, social obligations and work commitments. Having this overview identifies the bottlenecks of activity and possible quite times for you.
2. With this semester plan, now plan at a weekly level. For this you need a diary. Planning at the weekly level should start on a Sunday night - where you write your lectures, work and social life commitments into your weekly timetable.
3. Now the weekly timetable should funnel down into a daily plan. This should be a prioritized to do list. I now have about 8 major responsibilities in my life and so I live and breathe my prioritized to-do list. It keeps me focussed on what I have to do rather than the stress of having to much to do.
4. When filling out the prioritized to-do list, I would suggest that you set up your priorities in terms of what is important to you. For more ideas I recommend my students to use these proactive time management strategies.
5. When you have your plan of work, it is now important to work your plan. For ideas on how to remain focussed when studying and how to get the most out of your study time, see these ideas on student time management.
I hope that this helps. If you have any more questions, please contact us.
