Deploy Your Energies on Important, Immediate Assignments and Earn Better Grades
by: DrMarcR.Dussault |
Total views: 5 |
Word Count: 606 | Print View
Have you ever noticed in your life that the times you were most productive were times when you had the least amount of time to spend, or a deadline to work to that you had to have a project or study finished by.
Do you find yourself not doing the work you're supposed to do, when you have plenty of time to complete it yet when you're giving yourself a time table and short sharp bursts of urgent timelines you excel above and beyond what you ever expected?
These are some more detailed examples:
Not important and not urgent. 10% of your total mark for the course is a book report, but it isn't due for another three months, and you expect to spend only 10-20 hours reading the book and 4-5 hours getting the report written.
You should get started as soon as possible so it doesn't become urgent.
However, how often does this important task turn into and "Important and urgent" task, which is exactly what you don't want What you need to do is pretend in your own mind that you only have a quarter of the time to get it completed, then you'll complete it much faster and be able to spend the rest of the time "polishing" the finished product into something really great.
Not important but urgent. A quizz is scheduled for the next day, but you haven't been to able to review anything. Though it is only 5% of the total, you are desirous of getting the maximum mark you can.
You know perfectly well you could have done this sooner, and more easily, in between other tasks. Now, however, you need to worry about it unnecessarily.
You need to spend most of your time honing the skills you need more practice on, while still perfecting the strongest areas.
Important but not urgent. You have a project that is worth 35% of your final mark. It's due in a month and you estimate it will take you 20-25 hours to complete.
Once you've broken it down into manageable pieces, it's important to set a separate timeline and deadline for each piece, so that you have a really detailed and realistic plan for completing the project. This keeps your work stress-free, since you have set times when you can cool off and set times to focus on each bit of work.
Important and urgent. Your final exam is in 2 days time and 70% of your final grade depends on it. You have not done enough till now. The amount of new materials to be covered is so great that you are not sure where to begin. You start panicking.
This is not where you want to be spending your time. You want to spend as much time as possible on important but not urgent issues. Of course, this takes planning and preparation But you will find times when you need to manage important and urgent situations in your education, life and work.
The best way to handle these is firstly to take a step back from the situation, and look upon it from a "slower" more patient perspective Nothing is so urgent that you need to dive straight in without thinking, you need to do your due diligence in every situation, and that might only be 5 minutes of planning but at least you took a bit of time out and planned before you went ahead.
Once you've worked out how to keep this balance, and how to take advantage of deadlines on the really urgent assignments, you'll have developed a system that will help you successfully complete any task you're assigned at school or work.
About the Author
About the author: Dr Marc R. Dussault can show you how to easily improve your school grades using proven "speed study" methods that anyone can master! Visit his website for more great tips on how to study.
Rating: Not yet rated
