Taking Control of Your Schedule
Knowing how to manage your time and set priorities is a key factor to reducing stress. There is nothing more stressful than scrambling around trying to get things done, and/or missing deadlines because of lack of planning.
When planning your time, Dale Carnegie Professional Trainers (https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en) suggest doing the following:
- Get a day planner or use a digital planner (e.g. phone/laptop) and go over every syllabus from all your courses. In your planner note all things like: your class schedules, lab schedules, what readings are due when, when assignments are due, when exams take place, and any appointments and personal obligations.
- Every week set aside a time (e.g. Sunday afternoon) to determine what must be done during the week. Look ahead to assignments, etc. to determine how much time you feel you will need to complete the activity. Create a list of daily activities with the highest priority items to be completed first using the Eisenhower Method.
Note: If you cannot complete a daily activity, reassess. Look at the priority matrix presented below, to help determine the level of priority for each of your activities. Write a list of all your tasks and decide whether they are important or not, and urgent or not urgent. Do this on a regular basis to help you stay on top of your organizing to ensure you are taking care of yourself and balancing all of your school and life demands.
