Improving My Study Skills At School

                I had been out of school for almost 5 years (graduated 2015). When I wen to college then I had a lot less on my plate, and because of that, procrastination was king. All I had to worry about was getting my assignments done, and done on time. I hadn’t heard the phrase “time management” until I had already graduated! Now, I have a lot more on my plate, and sometimes it feels like I’ve stretched myself a little too thin.

                Feeling like I have too much to do with too little time, is not a great feeling. So I have been thinking long and hard about what I can do to minimize this feeling. Time Management is the answer. There are two things I have done to improve my time management. The first thing I did was buy a physical planner. I know that I retain information better when I write it down, so I bought a planner from Walmart. Unfortunately, I somehow bought a planner for 2018 (sometimes there is no cure for stupid)! That’s okay though, I just crossed out the months and days, to make them line up with 2020, and now I have a current year planner!

               

                In my planner, I write down all of my due dates in the Calendar view. In the more detailed view, I write out due dates, but I also write a loose plan of what I want to get done and when. For example, if I know I have 3 hours of free time I will look forward in my planner and schedule myself a block of time where I will work on that assignment. Writing it down helps keep me honest with myself. Plus, the feeling of crossing something off a list just can’t be beat sometimes.

                The second thing I did was recognize that breaks aren’t a bad thing. I’m a slow reader, and worse than that is I have this amazing super power where I can read something 5 or 6 times, and not retain any of it! There is not much I can do about reading slowly. What I can do about not retaining information is recognize when I am not retaining what I’m reading and step away, take a break. I’ve noticed that after a break my work is more efficient, and I can get into a flow more easily. I could spend 3 hours working on something after a long day, and get less done than I would if I took a 1 hour break and spent 2 hours working on it. Recognizing this has helped me improve my work ethic. Now if only I could shake the feeling that I should be working when I’m taking a break, then I would truly understand what it’s like to be an adult.