Working With and Managing Your Greatest Asset - Time

You have no doubt begun working on your MBA degree because you plan on being an effective, productive member of society. However, as human beings most of us are inherently lazy and tend to procrastinate.

These things are not necessarily bad per se, they are just counter productive to achieving goals and dreams simply for the fact that we feel there is something else that we would rather be doing. However, with a little insight, planning, goal setting and commitment to excellence, procrastination can be a thing of the past.

The first step in time management is making a list of all the things that take up our time. Be sure to include television and Internet here! For your average day, calculate exactly how much time is spent sleeping, exercising, working, attending classes and studying. Since working and sleeping are mandatory and will no doubt consume sixteen hours per day of our time, we are left with 8 hours at the end of each day to accomplish goals. As a student, attending classes, completing projects and studying for exams should be first on the priority list. Now, it is up to you to set goals to achieve everything that will be required of you, the successful student.

Next, you will need to set some goals. If you have never set goals in your life before as an action plan is put into motion, goals should be split into three parts. These three parts are: short term goals, medium term goals, and long-term goals. As an MBA student, you might want to consider setting your short term goals as what needs to be accomplished in order to be successful come mid-term exam time. Here, you will want to calculate what sort of effort it will take on your part to be prepared for each week and month leading up to these tests. A good time frame for setting medium term goals is the end of the semester. Here, you will need to figure out and plan for earning a good class grade for the end of the semester. It is never too early to put together a plan for finishing final projects, papers and studying for final exams. The earlier a plan is thought out and implemented, the better!

Finally, the last goal that you should be concerned with is graduating and earning your degree. Sure, you will need to pass each class successfully and that is what the short and medium term goals are for. For the long haul, you should be concerned about the final thesis that you will no doubt be required to research and write. So, here is a tip: try to figure out your thesis topic early. Then, write the papers for each class while keeping in mind the big picture of working everything you write into the final topic of your thesis.

Time management is simple, however, it is not always easy. But, with proper planning and a willingness to sacrifice some free time, your goals will be achieved!

by Michael Chasen

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