[nabs-l] Time Management

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,
The recent discussion made me reflect on my college experiences and
the process I used for time management. I wanted to share some
strategies I used successfully in the hopes that it might help some of
you who are feeling overwhelmed by the demands on your free time from
studying. Time management is an important skill whether you are blind
or sighted, and it matters in the job world as much or more than it
does in college. I do believe, though, that everyone can learn to
become good time managers by following a few simple procedures.
To give some background, I graduated in 2007 with a double major in
biology and psychology. I took between 13 and 17 credits per semester,
and earned a 3.91 GPA. I'm sharing this not to brag, but just to
demonstrate that my time management process was effective, and it is
certainly possible for a blind student to take a challenging course
load, have a life, and get a full night's sleep every night. Yes
that's right, a full night's sleep.
So how did I do it? First, I scheduled mandatory breaks. This may
sound counter-intuitive; with so much to do, how could taking more
breaks possibly be helpful for time management? But, just as you want
to charge your phone regularly so it doesn't die on you at the worst
time, so too, our brains need to regularly recharge. As was mentioned,
when we don't charge our mental batteries regularly, they can die on
us at the worst times, in the form of falling asleep, zoning out
during a reading assignment, or getting writer's block while working
on a paper. To ensure my mental batteries were charged, I made a rule
that no matter how busy I was, I would always quit working 8-9 hours
before I had to get up the next day. So if I had a 9:00 class, and had
to get up at 7:30 to get ready, then by about 10:30 or 11:00 I would
shut the book and go to bed. I made sleep first priority. I need a lot
of sleep to function, and some of you may do just fine on six hours a
night. Figure out how much sleep you need to function well, and then
schedule an appointment with your bed each night so that sleep will
happen. With a well-rested brain, you will be able to think clearly,
retain information, avoid becoming frustrated, and articulate your
ideas clearly in papers. This is doubly important the night before an
exam, which is why I never understood the all-night cramming trend.
Eating regular meals is also important to keep your brain running
smoothly.
In addition, I took a 24-hour hiatus from schoolwork each weekend. I
preferred to do this during the Jewish Sabbath on Saturdays, so I did
no work on Friday evenings or Saturdays during the day. During this
day off, I would focus on other things like spending time with my
family and friends, NFB activities, or just relaxing in front of the
TV. Your hiatus day could be Saturday, Sunday, even a weekday when you
don't have classes; but by taking one day off each week, you are
likely to feel more motivated, and work faster and more efficiently
when you return to the grind. It also gave me something to look
forward to when I was getting burned out at the end of the week, and
made me less tempted to take impromptu breaks.

As far as how I managed my actual work time, I created a file called
"ToDo" on my Braille Note. In it, I kept track of school assignments
that were first priority (due the next day), second priority (due
sometime in the next 2-6 days), and last priority (due in more than a
week). When I got home from classes each day, I would start by
knocking out the first priority stuff, take a quick break and then
move on to the second priority stuff. The real trick is to try to get
a head start on some of those Priority 2 assignments before they
become Priority 1's, so that on any given day, you don't have too much
work that's due the next day.
I used my syllabi as a guide for scheduling my work. For bigger
assignments like term papers, I would break down the assignment into
weekly sub-assignments. So if my term paper was due in a month, I
might give myself an assignment to do some initial research on my
topic this week. Then, next week I would work on taking notes on my
sources, then during the third week I would write the first half of
the paper, and during the last week, finish the paper. Breaking things
down into manageable chunks makes them easier to manage. When doing
this, try to build some extra time into your schedule in case you run
into any unexpected issues with accessibility or just with things
taking longer than you expected. If you work with readers, you can use
your scheduled reader appointments as deadlines by which you will have
certain sections of the assignment completed.
The key with any time management system is to be both rigid and
flexible when making rules for yourself. Set a structure that you will
follow, but then be willing to adjust it if things come up or if you
find that the structure you tried out isn't quite working for you.
Calendars, alarms, and other tools can be useful for helping you stick
to your system and keeping track of how much time you have available
to you. If you find that your work is taking too long, or you are
struggling to come up with a good time management process, it's OK to
start slow, and take only one or two classes until you feel like you
can stay on top of your time. It takes practice to become a good time
manager, and there are definitely ways I could still improve myself.
If you are in high school, it is not too soon to begin practicing
managing your workload.

I hope this is helpful.
Best, Arielle