Are you overloaded?

Understand time management!  

Try doing everything listed below, and notice how it can change your success level in whatever you are doing...

Take a piece of paper, and write down the number 168. That is the number of hours you have in a week. Seems like a lot... 

Now subtract the number of hours you sleep each day  (e.g. 8 hrs a night, or 56 hrs a week).

That's down to 112. 

Now subtract time for your meals (e.g. maybe 2hrs a day? Maybe 1? Maybe less?) 

That's 105.

Now take away the time you use for "necessities" (e.g bathroom, showering, etc.--perhaps 1 hr a day?) That's 98.

Now, subtract any weekly obligations you have to family, church, friends or the like. (e.g maybe 7 hours twice a week?)  

That's 91...and it may be WAY more if you have small kids!

Perhaps you work a part-time job at 25 hours a week. 

That's now 66 hrs.

Now let's look at your courses.  You've signed up for 18 credits in 6 [3 credit] sections. You may be spending anywhere from 18 (24 or more for design or lab classes) hours a week in class. 

That's 42 hours a week left... but we haven't yet figured in: reading, homework, assignments, projects, research and the like. 

The rule of thumb is to take the hours a week you spend in class, and double to triple it for out-of-class time budgeting. In our hypothetical example, that spells 36 up to a possible 72 hours a week!!! You'd have to steal someone else's life to get those hours. 

So you either spend minimal time out of class (often resulting in slipshod work), or you skimp on one of the classes to give time to another... or worst of all you fake it. You pretend you've read and done the hands-on stuff, and nod emptily when you are asked if you understand.

The student in this example is clearly overloaded. Maybe another student (without kids, or without the part-time job) can easily accommodate this kind of schedule, but one with those conditions cannot.

Once you have your schedule in a REALISTIC mode, we need to discuss how you spend the time that you have budgeted. 

Do you 'intend to start that assignment,' but get sidetracked by that episode of SPEED RACER on Boomerang? Do you lose track of time hanging out at the mall? Did you invest WAY too much time in W.O.W. or Runescape online? If any of that sounds familiar, you're likely a PROCRASTINATOR. You will likely put things off until a few days before (or perhaps even the night before) they are due, and whip something slipshod together. 

A SCHEDULE is your best friend. Write one down for every day of the week, and STICK TO IT.  The freedom you have as an adult learner can sometimes be your downfall if you lack the skills to self-manage that teachers and schools built into K-12. You need to make your own schedule, and your own 'punishments' for truancy (since it doesn't exist for the adult learner).

Your second weapon is a TASK LIST. Compile one  every day full of tasks for the next day, and strive to achieve everything on it. Some students just use a day-planner or notebook, while others prefer to use software (I like GTD{Getting Things Done} and Assignment Tracker X on the Mac).

Here's to your success!