The role of a time table
Many students -even adults like me -set up huge goals but fail to prepare a plan to reach there. The result is that we never meet our goals; they remain only as ambitions. The reason is that we don’t have a well-designed plan to complete our mission successfully.
In this article, I shall try to explain the role of time table in the journey to meet our goals. The first thing a timetable does is that it sets a limit. Setting a limit for doing a task will motivate us to do our best to finish the task within the set time limit.
Another important aspect of having a timetable is separating our work time and free time. Once our daily goal is achieved, we can use the remaining time for other activities which interest us. The timetable doesn’t allow the mixing of things we must do and things we like to do.
A timetable is the measure of our achievements for a day, every day before one goes to bed, he must do a postmortem of the timetable. The things he were able to complete according to his timetable and the things he couldn’t. The reasons for not finishing something should be found out and analyzed. This will be a standard for preparing future schedules.
I always feel that a separate timetable should be prepared for each day. This is because no two days are the same. All activities from the moment one gets up until he goes to bed should be planned in detail. (everything will not go according to the plan, but we have a schedule to follow). The topic and subtopics one wants to study during the allotted time should be explained in the timetable. If you plan to solve a problem, the total number of problems you plan to solve should also be specified.
There is one problem faced by students while preparing the timetabe. It is either underestimating the timetable or overestimating their abilities to complete a task. I have often observed that students underestimate the time required to study a particular topic. After starting, they realize that the time allotted in the timetable for that particular topic is not sufficient to complete it. In most cases, they continue to study the same topic even after the time allotted for it is over. This will change the whole structure of the timetable in a way, jeopardizing it as a whole.
There is a famous method for tackling such problems called the promodoro technique. It was developed by an Italian student Francesco Cirillo using a tomato ( In Italian, promodoro means tomato) shaped kitchen timer. Cirillo has written a small book on his method. The method consists of focusing on any task for twenty-five minutes uninterrupted using a timer, and once the timer rings, take a five-minute break. Each twenty five minute session is a promodoro. After such four promodoros, one can have a long 15 to 30 minutes break. If anyone finds twenty-five minutes short enough to complete a task, he can set a 52 minutes promodoro followed by a 17 minutes break. But studies show that most people prefer a 25 to 50 promodoros for peak concentration followed by a 5 to 15 minutes break.
The number of promodoros one can plan for a day varies, with a maximum number being sixteen for an eight-hour workday. But most of us cant be productive for the full eight hours. So while calculating the number of promodoros for a day, focus on quality rather than on quantity.
One important point to remember while preparing a timetable is that we all are more productive during the morning session, especially during the early hours. So better start your day very early. The afternoon session can be used to revise what you have studied in the morning session and do some numerical. Include subjects like Mathematics and Physics in the morning session. Evening sessions may be reserved for studying language and Biology. ( all my assumptions are subjective).
Once you prepare a timetable and start working according to it, you can make necessary changes. With experience, you will become a better learner.
wishing you success
Krishna das