by Charles Chen

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

Study time becomes more and more precious. We are participating in more and more activities, whether for money or for fun. While at the same time, the assignments we need to finish are growing. So how to find your way to live away from pressure and lead an easy life?

The key point is to learn to manage your time. The method, which you may already know as time management, becomes essential when we are facing those challenges.

1.Clear vision

You need to know clearly about what you are going to do. This is avery important and relatively hard task in the whole process. Defining your goal and keeping it in mind helps you keep in the right way and thus keep away from other distractions. Knowing clearly what you need to do makes it easier for you to resist those temptations.

However, few people could do this effectively. Students' tasks are always unclear and the boundaries are confusing. It is really difficult to have a clear vision. But for those who have experience in time management, the effort to do this is worthwhile. Actually, despite the facts I mentioned above, the steps to do this are simple. Just take out a piece of blank paper and a pen, find a quiet place and spend approximately thirty minutes writing down what you need to do. And bear in mind that every task you write down should be as clear as possible.

2.Good preparation

Make good preparation to make sure you can focus on your task. We should know that the cost of distraction is really high. Psychological experiments show that on average it take one about fifteen minutes to re-concentrate to their task when they are disturbed. Just calculate how many times you've been disturbed when you were on your last assignment and see how much time you have wasted. The answer will probably surprise you.

A good preparation includes removing all possible distractions, like IM tools, cell phone, and getting everything you may need ready, like paper, pen, a cup of coffee maybe. Try to stay away from the computer if possible.

3.Set a block of time and-RUSH OUT!

This is a method I usually use when I need to improve my efficiency, which I found really useful. We can only concentrate for a very limited amount of time, and after that, our minds will "wander about". When that happens, all you need is a little rest to relax your brain. The time you use should not be too long nor too short. Personally I use fifty minutes as a Work Hour and ten minutes of break to relax.

Why "rush out"? Well, because I found it's the best way to help you improve your efficiency. Before you start, tell yourself that this is like a fifty minute race, "you need to try your best in the race, run faster!"

This is part of my experience of time management in study. It works for me because I did it in my own way. If you want to make better use of your time, the best way is to find your own way. Try it, it's not so hard anyway.

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