I finished reading Sukhomlinsky’s work ‘Advice to Parents’ today. There are thirty letters written to his son in the book, among which the twenty eighth is about the theme of “how to make reasonable use of time”.
Sukhomlinsky’s 15 suggestions are very scientific and practical, and are shared here to benefit more people.
Dear son, hello. You wrote to me saying that you don’t know how to use your time economically and reasonably (the word ‘reasonable’ is used very appropriately), and asked me to give you some advice.
You complain, ‘Work comes one after another, and in the blink of an eye, a day passes without completing the work that should have been done.
‘ You also complain that ‘a pile’ of books to read are pressing on your head, but you don’t have time to finish them all.
Based on my own experience, I would like to offer you the following suggestions. The first and most important thing is to learn how to listen to lectures, which I wrote to you last year.
College students who cannot listen to lectures will hold their laptops for several days before tests or exams, and even sleep for only two or three hours a day, concentrating their daily tasks on these few days.
According to my statistics, there are at least fifty days in a year during “extraordinary periods” that require “overall mobilization”, accounting for almost a quarter of all working time.
Not enough time, mainly at this time. We must prevent the practice of sudden review. You must learn to listen to lectures while thinking, and at the same time organize the content taught by the teacher into an outline.
Notes should be organized in a timely manner. I suggest you divide your notebook into two columns. One column records the content taught in class, and the other column records the outline compiled from the class notes.
They are the framework of the entire course, and the questions you think need to be considered are also recorded in this column.
Every day, it is necessary to read relevant materials in conjunction with notes. If we can persist in doing this for every course, there is no need to rush before the exam.
The notes for each course are a unique outline, based on which you can recall all the content of the course.
If you want to have ample time, you should persist in reading on weekdays. Read several pages of scientific literature related to the course you are studying carefully every day.
In addition, read no less than 10-15 pages of books on other subjects, including popular science materials, every day; You don’t need to delve deep, but you still need to read with your heart.
All the knowledge you acquire through reading is essential background material for your professional studies.
The richer the knowledge background, the easier the professional learning. The more time you spend reading every day, the more time you save for yourself.
Because there are thousands of touchpoints between the knowledge you read and the content you learn in class.
I call these touchpoints the anchors of memory, they firmly fix the knowledge you must remember in your mind.
Force yourself to read every day, don’t push the books you should read today to tomorrow. You should know that what slipped out of your hands today cannot be retrieved tomorrow.
3. Work should start from early morning at six o’clock. Get up at 5:30, finish your exercises, have a glass of milk (don’t develop the habit of drinking tea, it’s still possible to do it when you’re an adult), and then start working.
If you are used to starting work at 6 o’clock, you can also start 15 to 20 minutes earlier, which will give a good start to the day’s work.
We need to make use of the one and a half hours before morning classes, which is a prime time. For thirty years, I have been working from 5am until 8am.
My thirty books on education and over three hundred other academic works were all completed during this early morning period.
I have developed this work habit, even if I want to sleep in the morning, because at this time my body and mind are only suitable for mental labor.
I suggest that you spend an hour and a half in the early morning completing the most complex and creative intellectual labor: thinking about important theoretical issues, reading more difficult academic literature, and making abstracts.
If you have research work, it should only be scheduled in the early morning. In this way, you won’t work until late at night every day.
The time to go to bed at night should be arranged before 10:30, so that you have enough sleep to eliminate the fatigue of the day.
4. It is necessary to distinguish between primary and secondary. This is particularly important, as the success of one’s career largely depends on it.
Prioritize the main tasks and do not let minor matters occupy your time. Important things need to be done every day.
Identify some of the most important academic issues in your field, and your understanding of these issues will determine whether you can become an engineer.
Researching these issues should be your most important task every morning. These academic issues are interrelated and involve many disciplines.
It is necessary to learn to collect the main works and papers related to them, and to arrange a whole block of time to read these literature.
5. Be good at creating internal motivation for yourself to work. There are also many tasks in mental labor that you are not interested in, and ‘must’ is the only motivation for your work.
A day’s work should start with the thing you least want to do. Focus your energy on thinking about problems, as deepening your thoughts and theories will gradually make this work something that interests you.
In general, the most interesting job should be put last. Books and newspapers are as abundant as the ocean, and in college, reading must go through strict selection.
People with a strong thirst for knowledge always hope to finish reading all the books, but this is extremely unrealistic.
Learn to limit your reading range, as exceeding this range may hinder the achievement of your primary goals.
Of course, you may encounter new books that you must read at any time. At this point, in order not to affect the original plan, you must use the time you have reserved.
As I mentioned to you in my letter, these hours have been gradually accumulated by improving your daily work efficiency (such as being good at listening, taking notes, and reading every day).
7. Learn to say ‘no’ to yourself. There are various activities around you: science groups, art groups, sports teams, dances, and many clubs, all of which require time to participate.
They are all very tempting, without choice, they will bring harm to you. Entertainment and rest are necessary, but we cannot forget the main things.
You are a worker, and the country has spent a lot of money on you. Your primary concern is not dancing and resting, but working.
I suggest you consider playing chess and reading literary books as a way to rest. Playing games must be conducted in an absolutely quiet environment, requiring concentration.
It is a way to relax the nerves and stimulate thinking
A great way to maintain organization. 8. Don’t waste time on meaningless small talk.
There is often a situation where a few people gather together and start chatting. An hour or two passed and nothing was accomplished.
Endless idle chatter will not generate any new ideas, while time is gone forever. Be good at talking to your comrades and make it a source of enriching your spiritual life.
9. Develop the habit of taking categorized notes. Categorized and systematic notes can save a lot of time for future work.
I now have nearly 40 notebooks, each of which is only used to record my thoughts on one aspect of education (especially those vivid yet fleeting ideas that arise from inspiration and are “accustomed” to only appearing once in my mind), as well as the most insightful viewpoints and explanatory materials I have found about this issue during reading.
They greatly enriched my wisdom and prepared me well in terms of viewpoints and materials for my future research.
I know you also have a notebook, but there is no classification or system. 10. For every job, one must find the most suitable intellectual labor method.
Try to avoid following the old path as much as possible and be willing to spend time thinking. The deeper you think, the more reliable your memory becomes.
Don’t force yourself to remember before understanding, it’s a waste of time. Learn to browse the knowledge you already understand, while avoiding making hasty decisions about things you don’t understand.
A superficial understanding will force you to return to your original place and relearn time and time again.
11. With several people living in one room, it is impossible to engage in efficient mental labor without strict rules and regulations.
There should be an agreement: absolutely prohibit speaking or doing anything that obstructs others within the specified time.
During the time of concentrated intellectual labor, everyone must work completely independently. Try to make the most of the reading room and work there.
12. Mental labor requires alternating between mathematically precise abstract thinking and artistic visual thinking.
When reading scientific literature, it is best to read some light hearted literary and artistic works.
13. Some bad habits must be resolutely changed, such as sitting blankly for about ten minutes before starting work; Read books and newspapers that are not related to the current job; If you don’t wake up immediately after waking up, you have to wait for a few more minutes.
“Tomorrow” is the most dangerous enemy of diligence, and never postpone the work that should be completed today until tomorrow.
On the contrary, it is important to develop the habit of completing a portion of tomorrow’s work earlier than today, as this will have a very positive impact on the entire day’s work tomorrow.
Never stop mental labor at any time, not even for a day. Summer is a good season for vacation, but don’t put down your books either.
Enriching oneself with new knowledge every day means accumulating some time for future intellectual labor.
These are the fifteen suggestions I have put forward for you to make reasonable use of your time. I think every college student should persist in doing so.
Wishing you good health, vitality, and a positive mood. Your father.
Please indicate: Thinking In Educating » How to guide children to make reasonable use of time, please refer to Sukhomlinski’s 15 suggestions