Time Management

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by wildstyler, Dec 30, 2002.

  1. wildstyler

    wildstyler Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2002
    Messages:
    124
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    student
    Location:
    canada in the school year and hong kong in the sum
    Hello to all,

    Just came across a thread that was posted about studies vs sports (or badminton). I agree with the people in that thread about the importance of time management, and to achieve this it takes a large amount of time to practice. I live in a small town, called Belleville located in Ontario about 2 hours drive away from Toronto, but use to live in Hong Kong. I still haven't adapted to the silentness and slow-pace small town style of living yet, but I'll get use to it soon (hopefully), because of the rat-race style of living in Hong Kong (to those in Hong Kong ;), right?).

    I believe that time management is much easier to accomplish if one is in a small town like I am in because not a lot of discraction is around, but in my town there is only sports (not only sports, but i guess having sports is much better than going out to party all the time, right?), and suprisingly my town offers a great variety of sports like badminton, gymnastics, soccer, etc.

    I manage my time pretty well, but not as good as my buddy in this forum (;) ), but i guess i have to practice managing my time and i will get to it because i've made time tables for myself and have been forcing myself to follow them.

    But i guess the end is that its not studies vs sports, its studies and sports (if i didn't get this wrong)

    I'd also like to see how people in this forum manage their time, from the young to the old? How do you do it? I need some ways of how you guys get high marks and can get enough time for badminton too, how?:confused:

    Wildstyler
     
  2. crazyboy139

    crazyboy139 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2002
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Bah.. I miss Hong Kong too :(
    Been here (Toronto) since 1993 and haven't gone back since..

    I'm not much into sports, cept maybe badminton cause it interests me..
    I just started badminton.. so I dunno how often I should go play..
    But I guess I'd try to atleast play once or twice a week..
    Badminton is only 1 - 2 hours.. so I guess thats the only time, I should even think about sports, otherwise focus on studies?
    My marks are dropping like crazy, cause I play too much games, no time for homework..
    But I guess:
    Theres a lot of time for sports later, if you do good in school now.
    Sports are great, but school is more important, try to find a balance? Like.. 20% sports to 80% school?

    It takes me 2 - 3 hours to get to anywhere I can play badminton, so I guess I can bring along some books and study, or do homework. Only in the 2 - 3 hours should I focus on something else.

    I dunno
    Just thoughts popping in my head right now :)
     
  3. TOmike

    TOmike Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2002
    Messages:
    498
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Toronto
    where do you live lol! 2-3 hours to get to a gym? thats insane.

    as for me, i'm trying to stick to time sch, but the comp is in my room, so i have some problems doing it. but when i do get into the work, i usually don't stop until i've accomplished a bit.. now i just gotta get into the work. i try to play as much badminton as possible,but that means only 5-6 hours a week. the rest of the time i try to do homework.
     
  4. crazyboy139

    crazyboy139 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2002
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    I live at the end of Lawrence on the west end

    literally where the street ends

    thats like 1 - 2 streets away from pickering :mad:
    and the bus to scarborough town center, is 1 and a half hours :mad:
    had enough!!!!!
    GOING INSANE :mad:

    but yea
    I should do hwk too....
    but... so...... very.... lz.....
     
  5. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,817
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    Some tips from personal experience.

    I didn't learn good time managment until university.

    I had quite a demanding course but here are some things I did inorder to go for sports (and I used to go 10 pin bowling, badminton, TaeKwonDo, Karate, 5 a side football) as well as representing the University.

    1) you really got to work hard when you sit down

    2) plan the time you are using to study and really study hard with focus.

    3) do the studying first and then plan the sports after e.g. badminton at 8pm, so 5pm short break, eat early dinner, work for 2 hours with a couple of little breaks then off to the session. Regard the exercise as a little reward.

    4) study in the library - for me, studying at home is a disaster - there's the bed, fridge, toilet, TV, hifi

    5) don't go home after the library to pick your equipment up. Bring your equipment to the library, stuff your work into the locker (you won't need it at home) at go straight to badminton.

    6) Don't keep talking to your other friends in the library (some students I saw a couple of years ago were chatting the girl up[and she was enjoying it]. I asked them to chat up the girl outside - they stopped messing around)

    6) Don't be the crammer personality starting the revision 2 days before the exam. Start the work for the exams EARLY and consistently. (but there will be some periods that are better than others)

    7) Studying is like physical training for the mind. Let's face it, after a week of no physical exercise, your fitness is worse, the brain is the same. It takes time to build up concentration. I personally lose 'brain fitness' after two days.

    8) Taking exams is like preparing for a tournament, you need to get the timing right so you 'peak' at the right moment with your 'brain fitness'. With the cram personality I suspect people peak a few days after the exam is over.

    Just a little example of how I work.
    I had some exams a couple of years ago. In fact I started preparing a year before the exams - why? The financial investment was huge. Nearly 1500 USD for courses(travelling, food and accomodation), the exam itself was nearly 1000USD, I had to travel to Australia from Hong Kong (about 900USD), spend a week there (so accomodation and food).

    Through out the preparation period, I played badminton twice a week using the above selfstudy methods. Remember, I have to work fulltime as well which also includes some Saturday or Sundays. I watch almost no TV (except when there was a badminton tournament on:)

    Imagine if I had failed?
    But in the end I passed:p
    I even took my racquet to Sydney when I had the exams!
    One person (who had failed a couple of times) remarked "how can you play badminton with this major exam ahead of you?"
    My logic was, 3 hours of badminton was going to make no difference to my marks after all the time spent a year before in preparation with self study.:)
     
  6. Loh

    Loh Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2002
    Messages:
    17,757
    Likes Received:
    1,078
    Occupation:
    Semi-Retired
    Location:
    Singapore Also Can
    Cheung

    Thanks for sharing your experience with our young students. Hope they can zero in on the priorities and adapt to their own circumstances. I like your example on "peaking" and trust that our readers will not forget that studies is an on-going activity and one should prepare well in advance to peak at the right time - so important in athletics. There should not be last-minute work which only puts the poor student under a great deal of psychological and health-related stress. Some fail to show up at the exam hall!
     
  7. Joanne

    Joanne Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2002
    Messages:
    1,338
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Getting thrashed on court.
    Location:
    Petaling Jaya, S'gor, M'sia
    well......

    I remember I played badminton when I was year 2 and 3, and came out top in class both years. Of course, I had to skip a few badminton classes in other to do well. :( But it was worth it. :)
     
  8. wildstyler

    wildstyler Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2002
    Messages:
    124
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    student
    Location:
    canada in the school year and hong kong in the sum
    To:Cheung,
    I like your contribution of this forum, especially where you can compare badminton to studies which makes a lot of people that view this thread have an idea of how to develop the successful goals of, well like what you accomplished today.

    For me its hard to make a decision of badminton or studies, what i don't want to do, but am still doing is that i have 4 days a week to play badminton and 4 hours (maximum) of playing time each night. Badminton is fun as all of you agree with me but then i can't control the fact that i should study instead of play badminton. But now i'm trying to adapt to not playing as much badminton as possible. One time, I thought i should quit badminton since my marks aren't as high as it should be, but i was wrong because i needed a healthy balance of sports and studies as my counciler said (right or not?).

    Sacrifices have to be made but would quitting badminton or any other sports be a good idea of cranking one's mark up? But i'm going to keep up the hard work of adapting it (hopefully).

    Because I play other school teams too, badminton is at night (around 7pm) where my sport teams finish practice around 5pm, so i go home and eat dinner which takes at least half an hour, so studying time is not much. What i did was that i didn't go play badminton that night, since i needed to study, i have the chance of playing almost every night, and plus it's only playing (as in playing games around with different people, as Mr. King (one of the training camp coaches) said the province's top player hasn't played a single game in practice). I also do drills now instead of playing which is a good thing.

    I'd like to know what are people's school marks (only people that are in school now that is, i know there's a lot of old guys here :p j/k) in badmintonforum.com? Hopefully you guys are doing better than me :(

    Wildstyler
     
  9. TOmike

    TOmike Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2002
    Messages:
    498
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Toronto
    my marks are also what they should not be. i hope i can take heed of what Cheung has said here today, because it is a very important lesson to learn. when parents tell you of their experiences, it may not sink in as well as when a fellow badminton player tells you an experience. our sport of choice always makes common ground. as for my marks, they are pretty shotty. i am always around the 80's but trying to take it to the next level has been hard... i tried quiting computer games, but that doesn't help, because it just makes me idle around my room. no that i come back to it after a few months, i no longer enjoy it as much as i do before. and it is easy to stop playing now. thats one obstacle down. i am sure that badminton is not the problem to me. i too believe that we all need a healthy balance. one cannot work so hard and not go mad! it is only a question of will power here.
     
  10. ASDFASDF

    ASDFASDF Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2002
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Toronto
    Belleville eh? E.C and P.C from da ajax camp? Btw, lets never eat at that subway place again.... the pizza sub I had made me sick......or maybe it was pizza sub and large chocolate milk + the phsyical activities.....
     
  11. wildstyler

    wildstyler Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2002
    Messages:
    124
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    student
    Location:
    canada in the school year and hong kong in the sum
    It's E.C. here. But P.C. is Phil. So I guess you'll know who he is right. Well I guess you still like mustard don't you :D . lol. Do you have msn or icq? Maybe send it to me.

    Latez
    E.C. (Wildstyler):cool:

    PS: NEVER GIVE UP!!!
     
  12. ASDFASDF

    ASDFASDF Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2002
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Toronto
    YEa.. requested on icq...... got your # from profile.........
     
  13. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2002
    Messages:
    2,096
    Likes Received:
    4
    Location:
    T.O.
    There's lots of places in Missisauga you can play at, why not go there? Playing level might not be as high but at least it doesn't take 3 hours to get there
     
  14. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,817
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    Hey guys,

    Thanks for your input! I think I've had a hard life:) Too many exams sucks real bad. You guys don't want to know how many exams I've been through.(and how much badminton I sacrificed!!)

    Here are a few things I missed out.



    If you do multiple sports/activities, each of these take up time. You may have to think about prioritising each activity if YOU THINK YOUR MARKS CAN BE BETTER WITH A LITTLE MORE TIME!

    Obviously, each activity may have a social function as well so for me, dropping computer games would be a logical choice (which happened to me as well)

    So in my case, after University, I had to drop all sports and just focus on badminton. I would have loved to continue doing everything else but I just don't have the time what with trying to progress in my professional career. Occasionally, I do go out and do different things from badminton (because just badminton alone would be a little one track)

    Wildstyler,
    No way am I suggesting that people should go and play 4 days a week four hours at a time as well as study.
    Well, some people can do that and do well BUT some others cannot. Each person has a balance that is optimal for them. This comes from each individual's own experience to optimise the balance.

    Maybe school is a bit tough at the moment - possibly some new theories to grasp, or exams coming. If all these come at the same time, you might have to cut down on the badminton (perhaps x2/weeek or even x1) temporarily.
    You always know that there'll be time later.

    If you are trying to be an International player, that's a different situation and Loh has kindly given us some insight on the S'porean initiative.;)

    (And this is an excellent topic, thanks to Wildstyler)
     
  15. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,817
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    My advice is don't study or do homework during the travelling time. Too many distractions.

    What I think is more useful is to READ the concepts that school gives you. If it's a language, practice a bit of vocab. Conceptual theories are hard to write down on public transport.

    Remember, we are talking about mind training. If you can read a difficult topic once on the bus, that's one extra time of going over the material so next time you sit at the desk to work things out, hopefully, the understanding will come easier. Sitting on the bus allows you to reflect on the reading material as well. Be realistic, though. Don't suddenly think it's all going to easy just becasue you read on the bus/train. I feel sick if I read too much on public transport so I read a little and try to 'think' about what I read.

    Don't try and do homework during the badminton session - I feel you should enjoy the badminton and feel satisfied you tried your best that night.
     
  16. Joanne

    Joanne Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2002
    Messages:
    1,338
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Getting thrashed on court.
    Location:
    Petaling Jaya, S'gor, M'sia
    lol,

    My marks? It varies.....as long as I'm near the top scores I'm happy. It's too much of a bother to try and score the highest. :D Have to study too hard, no thank you!
     
  17. viver

    viver Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    1,935
    Likes Received:
    158
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Cheung,
    Quite interesting experiences you had. I'll show your postings to my son who is having 'brain' fitness problems. Tried over the years 'coaching' him on 'brain' fitness but I think I wasn't quite successful.

    Like someone mentioned in a posting, it's hard for kids to listen to their parents experiences. I myself had a full time job, studied at night and had badminton practices - 4rh, 4 days a week. Don't know how I managed but surely had to keep up with the lessons everyday. I make sure I listened to what the teacher said during classes, took notes. After classes I would re-write the notes comparing them with what was written on textbooks and try to 'digest' them. Badminton time have to fully focused otherwise the coach would come down hard, you know
     
  18. Joanne

    Joanne Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2002
    Messages:
    1,338
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Getting thrashed on court.
    Location:
    Petaling Jaya, S'gor, M'sia
    Parents stories? lol, ancient. I have heard a couple though. My dad was a nerd:)D) studied every moment he could. Mum was well......studied for a very very very important exam the night before, you can really call it burn the midnight lamp! lol. She would not sleep that whole night. lol. My story? Start studying for mid-term, end year exams at least 2 weeks before, important exams, 1 month before....or maybe I should say exam? lol. The only important(so called) exams I ever sat for was PTS and UPSR. lol, I only did one question the few days before the PTS exam, and guess what? I passed! UPSR.....well.....that I really had to work to get the straight A's. I have no idea how people actually study day and night.......anyone willing to tell me? Maybe that's why they are labelled 'nerds'. :D :D :D
     
  19. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,817
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    Viver,

    these tactics only come with experience.

    i had problems too with my father lecturing me on how to study!:) (he has a Ph D)

    The way I see it, in the adolescent years, there isn't the same sense of responsibility that enables a person to really focus properly. This is no fault of hte student. After all, shopping for food, clothes, washing, paying bills, housing is largely done by the parents. Once time is compromised by work, then issues on how to study and time managment come into effect.

    In the postgraduate stage, we are motivated by having to pay more(financially) for supplementary courses in order to climb the career ladder or have the option to emigrate to a place we want to go (as opposed to a place we no choice but to go to). For you, I guess the choice was Canada.


    Funnily enough, for me, coming to HK mades me even more busy and I work even more efficiently. Despite largely finishing exams, personally, I am still interested in research and education (And Badminton ;)). Hopefully, these qualities will enhance my Curriculum Vitae so that I will have a wider choice of where I want to go to in the future.

    At the start of University, I thought just graduating with a degree was good enough. I was NOT the best student, only average (with some hard work and time management practices:)). I realised to maxmise my chances of getting a good job outside, I would have to improve myself in other ways. Hence, I entered a couple of competition essays for prizes offered by my department. Since these competitions are voluntary in UK, I knew there would be very few entries for writing essays that only needed a bit of time as UK students would prefer to use their time to socialise.

    The result? I got two prizes out of a class of ~130
    First one had more entries than I anticipated....five
    Second one, I was the only entry so the University had to give me the prize as the work was up to standard!

    I put these acheivements in my Curriculum Vitae(CV), and I do believe it helped me in getting more interviews.

    For this story, it's an example of how to play academia "SMARTLY" if you can't be top of the class.:D
    Of course, I did add other things to my CV like University teams, Chinese Soc Committee etc.

    One other "SMART" person in the badminton team deliberately chose to be captain. Sure it's a hassle organising things like matches, buses, contacting team member's. That guy got asked in his job interview about his duties with the badminton club and that helped him describe his organisational abilities to the employer. BTW, he got that job with the bank.


    :) Interestingly, I can see three seperate themes arising out of this discussion.
    1) our original question of how to combine studies and sport (esp if you are Asian and your parents want you to study non-stop)
    2) how to study efficicently
    3) how to maxmise your time in education so as to come out a bit 'special' for a propective employer (very relevant in today's current World Economic State)


    Joanne,

    the brain is like any other organ in the body. How much it can take depends on many factors. At your stage, dare I say, you do not have to start studying for the exams so early for two reasons:
    1 - the concepts are easier
    2 - the workload is not there!

    When you move up doing harder exams, you'll start to need to prepare earlier to train your brain to concentrate. Remember me then!!:D
    Don't worry about not acheiving much. You still got many years to go and you are already so good with badminton. If you can acheive a little bit more every year, see how things might grow.

    "Nerd"? some people have to work harder than others. For your father, he must have felt he needed to do very well to acheive what he wanted in life. For societies where chinese are a minority, many individuals choose to compete by working harder than the majority (e.g. Australia) to integrate effectively and raise their social status.
     
    #19 Cheung, Jan 1, 2003
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2003
  20. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,817
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    I don't how people can study day and night either. The brain needs rest periods just like muscles. That's why we sleep:)
     

Share This Page