Starting a new course can be both exciting and nerve-wracking, particularly if it’s been a few years since you were last a student. The time commitments involved in attending classes and studying can also seem intimidating. Juggling family life, a full- or part-time job, and studies can feel like a lot to take on.
Fortunately, Discovery Community College is committed to offering flexibility, and students can choose to take evening classes 5 days a week or day classes 2 days a week, depending on their schedule. This helps make it easier for those needing to balance many different commitments while they study. In addition, you can use these helpful tips to help you manage your time effectively.
Plan Your Time at Law Enforcement School
The number one secret to time management is planning. Taking 10 or 20 minutes to plan your day, week, and month could save you hours later on.
Everyone has different techniques for doing this, so you need to find what works for you. If you’re more of a traditionalist, you may want to keep everything in a paper agenda that you carry around with you. Or you may find it easier to keep track of your schedule in the calendar app on your smartphone.
However you do it, make sure to add any new appointments, schedule changes, or deadlines so that you don’t forget. It’s also important to schedule weekly study time for law enforcement courses. This helps ensure that you won’t get to the end of the week and realize that you haven’t had any time to prepare for class. This could be daily study time or once or twice a week, depending on how you like to work.
Add in any other activities like meeting up with friends or exercising, so that you don’t double book yourself.
Make To-Do Lists and Prioritize Important Tasks
As well as planning your calendar, it’s also important to plan your tasks. To-do lists are a great way to keep track of everything that you need to do.
There are a number of apps that you can use such as ‘Todoist’ to monitor all of your tasks and deadlines.
It’s also a good idea to prioritize your to-do lists in order of importance while in law enforcement school. What has to be done today, and what can wait until tomorrow? You should then start with the most important tasks first.
If you are feeling overwhelmed with a long to-do list, it’s a good idea to start with the smaller tasks. These will be quicker to complete and you’ll have the satisfaction of ticking them off. You’ll then be able to sink your teeth into one big task without worrying about lots of other things that need to be done.
Schedule Time to Relax and Destress
Lastly and most importantly, you’ll want to schedule downtime. Taking time out to relax and recharge will significantly improve your productivity. If you are stressed out and working all the time, you will actually work slower and to a lower standard, whereas taking regular breaks is proven to boost efficiency.
Give yourself one or two evenings a week to relax and spend time with your loved ones. Also, make time to look after yourself by destressing and exercising. This will give you more brainpower and energy when you are in class or studying.
Are you interested in law enforcement training?
Contact Discovery Community College to find out more!