I’m starting to think that nontraditional students returning to college should wear capes considering the challenging task it is to work full time, raise families and take college level courses all at the same time! When it comes to time management, distance learning students must have such skills prior to starting class in order to have the greatest success.

Check out the following time management for distance learning students tips from the mouths of 2 nontraditional students: Cate, a wife and full-time professional and Heather, a mother, wife and full-time professional.

Tips from Cate:

1. Organization

For Cate, to be organized in one aspect of her life isn’t enough - keeping all of her affairs organized is the only way to be productive and relatively peaceful at the same time. One organization tool Cate particularly relies upon is a web-based calendar that sends her alerts via email or texts (she syncs it to her phone) - aaah, technology!

2. Procrastination = torture

For Cate procrastination is “the enemy” when it comes to school work, therefore she makes a point to do at least a little bit of work every single day to avoid falling behind, developing bad habits and the heavy feeling you get when you know you are not doing what you are supposed to do.

Tips from Heather:

1. Multitask, multitask, multitask

If Heather had a theme song it would be Study While you Pump (to the tune of  Snow White’s Whistle While you Work). There isn’t time to do one or the other, so she does both. Ever creative, Heather also puts her baby in a bouncy chair while she makes dinner and narrates her actions to keep the child entertained. Such creativity and flexibility is necessary for Heather to keep life running smoothly for her family while keeping school work a priority.

2. Stay present

An admitted challenge, Heather also finds that being totally present with whatever she is doing (even if it is two things at once) is essential to success at home, work and school. It is seems counter to multi-tasking but it ultimately means not overwhelming your brain by thinking about everything you have to do all at once - while she cooks, she thinks about what she’s cooking, while she studies, she thinks about she’s studying - keeping the focus on the task (or tasks) at hand.

3. Sticky notes & lists

Heather finds that having a set schedule is a source of stress so instead she keeps to-do lists and enjoys the satisfaction of crossing items off. Sticky notes are applied in various places throughout her world to help remind her of whatever needs to be done. Who needs the Internet when you have sticky notes?

My two cents

1. Know yourself.

Time Management for distance learning requires a separate effort in addition to the actual school work and is the cornerstone of a successful higher education and overall life experience. What is useful to one nontraditional student may not be useful to another. Knowing yourself and how you work best is essential as you figure out what time management tools to employ as you go forward in your efforts to further your career and improve your life.