The Bright Prospect®
Guide to Time
Management
1
What Are Your Activities?
• How do you spend your time between your last class
each school day and when you go to sleep?
• On weekends?
• Write your activities on the Activity Chart on the next
page. Color them in.
2
Personal Activity Chart
Keep track of how you use your time for one week.
CHOOSE A COLOR FOR EACH CATEGORY 
Homework
Eating
Sports/Clubs
Communicating w/Friends Sleeping
TV/Videogames Working/Job Household responsibilities
Other
3
Primary Activities
• Let’s list everyone’s primary activities
4
Can You Fit More Into the
Same Space?
• Let’s do a little Experiment
• Your team has a vase, and three
groups of spherical objects of
different sizes
• Try to fit as many objects into the
vase as you can
• One person on your team records
the strategy and steps you took
5
Let’s Try Putting In the
Small Objects First
• What happens?
6
Which Strategy Works
Best?
• Put small things in first, then
medium, then big?
• Put big things in first, then
medium, then small?
• Mix it up as you’re putting them
in?
• Another Strategy?
7
What’s the Connection to
Managing Your Time???
• Should you:
• Do the small things first, then
medium, then big?
• Do the big things first, then
medium, then small?
• Mix it up as you’re doing
them?
• Another Strategy?
8
How to Get More Done in
the Same Time
• What do the Big Balls represent?
The Small Balls?
• How does your strategy impact
what you can get done in the
same amount of time?
• What do you need to do?
• Make a plan
• Prioritize
9
What Are The
Consequences of Not
Planning Your Time?
•
•
•
•
Not finishing assignments
Lower Grades
Limited (or no) options for college
Less financial aid
10
The Urgent vs
The Important
Urgent
Important
II
IV
Not important
• Place the
activities on
page 4 in each
quadrant
• How would you
prioritize each
quadrant?
I
Not Urgent
11
How to Plan Your Time for
Large Assignments
• Break them into subtasks
• For Example – A Research Paper
• Research
• First Draft
• Revisions
• Final Draft
• Start at the Final deadline, and assign your own
deadline for each subtask
12
The Rewards of Planning
Your Time
• Better Financial Aid, means going to a better college
• An A can be worth up to $3000 more than a B
• A lot less stress in your life!
• Enjoying free time without guilt!
• Developing good habits that you will absolutely need
in college
13
Tips to Avoid
Procrastination
•
•
•
•
When appropriate, study with others
Study in the library
Set up a rewards system for yourself
Make a detailed list of what you have to do
• It feels great to cross things off
• Include all your own subtasks
• Temporarily deactivate Facebook, MySpace and the
Internet during finals week
14
What About A Job?
• Research shows that if you work more than 15 hours
per week, it impairs your school work and lowers
your grades
• Working less than that generally doesn’t affect your
school work or grades
• You need to think seriously about:
• The advantages of working for better grades
(Each A is worth $3000 more than a B)
• The advantages of working in a minimum wage
job to buy stuff you don’t really need
15
What Are You Going to Do?
•
•
•
•
Make a commitment to yourself
Find a partner, make a commitment to each other
Form a team, make a joint commitment
Help each other
• Plan
• Stay on Track
16