So you’ve decided to go to grad school. No doubt you aren’t completely unprepared for the strains that your education can put on your social and family life, not to mention your employment opportunities while you’re in school. But with a lot of planning, you may find that it’s easier to manage your time than you thought and ensure you get the greatest success out of your education investment. There are a few basic habits you should get used to practicing.
In this post:
1. Get a Calendar
Whether you prefer email, mobile, or good old-fashioned paper, a calendar in graduate school is absolutely indispensable. Use the syllabus for each course to write down all the due dates for assignments, and add basic things like the last day of term and any deadlines for aid or scholarships. Then add in personal obligations, any work-related events, and whatever you know in advance that can help you get a clear picture of the year to come.
2. Prioritize and Micromanage
Even if you want to jump ahead to future projects or papers that might be more interesting, make sure you focus all your energy on what needs to get done the soonest. Decide which tasks are most important, or decide what will take you the longest, and start there. Dividing big projects into smaller tasks helps you concentrate on one thing at a time. In graduate school especially, it is important to build the forest by taking care of the trees.
3. Communicate
If you are holding down a job while you are attending graduate school, your employer should know this. You might be surprised how encouraging and flexible they can be when it comes to helping you balance work with your studies. The same goes for your professors. All of them know that advanced education is expensive and time-consuming, and they want you to be able to keep afloat too. As long as you are working hard and being honest, you should never be afraid to speak up when you need help.
4. Use All Your Time
This one can be the hardest to master. but in order to be really good at time management, you have to get a sense of how much extra time you can use during an average day. Carry assignments or reading with you, and whenever you find yourself with down time or even a few minutes with nothing to do, be productive. It will add up.
5. Be Flexible
Many students become so rigid in their dedication to time management that they forget to leave room for the sudden changes that life can bring along. Remember that there will always be cancellations, surprises, and setbacks along the way. There might even be a party you really want to go to – which is good! Being flexible enough to take some time away from the stress is very important as well.
Most experts agree that time management is the number one skill for graduate students and the foremost key to a successful graduate school career. Getting a solid grasp on what you have left to accomplish in the days, months, and years ahead will help paint a realistic picture of what you need to do and when. Put some thought into it, and you can live up to your potential.
Mark Yale writes for education blogs where you can find sources such as Grad School Journal.
