How to Manage Your Time the Best: Tips From OPIT Coordinator

Online studying offers numerous benefits. You get to learn at your own pace (from the comfort of your home), access significantly more resources, and manage your schedule. But that last part isn’t always easy.

When left to your own devices, you might start procrastinating and losing track of time. Then, before you know it, finals are approaching, and you’re nowhere near prepared.

Luckily, we have a solution for this common challenge here at the Open Institute of Technology (OPIT)—or two solutions, to be precise.

One, there are no finals. You’re continually assessed by the incredible faculty, pushing you to engage with the material throughout the course. And two, OPIT’s amazing class coordinator, Sara Ciabattoni, is here to help you overcome specific challenges with procrastination and other issues (e.g., complex and overwhelming tasks).

For this guide, we asked Sara to share her top 10 time management tips. Since time is money, let’s dive in!

1. Reflect on Your Current Time Management Approach

Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and fail to keep up with your tasks? If so, something’s not working. It’s probably time to reassess your approach to time management. And by this, Sara doesn’t just mean your studying time. Instead, she implores you to reflect on how you usually manage time in your everyday life.

Become aware of your time management habits (both good and bad), and a more effective approach to studying is right around the corner.

Let’s say you excel at focusing in the morning but find it difficult to do so in the afternoon. In that case, leave your most demanding study tasks for the morning, aka your peak focus hours. The more time passes, the less complex your tasks should be.

Similarly, if you tend to procrastinate, your goal is to answer a single question – why?

Sometimes, the cause is something silly, such as the so-called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which keeps you glued to your screen. In other situations, the cause might be more serious (e.g., an innate fear of failure). Whatever the case, address these underlying issues promptly, as this is the only way to make the most out of your study time.

2. Create a Manageable Routine

No one can do it all at once (And no one should!). So, start by making a list of priorities and turning them into a to-do list. Make seven to-do lists, and you have a manageable weekly schedule that suits your day-to-day life.

If you struggle with prioritizing tasks, you can use the ABC method. Here’s an example to help you visualize this method in practice.

Let’s say you’re pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree (BSc) in Modern Computer Science at OPIT. The elective “Agile Development and DevOps” subject teaches you to implement software projects successfully.

For this subject, an “A” task would be to prepare for a specific real-world scenario developers encounter every day. You’ll experience several of these valuable and time-sensitive scenarios, making them tasks of the highest priority.

For a “B” task, you can practice using Microsoft Azure. This task is important but not as urgent as your “A” task.

Finally, a “C” task can entail working on your negotiation skills to help you convince team members to adopt a specific DevOps methodology. As you can probably guess, “C” tasks are tasks of lower priority, usually because they’re less time-sensitive.

3. Introduce Variety

Sure, this tip doesn’t directly impact your time management. However, it does play a huge role in whether you’ll stick to your studying routine.

If you always study in the same place and in the same way, you’re bound to get bored and lose motivation. So, try mixing things up a little.

For instance, instead of re-reading the course materials over and over again to memorize them, try turning them into a flowchart or a mind map. These handy visual tools can help you grasp concepts differently and make studying more engaging.

4. Take Advantage of All the Available Resources

OPIT prides itself on the wealth of resources available to students, each crafted from scratch. But these resources aren’t only concerned with studying. The OPIT Hub also contains helpful tools you can use to navigate your online studying journey.

One of these resources is a weekly planner designed to turn your priorities into a manageable weekly schedule. Like everything at OPIT, this planner is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your unique needs and preferences.

5. Connect With Others

At OPIT, we also set priorities. One of them is for our students to never feel alone. That’s why we offer an extensive support network to ensure you always have someone to turn to.

So, don’t hesitate to ask for help if you feel stuck or lost. Besides OPIT’s staff, you should connect with your peers and even form online study groups. This will help you keep up with your tasks in a more collaborative and supportive environment. And hey – you might even get to make new friends from all over the world!

6. Don’t Forget About Downtime

Creating a solid schedule isn’t about filling every available moment with a task. Sure, it’s important to get your work done. However, it’s equally crucial to prevent burnout. How can you do this? By including downtime in your schedule.

Of course, you can use your downtime however you see fit. But Sara suggests spending it with your loved ones whenever possible. This will boost your mood and overall well-being, making subsequent studying a breeze. It will also help you achieve the most coveted of all goals – a healthy work-life balance.

But don’t forget – “work” is still a key element of this balance. So, make sure the people in your life also know your schedule (and are willing to respect it).

7. Never Sacrifice Your Basic Needs

Sure, it might seem to you that you’ll get more done if you wake up super early. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Failing to get enough sleep can only make you less productive, both that day and in the long run.

So, make sure you leave enough time for a good night’s sleep in your schedule. For the best possible results, aim for seven to nine hours.

8. Avoid Jam-Packing Your Schedule

When it comes to estimating how much time you need to allocate for a specific task, remember this – it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Overestimating the time you’ll need for a complex task trumps underestimating every single time. Why? If you underestimate the time you’ll need to complete a task, you’ll feel extremely stressed upon realizing that your deadline is approaching and the work is not yet completed. This will cause you to fall behind on your entire schedule or, even worse, rush through work and compromise its quality.

Overestimating, on the other hand, provides a safety net for unforeseen challenges. Finish the task(s) before the allocated time, and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment like no other! But it’s OK even if you don’t, as there’s enough time for everything.

Another approach you can take is to break larger tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Then, you can allocate a shorter amount of time to each sub-task and feel great when you get it done.

9. Be Kind to Yourself

You can devise the perfect studying plan for the week with enough room for studying, revising, and relaxing. You can even go into the week refreshed, ready to take on any challenge. And yet, it can all fall apart the second that week begins. And that’s OK!

Some days just don’t go as planned. You might receive some bad news or encounter unexpected challenges that disrupt your schedule.

So, be kind to yourself if you’re going through one of these days. Remember that the day will pass just as quickly as it came, and you’ll be back on track in no time.

10. Measure (and Celebrate) Your Progress

How can you tell whether your schedule is truly working? By measuring your progress, of course! Format every task as a SMART goal, and you’ll always know where you stand.

Let’s see what this means using another subject at OPIT – “Web Development.”

• Specific: “I will learn to create a domain hosting comparison report.”
• Measurable: “I will create at least three reliable reports.”
• Attainable: “I have already received the theoretical knowledge necessary for this task.”
• Relevant: “Creating these reports will enhance my understanding of existing domain host options.”
• Time-bound: “I will complete the three reports by the end of the week.”

If you succeed in completing these reports by the end of the week, give yourself a little reward. It’s crucial for you to celebrate your progress, no matter how small or big. This is the only way to stay motivated in the long run and maintain a positive mindset throughout your academic journey at OPIT.

There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

When it comes to student support, OPIT emphasizes a personal approach to every student. That’s why it’s crucial to remember that no single time management solution will help all students. After all, each student faces specific challenges, leads a unique lifestyle, and has an individual learning style.

However, as long as you combine Sara’s tips with methods that have proven successful for your specific circumstances (and preferences), you should have no issue excelling at online studying.