Tag: Time Management
Seminary Syllabus Strategy #4: A Study Plan for Each Major Exam
Similar to creating a writing plan for papers, you should block out dedicated study time for major exams. If you do this now, at the beginning of the semester (and stick to your schedule), then you won’t be pinched to find time to study. It’s pretty simple: Reserve study blocks beginning about a week before [...]
Category: Academics, Featured, Time Management
Seminary Syllabus Strategy #2: Start Reading Now
Seminary involves a LOT of reading. At the beginning of the semester, you typically have more open time. Seize it! Use it to read ahead now, and then when the first wave of papers is due, you won’t be so rushed. There may be some classes you can read ahead in more easily. Look over [...]
Category: Academics, Time Management
Seminary Syllabus Strategy #1: Get It In Your Calendar
The first week of seminary is over, and looming ahead are due dates for reading, papers and tests. You know this because you should have a syllabus for each class, which contains all the assignments you’ll need to complete this semester and their due dates. This is awesome. It’s a time management bonanza. If you [...]
Category: Academics, Featured, Time Management
You’re a Victim of Triage (and upcoming posts!)
Regular readers of Seminary Survival Guide have noticed that my posting has been slow of late. My explanation is that I’ve been practicing what I preach. One key concept I believe it’s critical for Christian leaders to master is triage: knowing how to sort through a welter of urgent demands and determine what is truly [...]
Category: Time Management
Seminary Time Waster #6: Saying “Yes” to Every Request
Seminary students who can’t say no give permission to others to waste their time. We’re nice people. We like to say yes. Jesus knew this. He advised us, “Ask and it shall be given to you.” (This verse is not primarily about prayer; it is about human interaction.) He knew that people’s default response to [...]
Category: Featured, Time Management
Be Unavailable. Like Jesus. (Seminary Time Waster #3)
Seminary Time Waster #3: Interruptions and Task Switching. The kind of study you are doing at seminary requires deliberate and sustained thinking—the kind which is impossible in high-interruption environments. You should aim in your study time for long, uninterrupted blocks of time. I’d recommend a minimum of 90 minutes. You should have enough time to [...]
Category: Featured, Time Management
The Internet Sucked Away My Life: Seminary Time Waster #2
Technology has given us the Internet, and the ability to instantly communicate worldwide. Wonderful isn’t it? It has also given us email in-boxes full of spam stupid forwards you’ve seen a thousand times already. access to millions of webstores where we can spend all the money we don’t have video games, the most fun way [...]
Category: Featured, Time Management
Procrastination: Seminary Time Waster #1
We’re all very well acquainted with the problem of procrastination. Putting off things that we do not enjoy or are dreading is a very human temptation, but is completely self-destructive. Here are a few practical tips on overcoming procrastination. Some of these tips will work well for you, others won’t. Pick and choose as you [...]
Category: Featured, Time Management
Eliminate Time Wasters
It’s mid-semester, and lots of projects and tests are coming due. Final exams and papers are not that far off, and I’m sure you feel the crunch coming. With that in mind, we’re going to talk about reclaiming desperately needed time by eliminating the things that waste it. The Enemy’s main strategy for people in [...]
Category: Time Management
Can’t say no? Try the “Qualified Yes”
Learning to say no is an important survival skill for ministry. People will ask you to do all sorts of things. because you’re nice. You’re in ministry! How could you say no? This will suck your life away if you’re not careful. We must defend our own borders. Of course, most of us in ministry [...]
Category: Links, Time Management
