AboutJan Hayner Expertise I can give you tips and hints on how to use your time efficiently, shortcuts to make this possible and the importance that great time management can have on every aspect of your life, home, job and family relationships.
Experience I am a Professional Organizer and one of my specialties is 'time managment'. I am an advocate of the saying "Work Smarter-Not Harder' and I show you ways to accomplish this through smart and efficient time management.
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Education/Credentials School of hard knocks,
6 years of being a Professional Organizer
Expert: Jan Hayner Date: 11/4/2007 Subject: Distractions are getting harder to deal with
Question Hello,
I'm a junior in high school trying to manage a high GPA and hope to increase it by a few points by the end of the school year as well as keeping up with extracurricular activities for college considerations and so on. However, it seems harder for me to concentrate on homework assignments when distracting thoughts come into mind, such as what to do for a certain clubs in school, how to keep up with certain assignments, if I should join in an academic competition, and when I should hang out with friends and my boyfriend as well as my 'desires' for him. I'm fairly organized with assignments and I write down important upcoming events on my calendar. Usually, I am VERY much so obsessed with working on my homework with accuracy to get the highest grades possible. In short, I'm constantly worrying about maintaining my rank as well as having a social life (which at times leads to procrastination). What can I do to work more efficiently? Should I spend 15 - 30 minutes a day relaxing? Should I be more concerned with the process of learning rather grades so it won't feel like a rat race? How can I work more efficiently on homework and find time for other activities? Please keep in mind that I want to maintain my rank for the sake of receiving a full-tuition to a university of my choice.
Answer Hi Kim;
You sure do have a ton of things you are trying to succeed at, while trying to do it all at one time, which is normal for most juniors and to be commended.
You are in the same grade as one of my granddaughters, so I do have an idea of what you are going through.
It is like juggling life twenty-four hours a day with the main goal being-grades good enough to get into a good college with a scholarship. But, from the sounds of it, don't panic, you are on the right track.
You are right about the 15-30 minute break for relaxing, but that will come after the 15-30 minute break to organize your private life.
See, you are a very organized person and you don't realize it.
You think things through and need to have everything straight in your head about what you want to accomplish and how. This even goes into your private life (and shows) you want to know how something is going to be done, where, why and the results.
This is great, only if you don't have a plan to keep it organized it will create even more stress. So, let's organize it!
Private life
1. list the event-something you belong to, an activity that you take part in, a social event that you will take part in or a date with your boyfriend. You may have several lists.
2. Write what it is that you want to accomplish, how you want to go about it, when it will take place and anything else that you are thinking about.
3. Now you have a log of everything, know what you are doing and how to accomplish it and your mind will rest, because if you forget something all you have to do is reread your notes.
4. Keep a calendar (a pocket calendar is all you need) that you can refer to) of what time and day that all of these events are taking place and when, so you don't overbook yourself and cause a sleep and relaxation problem.
Now take the 15-30 minute relaxing break.You might even want to stretch this into an hour break.
Talk to friends, have something to eat, watch a TV show, anything that doesn't involve your activities, your boyfriend or your stress points.
Find out what is going on in the outside world, talk to a family member for a while, take a ride, anything that is a break from lifes routine.
Homework
It sounds as though you have good notes as far as what to do and when to have it done. Just remember that big assignments should be worked on a little at a time in order to give it the most substance.
When working on a subject, have all of your notes handy (to refresh your mind), your test papers (with the corrected answers on them if any were wrong) and concentrate only on that subject for 15 minutes (use a timer).
You will find that you accomplish more work this way because you have your facts and figures that you need and you know that when the buzzer rings you are going to take a break.
After a while, you will lengthen the time on the buzzer or not need it at all.
You will find that you will stop obsessing about your homework because you know that you have it under control and will have removed the pressure that it caused.
By having old test papers you will already be ahead because most of these questions will be repeated on other tests.
Keep track of things that teachers say; this is important, remember this, I always remember, these are usually key points that will pop up on a test.
If you have good daily assignments, hand in extra credit whenever possible and keep your test scores up, the rest of the grades and the GPA level will all go up automatically, so remember to concentrate on the basics and you will be fine.
Once you get in this routine, you will work more efficiently and will have extra time because your concentration time will be higher.
Maybe you can even give some of that extra time to your boyfriend.
My granddaughter and her boyfriend work on major assignments together. At least to the point of doing research. They research both topics individually, get all of the information on one topic they can find (two heads work better than one),then they look for the other topic and then they each do their own assignment but with twice the information.
It works, they both have a 3.97 GPA. By the way, his used to be, a 3.0 in his sophomore year and this plan worked for him.
They keep their 'dates' for the weekend (they don't have stress and can enjoy themselves) and throw in a volleyball game or something twice a month during the week.
They see each other everyday, research together, take a break together (most times) and actually have more time together than most of their friends.
So, as you can tell, it is a win-win situation. Good grades, good research, good habits, relaxation time,together time and great grades!
I hope I helped Kim, you sound like you have a lot going for you. Just organize the private life things and the rest will fall into place. Free the brain of all of the clutter, so it has place for the immediate task.
Happy organizing,
Jan Hayner
