Time Management Study Skill

Time Management Study Skill concerns mainly that ability to manage successfully the time you spend in studying material.

The following are key pieces of advice how you can skillfully manage this better - and save time. 

“Leaders are Readers”, they say. To be a good manager you really should be fully informed. And my goodness, there are many sources of information, when you think about it:

Offline: Newspapers, Professional Journals, Management Books, Internal / external Reports, Memos, Papers, Letters,

Online: Emails, Email Attachments, Ezines, RSS Feeds, Ebooks, Kindle Books, Forums, Social Media Postings such as LinkedIn Comments, Tweets, Facebook Posts, Google Plus Posts and Communities.

What are your main sources of Information?

Could you list them right now?

The sources of Information we have available to us have multiplied themselves rapidly with ever efficient Internet systems. So it’s a challenge and one to take seriously. Your time is precious. We have never had such an information flood like we have now.

This time management study skill of reading selectively and reading efficiently must be learned.

So, How Do I Read Selectively?

First and foremost, be clear why you are reading.

Are you...

1.     Reading for information? To keep yourself updated in skills, in business management, in technology trends, in politics, etc.

2.     Reading to get active? This is sourcing and reading material to enable you to reach more informed decisions.

3.     Reading for Learning? This is reading material for later use.

 Avoid Information overload that tends to lead to confusion.

Try asking yourself  “Why exactly am I reading this?”

Key Steps To Selective Reading

1.     Target your Reading by Amount. Set a goal of 40 minutes for example. More time is not realistic as our concentration won’t typically hold out longer.

2.     Target your Reading by Topic: Remembering the only 20% of your reading effort will reap about 80% of your result.

Use Shortcuts for your 
Time Management Study Skill

Many of the reading materials available on paper will indicate their contents in the start with lists, tables of content, summaries in the initial or final paragraphs, in the index of Journals or magazines.

Use these to avoid reading unnecessary material. Look at shortcut possibilities in

• Table of contents
• Indexes
• Summaries
• Skim-read your target: For example, the first line of a paragraph usually indicates the content of the whole paragraph!
• Highlight or underline relevant passages for easy recognition at a later stage. It helps too to write quick short notes of your own on the side, not only does it help you to formulate your understanding of the issue, but you can skim read more easily at a later stage.

 With important material, carry out detailed reading – but then make your own shorter notes.

Reading For An Exam

Should you be studying for an exam, the following is a great strategy as a time management study skill:

Round 1: Study your book in great detail once, writing exact and great notes. This way you reduce a book of 300 pages down to say 50 pages of notes. You will not look at this book again.

Round 2: Take your 50 pages of notes and summarize them. Mind maps are an excellent tool to use here. Reduce the material by summarizing and noting key points down to 15 pages.

Round 3: Take your 15 pages and reduce them down to Flash cards with key lists, explanations, summaries, definitions, overviews. These are the only materials you will now use before the exam

Round 4:  Ensure that you have these flash cards learnt off and you are sure of doing a successful exam.

Using Shortcuts With Paperless Materials
(Digital Media)

• Check for headings, titles and the source. Then, make your decision whether you should continue reading.

Reading in a style appropriate to the material

1.     Choose a suitable place that has a conducive atmosphere to reading. Reduce distractions to a minimum.

2.     Set priorities: Decide whether the material is important or urgent.

The key to successful priority setting is to rate material that is “Important” higher than material that is “Urgent”. You can list for example:

Priority Level 1:   Important AND Urgent

Priority Level 2:   Important NOT Urgent

Priority Level 3:   Urgent NOT Important

Priority Level 4:   Neither Important nor Urgent.

At the start of each day, organize your paperwork into the 4 groups.

In your plan for the day or week, ensure you leave enough time for reading, as a good manager is an informed manager!

Time Management Study Skill

Sit back and enjoy a 10 minute Training Video on Reading selectively. 

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