This week is the perfect storm. Apparently professors are very good at taking the number of weeks in a semester and dividing by three because they all decided this was the week. My projects, presentations, papers and exams won’t catch me off-guard though; I saw them coming thanks to some foresight (a calendar).

But, how do you make the best use of your time?

Determine your priorities

Sure, it sounds pretty straight-forward, you probably even know how what prioritizing means. The real question being: do you really practice it? It’s our nature to just do the easiest tasks first because it’s most rewarding. I admit it, we’ve become dependent on instant gratification. But, I’d argue that in a society so heavily dependent on instant gratification, those who think long-term will always finish first (hah, I almost forgot I said this, Brad).

Working on the easy things first ends up hurting productivity. Think of it this way, would you start out climbing a mountain knowing it only gets steeper and steeper and the only way you’ll come down is a free-fall. Okay, that actually sounds pretty cool. I guess my point is, you start out running and things get deeper and harder the more you get into it. Instead, think a bit more about what and when things should be accomplished.

How do you pick?

I looked at this week and realized I have the following to accomplish in a 5-day period:

  • Tax return project
  • Two Systems group meetings
  • IBM group presentation
  • AKPsi resume and interview presentation
  • Grade 20 VBA assignments
  • Grade 20 IT Strategy assignments
  • Do some blogger bookeeping
  • Write a two-page paper on Annie Get Your Gun
  • Entrepreneurship project research
  • Entrepreneurship group meeting
  • Corporate Accounting homework set
  • Corporate Accounting exam
  • Systems class case reading

The point is that there is a ton of stuff to do. If you were to try and keep this all in your head you’d never remember what you had to do, when it was, where it was, etc. Again, this is where time management is handy. But first take these simple steps to get a handle on your list of tasks:

  1. Estimate how much time each task will require
  2. Determine when each task needs to be completed
  3. Decide how important each task is (on a scale of 1-3)
  4. Re-organize your list

If I apply that to my previous list it becomes a bit more manageable. Here’s some tips: organize by day, organize by priority, use colors, use different sizes; just make it easier to visualize your tasks:

Sunday

  • Systems group meeting (30m)
  • Corporate accounting homework set (2h)

Monday

  • Write a two-page paper on Annie (1.5h)
  • IBM presentation first draft (30m)
  • AKPsi resume and interview presentation (1.5h)
  • Entrepreneurship project research (30m)
  • Read Systems class case

Tuesday

  • Systems group meeting (30m)
  • Entrepreneurship group meeting (30m)
  • Study for accounting exam

Wednesday

  • Study and take Accounting exam
  • Finish Tax project

Thursday

  • Give IBM presentation
  • Grade 20 VBA assignments
  • Grade 20 Systems assignments

Doesn’t that look a bit more manageable? It’s pretty simple for me to see where I need to focus my time and how much. If I look at grading assignments I realize those are really easy to do but I don’t need to spend time on them until Thursday. The same is said about the Tax project: it’s easier and a bit more fun but I have bigger fish to fry in the next few days. Today is Tuesday and I have a lot to do, if I don’t get around to reading the Systems case it won’t be the end of the world. I do know, though, that I shouldn’t waste my time working on that first, I should write the paper due tomorrow.

Making a simple list like this will take you 10 minutes to put together but will keep you working efficiently on the tasks best suited for the time allotted.

You, too, can balance school and 7 jobs with just a calendar and a list! ;-)