A new semester has started and three months have passed since New Year’s Day. Is “time management” among your new goals in your diary? Time management is really important because time, once lost, can’t be recovered. Achieve all of your goals by managing time efficiently this year. The Gazette will let you know how to use time well.
● Time Management
1. Record Your Time
People who successfully manage their time have a habit of recording how they use their time. If you record your hours in detail, you will be able to cut needless time and get extra time at the same time. If you use abbreviations such as G (Gym), P (Prayer), and R (Reading), it will be convenient because you don’t have to write words for your activities.
2. Check Your Time
The next step is to examine how you spend your time through the recorded time-use patterns in step 1. You can check your patterns and find your problems through these questions below.
• Questions for Checking Your Time
⋅What percentage of your plans did you put into practice during the last week?
⋅If you did not put your plans into practice, what was the obstacle?
⋅When is the best time for you to concentrate?
⋅Is your wake-up and bedtime fixed?
⋅If you use your time inefficiently, how can you improve it?
⋅What activities occupied most of your time during the week?
3. Improve Your Time Use Patterns.
If you found that you spent your time inefficiently, you have to solve the problem by searching for the causes and trying to find solutions. For example, if you made an impractical plan, you have to change it into a practical plan. Making plans helps to achieve your aims.
In addition, your aims and order of priority help to manage time more efficiently. Next, we would like to explain how to make and prioritize aims and plans.
● Goal Setting and Order of Priority
Goal setting is important to manage time well because if you prioritize your goals and put them in order, you can organize time more effectively. If you have your goals and order of priority, it helps you concentrate on your dream. Yale University did a survey in 1953 targeting graduates about goal setting and plans for achieving the goals. The survey found that only 3% of graduates set up goals. After 20 years, the investigators did the survey again targeting the same graduates. According to the result of the survey, the 3% of the people who set goals have advanced more than the rest of the graduates. The result shows that only a small number of people set goals but that goal setting is really important. Set your goals long-term to short-term and set deadlines to achieve the goals. If you have a deadline, it makes you concentrate on your goal.
When you prioritize plans, refer to the “time management matrix” from First Things First by Stephen R. Covey. The time management matrix is a table which judges the order of priority by two factors, urgency and importance. Prioritize plans by putting urgent and important work in space 1, important but not urgent work in space 2, urgent but not important work in space 3, and both not urgent and not important work in space 4.
You have to increase the activities in spaces 1 and 2 and decrease the activities in spaces 3 and 4. The most important space in the table is space 2, not space 1, because though we know that the work in space 2 is important, we usually put it off because it doesn’t have a deadline. According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey, if we concentrate on only space 1, which has to be done instantly, we will be exhausted in the end, being carried away by important and urgent work. Therefore, we can improve the quality of our lives and results of work by focusing on the work that we may put off even though we know it is important.
● Making a Plan
When you draw up a plan, make it specific, and don’t make it too hard because problems can occur that you don’t expect. Moreover, save free time to do the work which you couldn’t finish because of unexpected problems. Spend time effectively by doing everyday work at a fixed time, such as waking-up, eating meals, and sleeping. In addition, mark finished plans. You will be able to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Usually, a good result is completing 60 percent of your plans. Improve yourself by having more time for self-improvement and reducing watching TV, playing games, and removing the habit of putting important things off.
There is gong-gang time, free time between classes, in the timetable of universities. Freshmen usually do not know what to do at this time. Therefore, the Gazette would like to introduce some good places to go on Keimyung campus when you are in gong-gang time.
● Multimedia Information Room
-Location: Library 1F
-Opening Hours: 09:00 – 22:00 (semester)
09:30 – 17:00 (vacation)
(Not open on Saturday)
You can use multimedia materials like DVDs and cassette tapes after filling out an application form in this room.
● Music Hall
- Location: Bauer Hall 2F
- Office Hours: 11:00 – 16:00 (semester)
(Not open on Saturdays and during vacation.)
You can rest, watch movies and music videos, and listen to music in this hall.
● International Lounge
-Location: New Bauer Hall 1F
-Opening Hours: 09:00 – 21:00 (semester)
09:30 – 15:00 (vacation)
Practice your second language and make new friends by visiting the Lounge. You can enjoy board games and read foreign books and English newspapers and also watch movies at 13:30 on weekdays. You should not speak your first language here.
