Productivity and Time Awareness

Image by Jesus Presley

A major factor that can determine your success at managing your time is the “feeling” of time. 

When I was a kid, I used to like jumping my bike.    This one jump I built looked like all the others and consisted of a couple of bricks and a piece of plywood.  I had done this type of jump hundreds of times, but this one had a surprise in store for me.  Sensing that the jump was small, I got a very fast run at it. 

The problem was that the plywood for the ramp was that bendy type of plywood and when I hit the ramp it bent in a way that shot me straight up.  At the apex of my ascent, time stopped, or least my sensation of time altered to where it felt like time stopped.  I knew this would end badly.  I had gone almost vertical and it was going to hurt.  In my mind, everything slowed and I had time to think about the ground as it rushed upwards to meet me. That jump did hurt, but I walked away without anything broken. 

This is an illustration of our brain’s ability to process time differently based upon the situation.  According to Douglas Fox in his article "The illusion of time” in moments of pure fear, our brain is going crazy and things slow down because we are processing the visual images must faster.

I have experienced other events when time stopped: All four of my children’s births, proposing to my wife, being caught in a lie, having to ask forgiveness, having to answer a question where there was no painless option.  All of these moments cause our mind to race and time to stop. 

The problem is that other than these moments of heightened time awareness. According to Hebert Wray In his article "Looming Deadlines” our perception of time is not constant and can expand and contract with the situation.  Time drags through painful moments, while time flies when we are having fun. 

This inconsistency is why we fail to allocate enough time to work in our lives.  When you study, it will feel that you have studied much more than you have studied because time drags when you are doing work you don’t want to do.  Whatever time you allocate to study, push yourself to do that amount of time and no less. 

Managing Trash Time

Image By WahTee 

How do you handle trash time?  

Trash time is a short amount of time between two important events in your day. Trash time is typically unproductive, but it doesn't have to be.  For a student these small patches of time are an opportunity to do micro-study.  The small bursts of study can really add up to some significant learning.  College Freshmen often struggle with getting control of their schedule.  In high school, all the blocks of time are mapped out and similar every day, while in college there is a constantly shifting array of commitments.

If you are are early to an appointment or the appointment ends early there will be some unexpected trash time.  Being able to utilize trash time requires being ready to use it and sensing that it is there.  If you regularly have to wait between two classes, then this is trash time you can count on and should take steps to harness this resource.

We decide what we do with our time, and doing nothing is a choice, but we actually have a lot of time on our hands even in the midst of a busy schedule.

  Every moment can have a purpose, but not every purposeful moment requires movement (Psalm 46:10).  Sometimes the best thing to do is unplug and sit quiet before God.  

Time Value of a Full Schedule

Photo by Jiri Holden

Here’s a crazy question, if you knew you would burn out of college in six years what level of education would set as your goal?   Would you go for a masters degree, or set your sights lower for a bachelors degree?  It is technically possible in the time frame allotted to get the masters, but if you spin your wheels you could accomplish far less.  


A typical bachelors degree takes about 40 courses to complete and should be doable in four years regardless of the statistics on the average time to completion.  It is very common to switch majors in college, so people tend to take longer.  Mental effort up front to really decide where you want to go will save you years of extra work and debt.
 

Taking 18 units (6 classes) in a traditional semester schedule often has the same cost as 15 units (5 classes).  Finding enough study time is the limiting factor, because for every hour you sit in the classroom you also need to put in another couple of hours studying.  Taking a “soft” schedule to ease into college is not a good idea because of the value of time involved in doing college courses.  


People often warn kids to ease into their courses in order to get a feel for college, but you will have plenty of time to study if you correctly manage your time.  It will take 4 years if you take 5 classes each semester. If you load up on classes during summer, you can cut out a whole semester.  However if you take one less class (4) each semester, it will take 5 years. 3 classes will extend you to 7 years!

Last year I had a meeting at a nearby community college, and when I step on campus I expect to see ex-students, but that time I saw a student who had graduated six years ago! This is an extreme case, but it illustrates some serious issues.  I believe you want to succeed, but you will have to work hard to keep making progress towards your goal of getting your degree.  There are many things that can slow you down, so you must make getting the degree done quickly a priority.  


Time is money.  You do not have the luxury to keep switching your major over and over as others do.  When scheduling classes make sure everything you take has a purpose in getting you closer to your degree.  When you go to a buffet, you cannot eat everything because there are too many choices and there is only so much space in your tummy.  


You will find lots of really cool classes that do not fit into your major, and each excess class represents an increasing threat to your likelihood of finishing.  If you determine that you are not cut out for a particular degree, switch quickly to minimize the time consequences of switching majors.  The further you progress, the more classes you will probably have to do to satisfy the requirements for the new major.

Wasted Time

If your study time involves your phone, Facebook or Twitter, you will get less done because you will be distracted. Check out the chart that follows:

  The idea is that every study session involves a warm up period to get to the point where you are studying at peak productivity, but it also involves distractions that force us back into the warm-up period.   For every person it differs.  You do learn things during the warm up period, but just at a slower rate.  Every time you intentionally sit down to study with the purpose of limiting distractions you will get better.  In other words the more you study, the faster you will get to your peak level, reduce distractions and lengthen your peak levels. 


 All of this means more time in the study sweet spot where you are really learning at an amazing level.  The chart should show you that every time you are distracted you reset to zero and must refocus.  Haven’t you ever reread a line from a book over and over?  This is frustrating and distractions do this to you.  You need to limit distractions.  I would argue that little distractions are robbing you of precious study time.  So when you think you are studying for two hours, in reality that is not what is happening.  You need to subtract the lost time due to recovering from each of your distractions.  Your phone is a classic time thief, as is Facebook, Twitter and even your iPod.
  
Many people study with headphones to limit outside distractions, but more distractions are being induced if you are stopping to select a new song after each song concludes.  Deep practice is very exhausting, so be ready to get tired when you study deeply.  Having a tenacious spirit will help you to stay locked in. As a child of God you have access to this mental state through the Spirit (Psalm 51:10).

Finally, you need immediate feedback in order to grow quickly.  Look for real-time quizzing opportunities to check your level of learning.  The summary section of the Cornell note should be done afterwards as a way to self check whether you can reproduce the most important facts in your own words.  For those of you who are verbal learners, you will do well to explain the information to someone else.  This will allow you to see whether you really know the information.  Study groups fit this purpose well.