This fun, vintage MBAchic piece was written for a popular bschool news site in August 2011 (enjoy the 2010s references!).

Let’s show the part-time students some love. Life is probably wild right now. Work, school, family, social life (if you still have one…just kidding) — you’ve got a lot going on, and somehow it all needs to fit into your schedule. As a part-timer myself, I’ve picked up some tips and tricks along the way. I’d love to say that I’ve perfected my time management, but let’s say it’s a “work in progress.” Let’s get right into it:

Assess the situation

You’re a professional who knows how to get things done. You’re working to get your MBA. You’ve got it [mostly] together, so take control of your schedule the way you would any major project. Assess the current situation to understand what exactly is pulling at your time each day; keep a diary for a week and jot down where your time is spent.

Once you have an idea of everything that takes your time, you can prioritize what is most important. Then, just like the bouncer at that club you used to go to when you had a social life (again, I kid…), you say what stays and what goes. Urgent assignment from your boss? Clearly, that stays. Email from your friend asking to help design matching T-shirts for her bachelorette weekend extravaganza? That can take a rain check (or… maybe drop that entirely. She might thank you later.)

Map out your days

Once you have your priorities in check, plan your days accordingly – your time should be tied to your goals. Plan the important, urgent items as soon as you can (à la Stephen Covey*), and give yourself some cushion time (things happen… being realistic and flexible will go a long way).

Sometimes I print out my Outlook calendar so I have my meetings and classes that I absolutely cannot move, and literally pencil the rest in: workouts, dinner dates, homework sessions, travel time… you name it. If I have a so-called “hell week” coming up, you can be sure that I’m planning my days to ensure I get the most out of every minute.

Also according to Stephen Covey, there are certain things that are urgent and require immediate attention, that really are not that important – avoid those. If they are not important, don’t waste your time. There are also some things that are neither urgent nor important, but you already know you should avoid those (ex. watching back-to-back Jersey Shore episodes when you have a statistics final the next day…really?)

Network in class

Networking is the name of the game, right? Don’t build relationships with a view to be able to call that person in ten years with your great start-up idea. Enjoy these connections now (and make it about cultivating real friendships)! Build study groups, work on case studies and homework assignments, and gain from each other’s strengths. Some of the best, strongest relationships out of my MBA come from hours spent going over accounting assignments and preparing case study recommendations.

Also, hit up office hours. This does not need to be a major undertaking. Take a second to drop by your professor’s office and introduce yourself; putting a smiling face to a name on a roster is a great idea, and something that some professors really appreciate. If showing up unannounced sounds dumb, bring notes from a previous lecture and ask for clarification (put some thought into the question; don’t BS and waste your professor’s time or this whole idea will backfire).

Own your train time

If you have a commute that sucks up a significant portion of your day, take the reins and own those precious hours. If you have a bumpy ride (literally), doing written homework might not be feasible, but bring along some flashcards or a case to read.

Sometimes you just need to relax… If you record your classes, this is a great time to pop in your earbuds and listen to a lecture or two. I’ve heard people recommend listening to classes at the gym as well; personally, the idea of listening to a macroeconomics lecture while trying to work out and de-stress sounds awful. But, whatever floats your boat.

If you drive or take a cab, this is a great time for a podcast or even to make phone calls. Driving in your own car allows you to hook up your hands-free system to make your important appointments and dinner plans. Don’t want to be rude by gabbing away in a taxi? I can speak for NYC when I say that your cabbie does not care. Just do not speak so loudly that they cannot hear their own phone conversation. That would be rude.

Two-time with friends

Double up on your friend time. Instead of one-on-one dinners, plan group outings so you can see more than one friend at once. Sometimes you need that one-on-one time, but with a group, the conversation moves faster, is full of variety and you will still have a great time.

Two-timing your significant other is totally different, obviously… we can continue ~that~ discussion inside MBAchic.

Make technology work for you

Here are some tools I’ve come across to help manage your time. I’m looking for more of these, so be sure to share in the comments!

Doodle – I use this to schedule almost anything with a group. Visit Doodle.com and prepare to be amazed by this fairly simple tool.
Google Calendar – this calendar comes with any Gmail address, and syncs to what you use: phones, tablets, the website… the calendars are automatically synchronized so there are no missing appointments or redundancies
Dropbox – free. online. storage. Share your stuff without having to zip and break things up over 42 email messages. This is a great tool for getting group projects done, working with student organizations and more.

Like I said, I definitely have not yet figured it all out (see the t-shirt below). But I hope I can help someone out and get some new tips from some of you – if you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve on keeping everything together, share the wealth!

* If you haven’t already, you need to read Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One professor of mine actually put this book on his syllabus – check it out.

Vintage MBAchic: Why is My Schedule a Hot Mess? Let’s talk part-time MBA time management

Photo from Viktor Forgacs