Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Create Your Own Destiny: Time Management And College Courses Online

Choosing to undertake a college course online can provide many advantages for certain individuals. It gives people the option to study around existing commitments, gives them the freedom to complete assignments whenever they want and above all gives them a chance to get education when other traditional routes to take are just not viable. However, in order to pursue a continuing course education online, an individual must have great time management skills, or else the ability to work on them enough to ensure that he or she submits assignments on time and completes the college course online. Some people are naturally gifted when it comes to time management.

They can quite easily set aside blocks of time for different tasks and complete each one successfully. However, there are very few of those people around. Most of us do have some trouble remaining within self-imposed timetables and completing tasks well within given time periods. It is easy to get distracted by outside influences. Maybe something comes up that needs your urgent attention, which then distracts you from your assignments and costs you valuable time. The likelihood is that you will then only return to your assignments the day before they are due and rush to complete them in a panic.

You will ultimately end up submitting inferior work or worse, not submit any at all. As there is no course tutor in your immediate vicinity to rally you and remind you of deadlines, it is easy to leave work until the last minute or disregard it completely, but there are exercises that can help you to practice your time management and set you on the right course for completing your college course online.

1.Draw up an advance timetable. Estimate how much work you have to do for your continuing course education online and double the time span of how long you think it will take. Pencil in that amount of time in two places on your timetable for the week. College courses online offer flexibility and so should you. You should aim to get your work done in the first slot so the second is your time – a reward for completing it originally. If something does come up though, you have a fallback slot that must be honored.

2.Plan to start your work for your college course online at least a week before the due date. This will discourage you from leaving it until the last minute or not completing at all and will ease the stress that continuing your course education online could put you under.

3.Get into a routine. For example, go to a coffee shop on a Sunday morning for three hours. Drink your latte and do your work at the same time. This will make your college course online an enjoyable and relaxing experience and will also provide you with a space in which you can work instead of sitting at home and procrastinating.

Remember that these are just a few of the ways that can help you to manage your time more effectively. The best thing to do where college courses online are concerned is work out what is best for you. If you can do that, you are half way there!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Time Management's Doom Loop

Time Management's Doom Loop is analogous to Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

Time Management's Doom Loop Day: Wake up. Jump out of bed. Get on the treadmill. Glimpse at your spouse as you pass each other in the hallway cause you are late for work. Shout at the kids to, "hurry up!" Drop the kids off. Go through the robotic motions of your job. Get off work. Grab a quick bite. Bicker with your spouse (a little or a lot). Sit in front of the television or the Internet until it is time for bed. When your head hits the pillow your mind races through the day, then moves on to tomorrow as you try to get to sleep. The next day?


Time Management's Doom Loop is what many Americans find themselves revolved in.

This seems grim and it is. Many American have been doom-looped! Some reasons? Money is tight. The economy is stuck. The wars America is currently engaged in. Fuel prices going north. Housing markets going south. Our children are at risk. We are at risk. Drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise. Domestic violence and crime stories have become an accepted part of the daily news stories. This is real stuff and it has nothing to do with managing our time better. Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results? This is insanity.

Time Management's Doom Loop is insanity! Time Management does not address how to change.

Time, by the way, cannot be managed. Managing time is like trying to manage a raging river. A person who jumps in (or falls in) a raging river has only one option - to survive its deadly current. Are you trying to keep from drowning? Stop for a moment and ride the current. Let me throw you a life vest. This life vest is a new concept called, "Energy Management."

Energy is something you can manage.

Time management has duped all of us. Do not feel bad. Life today is like a white-water rafting trip on the raging river. Many are just trying to survive its current. Without the right equipment, however, this rafting trip is simply too dangerous. You are your equipment.

How are your energy levels? Low? High? Balanced?

Energy management provides a life worth living. When a person's energy levels are balanced, a person becomes ready to fully engage in life's process. When a person is out of balance he or she is back in the loop - the doom loop.

Too high of energy levels within a person creates madness. Life becomes chaotic. Busy, busy, busy doing what? Busy for what? More often than not, those who are overly busy use this as an excuse not to engage in the richness of life, which seems like a distant fantasy. Too low of energy levels within a person creates apathy and lethargy. Life becomes robotic. Not much to care about. More often than not, those who are depressed use this as an excuse not to engage in the richness of life, which seems like a distant fantasy. Energy levels, which are too high or too low, become the excuse escape.

If you do not want to change - don't. At least now you can blame the doom loop. If you do want to change, welcome to Energy Management.

Ask yourself the following two questions:

1. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Explain it to yourself and see if it makes sense.

2. Do I like what I'm doing? If yes, keep doing it. If no, do something about it.

Write five things in your current reality you would like to change. This is called you current reality because it represents, today. Write five things in your ideal reality you would like to see change. This is called your ideal reality because it represents your possibilities and potential. Bridge the two realities together with your "why" answer. Manage the energy you invest in your time and the time you invest in your energy - this will give you the highest returns.

 
Design by Wordpress Theme | Bloggerized by Free Blogger Templates | free samples without surveys