I am sure you have been hearing that time management skills are necessary to succeed ever since you started college. But trust me when I say that it will make law school easier to handle. A set schedule can help you organize your time between reading, brief writing, studying and socializing.
When creating a personal schedule, there will naturally be some things you can’t change like, for example, the time slot for Legal Research and Writing. But, you can adjust your study time, meal times and sleep schedule to fit everything in. Ideally for a week but for a minimum of three days, keep a log of how you spend your time. Note how long it takes you to do something and what time of day you are doing it. You may discover that you are squeezing your lecture reading into the hour before class when you know that you retain more when you read after dinner. Or you may discover, as I did, that you can only do so much during the day and at some point your brain needs to stop. As an evening student, I pushed myself to complete the entire week’s assignments on weekend days. I would get home from class at 10pm during the week, and all my body wanted to do was go to bed since I had to get up early for work the next morning. I knew that I wouldn’t retain as much information if I made a habit of late-night studying, so I didn’t waste my time trying.
The daily activity log exercise is intended to help you create a schedule based on your needs. This personal schedule should be flexible enough that you will have time for life’s unexpected interruptions yet rigid enough that you get your daily goals accomplished. Try to set daily priorities for yourself each morning or the night before so you have specific things to do each day. Make sure you concentrate on one thing at a time and don’t overbook yourself with daily tasks. The goal is to create a schedule you can maintain and that will ultimately make your law school burden easier to carry. If you endeavor to maintain a schedule with numerous hours of daily study, you will likely burn out. Take the time to determine how much time you need to put into an assignment or a research project and prioritize.
Now, the ultimate question: how long is 5 minutes, really? You may think this is a dumb question, but I bet you think it’s either longer or shorter than it really is. How many times has someone interrupted you in the library or how many times have you received a call from a friend who wants to talk to you “just for a minute” and that minute has turned into a half hour or more. This is not to say you shouldn’t lend an ear, but if it can wait, maybe plan to have lunch or dinner together so you can get your work done and then give your friend your undivided attention.
My top five law school time management tips are…(drum roll please):
1. Plan your day each morning or the night before and set priorities for yourself. This probably sound like another thing for the “to do” list, but I am a huge proponent of making lists. Even if you make a mental list of what you need to accomplish and when each day it will help you organize your time better.
2. Schedule a weekly review of each course and a daily course review in small segments. This is beneficial for many reasons. You will find that you retain more information in small bits. A review of the day’s lecture notes for each class will reinforce what you learned while a weekly review will put the topic you discussed in each class over the course of the week in order in your mind. This will help you when it comes time to study for finals.
3. Concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a million things going on in your head as a law student, especially 1Ls. Focus on one thing at a time to keep your brain focused and to keep yourself less stressed.
4. Avoid procrastination, it is the enemy. Procrastination can lead to shoddy work, poor writing, ineffective studying, and a cranky law student. Final exams are no laughing matter since for most classes they represent your entire semester grade. So start studying early and make quality use of your time.
5. Schedule time to relax and unwind from all your hard work. You need to take care of yourself: body, mind and spirit. So put some time aside each day to just relax in any way that you like, even if it means curling up with a cup of cocoa and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. You need to reward yourself for all your hard work!
Now all of this is fine and good if you actually follow through. So you need the muster up the self discipline and self motivation to make yourself do it. If it helps, think of this as good practice for when you graduate and take your first lawyer position. You could be juggling your own caseload a few years down the line and wishing you picked up these good habits earlier.
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