Making the Most of Your Time

By Kelly O'Brien, National Football Foundation

With the football season here, your schedule can sometimes become very overwhelming. How will you ever balance class, practice, homework, games, a job, friends, and family? You can if you practice effective time management. Believe it or not, 24 hours in a day is enough time to do everything you HAVE to, and still have some extra time for you.

Time management requires you to use the time you do have in an efficient manner. It allows you to be in control of how you spend your time. It can also help you accomplish more and reduce your stress by eliminating those last minute cram sessions. In order for time management to be successful, you must use your time wisely and make the most out of each moment that you have. Even the shortest periods of time such as walking to and from class or waiting for the bus, can be used in a beneficial and efficient manner.

There are four important steps to time management: patterning, prioritizing, planning, and preparing. First, you need to make a pattern of the time you spend on "have to" tasks each day such as sleeping, eating, going to class, practicing your sport, or going to work. By mapping these out, you will notice where you have flexible time. Next you need to prioritize your daily tasks. Prioritizing means deciding what is important to you and what tasks you have to do on a daily basis. It may be helpful for you to put your daily tasks in order of priority or to make a list of "Have to, Should do, Could do." At this point, you may also want to consider your goals for the semester to be sure that your priorities are consistent with them. If your goal is to achieve a 3.0 GPA for the semester, then it should be important to you to attend class, read your textbooks, and to turn in your assignments complete and on time.

After you have developed a pattern and prioritized, you need to plan. Having a schedule book or daily planner will help you keep track of your assignments, appointments, social commitments, etc. When developing your plan, be specific about what you exactly need to do. Instead of "study for algebra," write down "complete algebra problems 5-10." It may also help you to make a reading schedule. If you have 50 pages to read in English and 50 pages to read in History, then divide the 100 pages by five nights. Reading 20 pages per night seems much more manageable than 100 pages. Once you write each of these assignments down, you must also look at your planner on a regular basis. After you accomplish each task, cross it off. It will give you a great sense of satisfaction! This type of planning will also get you into a routine and it allow you to prepare for busy times in the future. Having a plan puts things in perspective and keeps you from feeling too overwhelmed during the high pressure points of the semester. For instance, you may notice that the same week you have to prepare for a big game, you also have to study for 3 mid-term exams. Having a pre-existing plan will keep you prepared, in control, and successful.

Time management, like any other skill, must be practiced on a regular basis in order for it to be effective. Reward yourself by taking short 10 or 15 minute breaks after spending an hour on your homework. Also, instead of "stealing" an hour from your reading schedule to watch a movie, try to "borrow" it. This means that if you skip an hour on Wednesday night, you will have to add that hour on to Thursday. If you follow these simple steps you will be on your way to a successful season both on and off the field.

Worksheets:

Information adapted from: Petitpas, A., Champagne, D., Chartrand, J., Danish, S., & Murphy, S. (1997). Athlete's Guide to Career Planning. Illinois: Human Kinetics.

This information was taken from the NFL/NFF Coaching Academy program that was designed under the leadership of Dr. Dan Gould at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and Dr. Steve Danish at Virginia Commonwealth University. The program is designed to further educate youth and high school coaches in not only the areas of football skills and strategy but also the game's character building and social benefits.

Whether it's a strategy for keeping a team academically eligible, the development of a life skills curriculum for a coaching clinic, or the latest research on sports in society, the NFF Center for Youth Development through Sport at Springfield College in Massachusetts has the answers. While supporting Play It Smart remains the primary focus of the staff's attention, the NFF Center is quickly becoming a source of information on using sport to develop the qualities of leadership and academic excellence in America's young people.

For more information about the NFF Center, click here.