GET AHEAD
UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER PROGRAMME 2014
Start Organised, Stay Organised
Sara Steinke
s.steinke@bbk.ac.uk
Aims of the session
• Importance of starting and staying organised
in your studies
• What is meant by time management,
including time management techniques
• How to prioritise tasks
• Importance of establishing a study timetable
• How to use a diary effectively
Why start organised?
• Poor organisational skills prevents students
from achieving their best
• Related to other study skills
- study space/resources, essay writing, presentation,
exams, revision, reading for academic purposes,
note-making
• Helps you to achieve your goals - S.M.A.R.T.
(specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,
time-bound)
• Link to employability
Time management
• Importance of time
management
• What is time management
• Where does the time go
• How well do you use your
time
Harold Lloyd,
Safety Last, 1923
• Establishing a dedicated
study space
Importance of time management
"Time management is the skill which
above all others can make the difference
between graduating and drop out.”
Ruth Pickford and Sally Brown, Assessing Skills
and Practice (London: Routledge, 2006), page 47
• Expected of you in Higher Education
• Transferable skill to the workplace
Cottrell, S. The Study Skills Handbook
chapter 4
C - Creative
have the confidence to use your individual strategies and styles, apply
imagination to your learning
R - Reflective
sit with your experience, analyse and evaluate your own performance
and draw lessons from it
E - Effective
organise your space, time, priorities, state of mind and resources to
the maximum benefit
A - Active
be personally involved, do things, physically and mentally in order to
make sense of what you learn
M - Motivated
be aware of your desired outcomes using short and long-term 'goals'
What is time management?
• Time management is about organising your
competing priorities in the limited time
available
• Time management often has very little to do
with time
• It is about organising your life around what is
important to you, dealing with and confronting
more emotional issues like fear, inadequacy and
other people’s demands on you
What current pressures
are there on your time?
Studying
socialising
Have you thought
about how you
are going to fit
travel
studying into
your wider
schedule?
work
Can you foresee
any problems
which may arise?
lectures,
reading,
writing
sleeping/
eating
exercise/
relaxation
home/
personnel
How well do I use my time?
1. I use small pockets of time
effectively.
2. I am well motivated to start work
quickly.
3. I do enough rather than aiming at
perfection.
4. I say ‘NO’ when I lack time.
5. I use a diary to prioritise my
activities.
Yes No
1. Small pockets of time - around 45 minutes - are more
productive; short portions of time soon add up; take
frequent breaks
2. Recognise and deal with procrastination; set goals; identify
your time wasters (self-inflicted and given)
3. Pareto Principle - roughly 80% of results/effects come from
20% of effort/causes; 20% effort delivers an acceptable
result, not perfect, but good enough
4. L’Oreal principal - ‘because you’re worth it’; educate your
family, friends and colleagues to respect your study
space/time
5. Use one diary to create a ‘to-do list’; prioritise tasks; note
deadlines; write down dates you must begin working
towards the deadlines, establish study timetable
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Sat
Sun
am
8-12
Gym/
Work
Work
Gym/
Work
Work
Work
House
work
and
errands
House
work
and
errands
pm
12-6
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Study
Family/
Friends/
Fun
Eve
6-9
BBK
BBK
BBK
Gym
Family/ Study
Friends/
Fun
Night
9-12
TV
Library
Key
reading
Key
reading
Family/ Family/ TV
Friends/ Friends/
Fun
Fun
TV
• Use one diary, carry with you at all
times
• Enter deadlines, lectures,
appointments, including extra time
needed to complete these tasks
• Check diary everyday
• Do not schedule 100% of your time,
allow for emergencies/the
unexpected
• Plan time for family, friends, eating,
shopping
• Create to-do list, using prioritisation
• Record follow up tasks
Think about the following
1. Have you created a
dedicated study space?
2. Are you comfortable?
3. Have you enough space to
work in?
4. Do you have all the
equipment that you need?
5. How are you going to
organise your notes/books?
• The 3 Ps
• Importance of
prioritisation
• What is prioritisation
• How to prioritise
• Goal setting
The 3 Ps
• Avoid PROCRASTINATION
• No such thing as PERFECTIONISM
• Learn how to PRIORITISE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Procrastination
Perfectionism
Lack of self discipline
Worrying
Personal disorganisation
Lack of priorities
Inability to say ‘no’
Indecisiveness
Socialising (too much)
Intrusions (visitors, calls)
Not finding resources
Excessive family demands
Not able to contact people
Facebook/Twitter/internet
1. Which of these
time wasters apply
to you?
2. How are you going
to deal with these
time wasters?
Importance of prioritisation
• Adult learners have many, often competing,
demands on their time; work, family, friends
and studying
• Helps you to achieve your short, medium and
long term goals
• Expected of you in Higher Education
• Transferable skill to the workplace
What is prioritisation
• Quadrant 1 - Urgent and Important
The Quadrant of Necessities - reactive tasks
that need to be done, often at the last minute.
Crises, 'fire-fighting' and looming deadlines
are typical examples.
• Quadrant 2 - Important but not Urgent
The Quadrant of Quality - proactive tasks, often
habitual, that maintain or improve the quality of
your work and life. The more you expand this
quadrant, the more you reduce the other three,
particularly 'pseudo-emergencies' that should
never have been allowed to become so.
• Quadrant 3 - Urgent but not Important
The Quadrant of Deception - plenty of people
have gone home in the evening wondering where
all the time went. Well, it was here! It's so easy to
get sucked into doing things that are the wrong
side of the 80-20 rule.
• Quadrant 4 - Neither Urgent or Important
The Quadrant of Waste - you know what it is and
you know when you've been in it. The trick is to
know when you're in it. Often, it starts out as
restful time (which is Quadrant 2).
List of things to
do
1. Print/submit
essay for today’s
deadline
2. Start to prepare
presentation for
next week’s
seminar
3. Sick child
requiring urgent
doctor’s appt.
4. Plan for work
meeting taking
place tomorrow
5. Book holiday
for next summer
A
Importance
Need to do
scale 6
(unimportant)
to
10 (essential)
B
Urgency
Do now
scale 1 (must be
done at once)
to
5 (it can wait)
C
Subtract the
score in column
B from column
A.
The higher
scores in column
C are priorities.
D
Order of
priority/
When to do
Number the
order of
priorities
List of things to
do
1. Print/submit
essay for today’s
deadline
2. Start to prepare
presentation for
next week’s
seminar
3. Sick child
requiring urgent
doctor’s appt.
4. Plan for work
meeting taking
place tomorrow
5. Book holiday
for next summer
A
Importance
Need to do
scale 6
(unimportant)
to
10 (essential)
B
Urgency
Do now
scale 1 (must be
done at once)
to
5 (it can wait)
C
Subtract the
score in column
B from column
A.
The higher
scores in column
C are priorities.
10
1
9
8
3
5
10
1
9
9
2
7
6
5
1
D
Order of
priority/
When to do
Number the
order of
priorities
How to stay organised
1.
Which three organisational skills do you
think will be the most useful for your
studies?
2.
Why are they important to you?
3.
How are you going to use these
organisation skills to start organised and
stay organised?
New (academic) year resolutions
Psychologists (at the University of Hertfordshire)
have identified 5 success factors for individuals
who managed to achieve their New Years’
Resolutions.
1. Breaking down goals into small steps
2. Rewarding achievement
3. Telling other people what you are trying to
achieve
4. Focussing on the benefits of success
5. Keeping a progress diary
Recap of the session
• Importance of starting and staying organised
in your studies
• What is meant by time management,
including time management techniques
• How to prioritise tasks
• Importance of establishing a study timetable
• How to use a diary effectively
Cottrell, S. (2008) The Study
Skills Handbook, 3rd Edition
(London, Palgrave) chapter 4
‘The C.R.E.A.M. Strategy for
learning’ pp.70-79
http://www.palgrave.com/skills4
study/studyskills/learning/time.
asp
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/
services/facilities/support/timemanagement
online resources on organisational
skills available on the Birkbeck
Library website
helpful information on
organisational skills on the
Skills4Study website
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/
get-ahead-stay
ahead/skills/organisational-skills
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/
studyskills/course timetable
20 minute interactive tutorial
supporting this Student
Orientation programme
academic skills workshops
which deal with organisational
skills - and other study skills in greater detail