Sport Science: Making Time by Keeping Busy

The rowing season at Canadian universities takes place in the fall during the first semester of the school year. As the head coach of the rowing program at the University of Western Ontario, I received an overview of the academic performance of the rowing students after the second semester.

One fact always surprised me: Grades were consistently better during the rowing season! In other words, better grades were achieved when the students were busiest. Besides classes, lectures, and coursework, my rowers had to cope with daily training sessions and weekend regattas.

One would think it would be more difficult for students to meet all their commitments than during the offseason, when training sessions are less frequent and they have more latitude for their activities.

My hunch is that during busy times students benefit from the chronological structure of training sessions and regattas. When you have a lot to do, there’s not much time to procrastinate. Students realize that they need to take care of coursework, meal prep, and recreation and get them done. Completing schoolwork and making athletic progress simultaneously are motivating, which further reinforces the habit. Paradoxically, it’s during such hectic times that athletes manage their time best.

Time management involves organizing and planning the time available to complete various activities. If you do it right and work smarter instead of harder, you can get things done in less time, even when you’re short on time and under pressure.

Most coaches talk about time management at the beginning of the school year, and more experienced team members help new rowers get on the right track. Time management is important for everyone, however; it’s always helpful to know what you need to accomplish in the time allotted so you can make plans accordingly.

It’s best to put things on paper. Write down the tasks that need to be done in a day, prioritize them, and estimate the time each will take to complete. Then decide what time of day you want to begin each task. Fixed times that can’t be changed will help you structure your day.

The first thing you’ll find is that there are usually enough hours in a day to do what you want to do, as long as you put in the right effort for each task. On those rare occasions when there aren’t enough hours in a day, you can break a task into smaller chunks that you can complete the next day.

Major detriments to good time management are things that eat up your time but don’t help you get the necessary tasks done. Not only do they take valuable time away from the task at hand but also getting back on task consumes more time. Among such time-eating distractions are social media, video games, email, phone calls, and frequent breaks to snack. The best way to deal with such time robbers is to ignore them when you’re supposed to be concentrating. Turn off your smartphone and put it in another room. Eat and drink before you begin the task.

The time-multiplying power of switching off distractions is clear when we are out on the water training. The smartphones stay on land, and the fridge is far away. This allows us to focus on rowing.

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