If you have three hours set aside for studying this morning and you try to fool yourself into thinking, “Well, I have to answer some emails and rearrange this Modern Films Appreciation 101 notebook sometime, so I’ll do that now..” you’re only cheating yourself if you spend your good block of study time on that. Just because something is related to a class doesn’t mean it’s a good use of your best time. Do those easy things when your energy is flagging and your mind is tired from working on the tough stuff, or when there are distractions like a loud roommate or hallway noises.
When learning about time management, we always learn to attack the hardest tasks first. Sure, that’s very true. If we start out just doing the easy things, we’ll never get around to the harder ones, or at least we’ll spend a lot more time on the easy ones than we should. If I start the day by reading email, I could really spend just about the whole day doing that, and somehow there would “never be enough time” to do the bigger, more difficult tasks. Instead, if I go on and jump right into doing something I don’t really like to do, then once I get it finished the little things like email go pretty fast!
But – more importantly – if you have some ideal study time- it’s quiet, there are no distractions, you’re well rested and ready to study – then that is absolutely the best time to do the hard reading and assignments. If the first hour of your day is spent in a bleary haze, then maybe that hour is a good time to look through emails. But be honest with yourself when the good study opportunities come, and attack those difficult tasks while you and your environment are at your best. You’ll spend less time slogging through hard reading material that way, and then you can do the more pleasant subjects you find easy later – without the killer class hanging over your head!
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