Tips for juggling the class room, family room and conference room

(ARA) – As the slowed economy has fueled a very competitive job market, more and more adults are making the decision to go back to school to build upon their skills and obtain the knowledge required to strengthen their career prospects.

Many of these students heading back into the classroom are working to earn their bachelors, or obtain a second degree while they juggle class and study time with their work, life and family responsibilities. Many educational institutions are taking notice of this, and encouraging students to fully understand the time and effort required to pursue their education.

DeVry University’s Senior Career Services Advisor and adjunct professor Kim Smith teaches a critical thinking and problem-solving course that introduces campus resources and academic information to help students “conquer obstacles that can prevent the achievement of their educational goals” – shortened as the acronym COPE.

“Most student responsibilities include work, family and financial obligations in addition to completing their degree, and, as a result, it can be a difficult challenge to find the right balance between them,” says Smith. “This course helps students develop a plan toward graduation based on the amount of time they currently have available for their class and study time. For students to effectively manage their time, they must first understand how they use their time.”

To start, students complete a personal time survey that maps out an entire week of activity. Identifying how each student spends each of the week’s 168 hours is critical in determining how many credit hours are realistic for their schedule and pinpointing specific days and times that can be set aside for studying. Students also choose their preference of class-type, as DeVry University offers a unique opportunity to pursue a quality education on-campus or online, or in a combination that fits their lives and schedules.  

“The main focus of this assignment is to give students a realistic view of how much time they are spending on daily activities, including sleep, preparation time for meals, travel time, work, school and socializing,” says Smith. “The goal is to have students create an individualized course schedule that allows them to maintain a healthy balance between school and other obligations.”

Specific time management lessons addressed during the course that can apply to all adult students include:

* Admit and commit – The key here is that people will only be successful at managing time well if they admit that any system is better than none, choose one, and commit to using it. Of the many planning tools available, find one that works for you, and commit to it.

* Establish priorities – Use a “to-do” list to place items in order of importance. Understanding how many hours you can devote to typical daily activities allows you to plan your school schedule accordingly.

* Keep the schedule flexible – It is best to be proactive in planning a schedule for each semester as soon as you meet with the class and receive the syllabus. Keep in mind that life will present unexpected demands, and that means you will need to re-evaluate and adjust your plan each week to meet your goals.

* Be realistic – Can you sustain a grueling school and work schedule until the end of the semester? Can you really write an essay in just an hour? Be realistic. Be sensible about the amount of time a certain task will take, and plan study breaks with small, beneficial rewards for yourself. Planning time to see a movie or talk with a friend brings mental and emotional rest to prepare us to tackle harder tasks again the next day.

The goal of this activity is to provide students with the information necessary to make sound decisions that will allow them to maintain the balance between school, work, family, friends and financial responsibilities. “Students see value in implementing time management strategies,” says Smith. “They realize they don’t have to sacrifice work and family life requirements while pursuing their educational careers.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

I think that most people would agree that the people who have goals are more successful than those who do not have any.

I often talk about leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things while management is about doing things right. Often when we study time management, we study efficiency (doing things right) and make the assumption that we have the effectiveness (leadership) solved.

The first step in any time management system should be to work on goals and as such, I use the following 60 Minute Goal Setting Exercise.

Step 1: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down “values” and then spend 10 to 15 minutes writing down everything that you value. There is a great website: www.stevepavlina.com/ that has a list of several hundred values to start your mind thinking in the right direction. After the time is up, stop doing this and move to Step 2.

Step 2: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down “lifetime goals”. This is where you can dream; for example, what places would you like to visit; what experiences would you like to have; what would you like to accomplish within your lifetime. This might include traveling to Australia; getting a university degree; living in an X square foot house, etc. There are no rules to this brainstorming – simply make a list.

I have done this goal setting exercise many times and I tend to use the same list of lifetime goals and add to the list each time I do the exercise.

Step 3: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down what you would do if you had six months to live. This part of the exercise really came home to me this week when one of my close friends died at 36 years old. Some of us may have only six months to live; however, we may not know it yet. List everything that you would do if you had only six months to live. Part of the purpose of this exercise that I found works well for me is that it brings the truly important into focus. Often I find things that I would do if I had only six months to live that are not listed on my life time goals.

Step 4: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down your goals for this year. After doing the first three steps, you will find this step much easier than the others. These are the goals to focus on NOW.

This total exercise will only take an hour. An hour spent clarifying your goals can save you hundreds of hours.

Ok, if you’re like the rest of us, you’re a busy person.  With work, school, kids, pets, and many more responsibilities, sometimes I feel like pulling my hair out.  The children have sports and other after school activities that keep me on the road for hours nearly every day, and with aging parents I have a lot of new responsibilities and worries to take care of them.

With the holidays around the corner, there are many more activities on the calendar – so how to cope?  I just started using Sittercity.  Sittercity is a service that will help you find a baby sitter, nanny, pet sitter, house sitter, or elder care worker without even leaving home.  You search their database of care givers, and you can start choosing the ones you think would be good for your needs.  And you know how hard it can be to find a baby sitter, or other help!  We’ve had good success with the service, and can recommend it. 

So if you are wondering how you’ll have time to study for your online degree, or where you’ll find time to prepare for the holidays, consider getting help – even if it is for just one day.  You’ll be happy that you did!

Find great sitters in your area on Sittercity.com. Try Sittercity for free today!

Developing good time management skills is key to successful completion of an online degree or other distance learning program.

If you are like me, you are juggling many different responsibilities every day. You have work, family, social, and community obligations. So how do you fit in an online degree program?

Accredited online degree programs are not pay and get your diploma plans. You still have to spend time studying, and often have the same type of homework assignments as you would have with on-campus programs. Still you do it at your own pace, whenever and wherever you have the time and a computer with an Internet connection.

Here are 3 tips for better time management:

1. Make a schedule every week – Schedule out your entire week. Block out time for work, time with family, any other pressing obligations, and time for study.
2. Learn to utilize downtime to study. Let’s say you have to take the kids to soccer practice or dance lessons. Take your study materials along, and use the time you are waiting for the kids to study.
3. Learn to say no. It’s a very simple thing, and yet so difficult for most of us. Often we get requests to help with a community project, something for a neighbor or family member, or other request for our time. If it is something that you really want to do, then do it. However, if you are doing it even though you don’t want to, think again. It’s really ok to say “no”.