Regardless of your source of employment and whether you are studying full-time or part-time and working or juggling family obligations, time management is one of the keys to successfully completing graduate school. There are many books and resources available on time management. The PPC module Management Skills also includes some suggestions. Here are some strategies for dealing with the specific needs of graduate study:

	Set aside specific blocks of time for writing and research just as you would for any job. Be firm about not accepting other commitments that would infringe upon this time.
	Do a detailed time management schedule for the week accounting for all 168 hours. This will help you stick to your times of reading, writing, and research and also allow you social time. A great resource on how to do this can be found in the "Guaranteed 4.0" learning system developed by Dionna O. Johnson. Further information can be found at www.guaranteed4.com.
	If you are a teaching assistant, practice careful time management in order to keep up with your own courses and research while meeting the responsibilities of the classes you teach.
	Once you begin writing your dissertation or thesis, you may find it requires even more self-discipline to block out the necessary time periods to write. Try to avoid distractions.
	Work with your advisor to set firm deadlines for completing pieces of the larger project (e.g., completion of data collection, writing the first paper). Stick to your deadlines.
	Avoid the temptation to continue additional research that isn't necessary for completing your degree. This takes some diplomacy, since some advisors may encourage you to continue gathering data or working on the lab's project even after you've gathered enough information for your thesis or dissertation. Knowing when to say no will help you finish in a timely manner.
	While working on the thesis topic or paper, keep an ongoing dialogue with your advisor and your thesis committee. In this way you can be sure that the entire committee is in agreement with what you are doing. There should be no surprises at the defense of your thesis. All of the problems should be worked out to the satisfaction of the committee before the defense takes place.

Finally, have the next important step lined up before you finish graduate school. You'll find it's easier to finish school in a timely manner when you know you are about to embark on the next exciting stage of your career but harder to use time wisely when there appears to be no final deadline. However, don't start your new position until you are finished with graduate school. Many students who do this, often with the best of intentions, never find time to complete their degree once they have catapulted into the working world.