Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 Control Your Time.
If you follow the schedules that you’ve prepared, you’ve 
taken the most important steps in time management. However, our lives are 
fi lled with surprises: Things always seem to take longer than we’ve planned. A 
crisis occurs, buses are late, computers break down, kids get sick. 
The diff erence between eff ective time management and time management 
that doesn’t work lies in how well you deal with the inevitable surprises 
. There 
are several ways to take control of your days and permit yourself to 
follow your intended schedule:
•
 Just say no.
You don’t have to agree to every request and 
every favor that others ask of you.
•
Get away from it all.
Go to the library. Lock yourself 
in your bedroom. Find an out-of-the-way unused 
classroom. Adopt a specifi c spot as your own, such 
as a corner desk in a secluded nook in the library. If 
you use it enough, your body and mind will auto-
matically get into study mode as soon as you seat 
yourself at it.
feL82795_fm_xxxviii-lii_1.indd Page xli 8/16/10 4:51 PM user-f464
feL82795_fm_xxxviii-lii_1.indd Page xli 8/16/10 4:51 PM user-f464

---

xlii
•
 Enjoy the sounds of silence.
Although many students insist 
they accomplish most while a television, radio, or CD is playing, 
scientifi c studies suggest otherwise—we are able to concentrate 
most when our environment is silent. Experiment and work in 
silence for a few days. You may fi nd that you get more done in 
less time than you would in a more distracting environment.
•
Take an e-break.
We may not control when communications 
arrive, but we can make the messages wait until we are ready to 
receive them. Take an e-break and shut down your communica-
tion sources for some period of time. Phone calls can be stored 
on voice-mail systems; text messages, IMs, and e-mail can be 
saved on a phone or computer. They’ll wait.
•