really studying your heart out, you’ll also find it easier to justify
time-wasting distractions, scheduling longer breaks, and, before long,
quitting before you should.
Finally, remember Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the
time available for its completion.” In other words, if you fail to sched-
ule a one-hour block for a project that should take an hour, you will
probably be surprised to find (eureka!) that it somehow takes two or
three!
Strategy tip: Get into the habit of getting ready for the next day before
you go to bed the night before. Believe me, it’s an absolutely fantas-
tic feeling to startthe day completely organized...especially if you
oversleep!
Using These Tools Effectively
There are thinkers, and there are doers.
And there are those who think a lot about doing.
Once you have discovered habits and patterns of study that work
for you, continue to use and hone them. Be flexible enough to add
techniques you learn from others and alter schedules that circum-
stances have made obsolete.
Plan according to yourschedule, yourgoals, and youraptitudes, not
some ephemeral “standard.” Allocate the time you expect a project
to take you, not the time it might take someone else or how long
your teacher says it should take. Try to be realistic and honest with
yourself when determining those things that require more effort or
those that come easier to you.
Chapter 4 ■How to Organize Your TIme 89