Time management skills

One of the most transferable skills that will have an impact on almost every aspect of your lives, is your ability to manage your time judiciously. Try and think of it as a way in which you get the most out of an opportunity, rather than meeting someone else's agenda. So being asked to attend a meeting or interview at 9am, may seem harsh, but it gives you the opportunity to be one of the first people to be interviewed. It gives you enough time to take an hour to prepare any last minute thoughts or go through any paperwork etc. It also means that you can act on the outcome of the meeting in the same day; something that is more difficult if the meeting is at 4pm. If the meeting is scheduled for 4pm on the other hand, travel is cheaper, and people are often a little more relaxed at the end of the day, so you need to wake everyone up! Again the way you approach meetings and interviews (in this example) should be viewed as an opportunity.

When in school, at university and eventually in the work place, deadlines are a regular occurrence. In my experience, there is never any situation where meeting a deadline comfortably (by hours, days, weeks, depending on the timescale of notice), does not help. You will have the chance to remove silly writing errors, to relax a little instead of being rushed, to check your files can be accessed and viewed, etc etc. And the only way you can be sure of meeting deadlines is to plan properly. 

As soon as you are given a deadline, write the date in your diary/calendar and also add a reminder of the deadline a week before (if you have more than a week's notice). It may be an examination deadline or submission deadlines for coursework, for example, whatever it is, you must work out how much time you need to meet that deadline. Here are some average times taken to do things.

• Reading 1000 words takes around 5 minutes

• Walking a mile takes around 20 minutes

• Writing 500 words should take no more than 2 hours, depending on the content.

• Producing a detailed diagram can take around 4 hours.

These are relatively easy time-scales to predict, but how long does it take to memorise a Shakespeare sonnet, or the lyrics of the National Anthem? These are much more difficult to predict on an individul basis, just as it is difficult to estimate how long two Science students will take to master the concept of differential calculus. Sometimes we have to estimate as best we can, and then make allowances for things that take longer than expected. In another example, if I plan to drive from Liverpool to Sheffield, I would beging with an estimate of 2 hours 15 minutes. However, if I set of from Liverpool at 8am, I can add up to  2 more hours, making the journey time over 4 hours. The same would be true if I set of at 4.30pm. If you assume it will take 2 hours, and you set off at rush hour, you will miss your appointment and an opportunity will be lost.

The first piece of work required to meet the EPQ deadline of November 11th is a completed Project Application form and an example of your activity log (see my earler post). They can both be loacated in the Classroom Resources folder. Read through the document and establish what they require you to do (not what you would be rather be doing: remember half an hour spent reading through the document will pay dividends. When you open the document, you will see that Mr. Crabtree has annotated it heavily to guide you through completion.            

So remember....take the opportunity to plan well.