I like small things—paradigms that can be followed easily, little lessons that can be absorbed readily. They eventually add up to big things. That’s the amazing part about teaching and learning. On a regular basis, I challenge myself to break lessons into manageable pieces that our brains can absorb in the digital world. Those who listen to my podcast know that I intentionally keep the episodes short. After all, who wants to listen to a three hour discussion devoted solely to breaking down a statute? I challenge law students to do the same.
Today is just Tuesday, but I’ve had a lot of student appointments this week. All students, but particularly those in their first year, are asking questions like: How am I going to keep going at this pace over time? How will I ever get through all of this work? How do I even know how I’m doing? How am I supposed to gauge my performance when it’s based on one exam?
These questions share a common theme—they are looking at the whole instead of the parts. They look at the potential outcome and not the process. If you shift your thinking to focus on the process and not the outcome, your workload will appear more manageable. If you are assigned hundreds of pages for class this week, break those pages down into manageable chunks. If you have a legal writing assignment due, break that assignment down into specific tasks you can handle in one session (think: reading, note taking, outlining, and then drafting). Think small.
Experts in time management encourage students to be specific when creating a study schedule. For example, don’t write that you’ll study contracts. Ask yourself what, specifically, you will do in contracts. Allocate a reasonable amount of time to each task. Many students I have talked to today mentioned staying at school for ten or so hours to get the work done. If you cook over a diminishing heat, the process takes longer. Instead, build breaks into your detailed schedule.
Here’s the truth about time management. Law students don’t want to talk about it. They think that it’s common sense. Then the workload hits and they are too busy to talk about it. So, my advice is this: take an hour to do a puzzle. That puzzle is your schedule for this week and this week only. If you schedule specific time to complete small tasks, all of a sudden your huge “to do” list looks more manageable. And that is certainly time well spent.