4. Focus on the Group A tasks

Now focus on the Group A tasks. Pick out all tasks related to studying (courses, etc.).

List on the post-it notes all the things you must do before the course (preparation, etc.), during the course, and after the course. Do this for each ongoing or upcoming course separately.

Break these goals down into weekly tasks by asking yourself: what do I have to do to meet this goal?

  • For example, if your goal is to pass a mathematics course, your weekly tasks will include going to lectures, getting the study materials, doing the homework, going to math exercise classes, practising with your friends, asking for advice, finding any missing pieces of information online, and going over the areas you don’t know well enough yet.
  • If your goal is to get fit, your weekly task is to exercise 4 times per week.
  • A 5-credit course studied at a steady pace over a period of six weeks has a fairly high weekly workload. It will take a total of 135 working hours to pass the course. This divided over a period of six weeks equals more than 20 working hours per week.

Break these tasks down into small enough parts to make sure you get them done. A reasonably sized task would be, for instance, one hour of work at a time. This way, you will get positive experiences as you get things done.

Now focus your attention on the coming week. What should you do during it? Organise the post-it notes to find the tasks that you need to do in the coming week.

Look here for an example of how you should and should not do this exercise.

 

When you are ready, make sure you have saved what you did. You can now move on to Part 2: Well planned is half done.