To Do

1. Assess your time management skills by using Ohio University’s self-assessment. Make note of your results.
2. Review the University of Georgia’s Time Management: 10 Strategies for Better Time Management and consider the strategies that seem most appealing to you.
3. Reflect in a 200–400 word journal entry on your current time management skills, and discuss how you might apply new strategies to improve time management in your life.

Worked Example

Journal entry assignments tend to be more flexible than other types of writing assignments in college, and as a result they can be tailored to your own experiences as long as they answer the primary questions asked in the assignment.

One model of a successful entry about this topic can be found below. Feel free to include your own experiences and examples from real life as they pertain to the issue at hand.

Time Management Journal Entry

by Sandy Brown

I’ve always considered myself pretty good at time management. Having a full house of a husband, three daughters, and two dogs will do that for you!  But I’m realizing that I’m slipping a bit now that I’m going to school on top of being a full-time mom.

The Ohio University quiz was a bit eye-opening. I only scored a 55, which seems very low to me. I liked its advice at the end, and I went back through and clicked on each question to read more about it. One question that I put Never for was “I review my lecture notes after class each day.” I hadn’t thought about how that might be important before. I usually have some time to kill after classes are over, before I go home. Usually I do something dumb while waiting for my ride, like check Facebook. But I could use that time to look at my notes, and maybe start a bit of the reading before the next class.

One question that I got full points for was the “I allow time for proper meals and exercise” one. We have a family dinner every night, even if it’s just fish sticks or chicken nuggets. And I have a regular running schedule. If don’t run, I go crazy.

From the “Ten Strategies” reading, there were some good tips in there. Some were pretty obvious, but others made me think. The one I have a hard time with, but should be better about, is #6, Delegate. My girls make such a mess of things, that a lot of times I just end up cleaning myself instead of asking them to do it. I could put more responsibility on them. And my step-mother is always offering to help. I feel guilty about taking advantage of that very much, but I should get over that and call on her more.