| Course | MT106 Foundations for Success in Business and Management Careers |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Time management plan |
| Length | About 910 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT106 Unit 4
Fourteen Open Hours a Week: A Unit 4 Time Management Plan Around Ten-Hour Night Shifts
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT106: Foundations for Success in Business and Management Careers
Unit 4 Time Management Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The writer, his schedule, his family and every logged hour are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
The Problem
I work four ten-hour shifts on the receiving dock, from 2:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Monday through Thursday. My partner works days, and we have two children in elementary school. I assumed I had about twenty hours a week for school. The log below shows I was wrong.
The Time Log
I recorded one week, Sunday through Saturday, in one-hour blocks. A week has 168 hours. Work took 42 hours, including two hours of unplanned overtime on Wednesday. My commute took 6 hours. Sleep took 52 hours, more than I expected, because after a shift ending at 1:00 a.m. I sleep until 9:00. Family time, meals and school pickups took 31 hours. Household tasks and errands took 12 hours. That leaves 25 hours, but 11 of them disappeared into scrolling my phone after shifts, television and naps on Friday. My real open time was about 14 hours.
The two largest leaks are the hour after each shift, when I am awake but too tired to study, and Friday afternoon, when the kids are home and I nap. Aeon et al. (2021), pooling studies of time management, report that it is moderately related to job performance and more strongly related to well-being, which suggests the gain from a plan may show up first in stress rather than in grades.
Priorities
I sorted my current commitments into the four quadrants of urgency and importance described by Covey (1989). Shifts, school deadlines and the children's needs are urgent and important. Coursework and the career tasks from my Unit 3 goals are important but not urgent, which is exactly why they slip. Phone time after shifts and most errands are neither. One commitment shrinks: I coach my son's Saturday soccer team, and I will move from head coach to assistant for the spring season, which frees about three hours a week of planning and messages.
Phone time after shifts is the other change. I will leave my phone charging in the kitchen when I get home, so the hour after a shift goes to winding down instead of scrolling, and I will go to bed earlier. That should not add study time directly, but it should make the morning blocks below possible, since I will wake up rested enough to use them. The errands category stays, but I will batch errands into one Saturday trip instead of several short ones during the week.
The Schedule
I placed study blocks where energy and quiet actually exist. Late nights after a shift are out, because the log showed I get nothing done then. Instead, I will study from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, after the children leave for school and before my shift, which gives eight hours. Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. adds three hours of focused work for longer assignments. Sunday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. adds two hours for discussion replies and planning the week. That totals thirteen hours, one under my measured capacity, leaving a small margin.
The mornings work for a reason the log made clear. Between 9:30 and 11:30 the house is empty, I have slept, and nothing at work can reach me yet. On the days I tried studying after a shift during the logged week, I read the same page three times and remembered none of it.
Discussion deadlines fit the pattern. Initial posts go on Monday or Tuesday morning, early in each unit, and replies go on Sunday evening. Career tasks from my goals get their own blocks: my two informational interviews will be scheduled on Friday mornings in Weeks 5 and 7, when the people I want to talk to are at work and I am not.
The plan finds most of its study time in the mornings I used to treat as recovery, not in the late nights I had planned to use.
Mapping the Term
I entered every unit deadline into my phone calendar through Week 10, with a reminder two days before each. Major assignments, such as the career research summary and the career development plan, get a draft date three days before the due date.
Contingency Rules
The dock schedule changes without warning. Three rules cover disruption. First, if a shift runs late, I skip the next morning's block and move it to Friday. Second, from mid-November through January, overtime is mandatory and Fridays become work days, so during those weeks I will drop to the minimum: posts, replies and graded assignments only, with career tasks paused. Third, if I miss two blocks in one week, I will tell my instructor early rather than late. Macan (1994) found that time management behaviors such as setting goals and planning worked mainly by increasing people's sense of control over their time, and these rules are meant to keep that sense of control when the schedule breaks.
Checking the Plan
At the end of Week 3, I will log another full week and compare it with this one. If my study hours fall below ten, I will move the Sunday block to Saturday morning, when the house is quieter.
References
Aeon, B., Faber, A., & Panaccio, A. (2021). Does time management work? A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 16(1), e0245066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245066
Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people. Free Press.
Macan, T. H. (1994). Time management: Test of a process model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(3), 381-391. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.79.3.381
What the MT106 Unit 4 assignment asks for
The fourth unit asks you to audit how you spend your time and build a plan for the term. Log at least one full week in hour blocks before planning anything, since most people overestimate their free time. Total each category and name the largest leaks. Sort your commitments by urgency and importance, and identify at least one thing to drop or shrink. Then build a schedule that places study where energy and quiet actually exist, not where the clock seems free. Map course deadlines and the career tasks from your goal statement onto it through the final unit. Add contingency rules for the disruptions you know will come, such as overtime, illness or family needs. Many sections also ask how you will check the plan partway through the term. Three pages plus a schedule is common.
How the MT 106 Unit 4 example is put together
The sample's log totals work at 42 hours, commute at 6, sleep at 52, family at 31 and errands at 12, leaving 25 hours, 11 of which vanished into phones, television and naps. Aeon, Faber and Panaccio's meta-analysis suggests the first gain from a plan may be lower stress. The priority section uses Covey's quadrants, moves the writer from head coach to assistant of a youth soccer team, and keeps the phone in the kitchen after shifts. The schedule places eight hours on weekday mornings, three on Friday and two on Sunday, with initial posts early and replies on Sunday, and gives the informational interviews Friday blocks in Weeks 5 and 7. Contingency rules cover late shifts, peak-season overtime and missed blocks, with Macan on perceived control. A second logged week in Week 3 checks the plan.
MT106 Unit 4 rubric: what earns full points
The rubric for this plan rewards an honest audit and a schedule that visibly answers it. A logged week with totals earns more than estimates, and naming specific leaks shows the writer used the log. The priority section should lead to a real change, something dropped or reduced. Instructors look for study blocks placed with reasons, such as energy or quiet, rather than wherever time appears free. Mapping deadlines and career tasks through the term shows the plan connects to the course. Contingency rules for known disruptions often distinguish strong plans, since a schedule with no slack breaks in the first busy week. Aeon and colleagues, Covey and Macan are the plan's three sources, each listed in APA 7. Scheduling a second log partway through the term proves the writer intends to revise the plan.
Common MT106 Unit 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Many time plans skip the log and build an ideal schedule from memory, which usually assumes hours that do not exist. Others log a week but never use the totals. A common gap is the priority section, which sorts commitments into quadrants and then changes nothing. Schedules often place study late at night after work, when the writer is too tired to use it. Writers also forget the career tasks from their goal statement, or leave out contingency rules for overtime and family needs they know are coming. If your schedule changes every week, plan rules and minimums rather than fixed blocks. Keep family details general. Send us a week of your own time log, and we can help you find the real open hours and place your study blocks in them.
Get an MT106 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Your section's prompt and rubric, plus a rough outline of your shifts and fixed commitments, are what the example needs. From those, a custom time management plan fitted to your real hours comes back in 24-48h, and the first is on us. A rotating schedule is fine; describe the pattern. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More MT106 papers and BS in Business Administration samples
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- MT106 Unit 7: Academic Integrity Exercise
- MT106 Unit 8: Networking Plan
- MT106 Unit 9: Seminar Reflection
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MT106 Unit 4 questions, answered
Do I have to log my time for a full seven days?
Most sections ask for it, and a shorter log tends to miss the days that break a schedule, such as a double shift or a family obligation. If your prompt allows fewer days, choose ones that represent your real range. Record honestly, including unproductive time, because the plan is only as good as the audit behind it.
What if my work schedule changes every few days?
Then build the plan around rules rather than fixed times. Identify blocks that stay stable, perhaps early mornings or one reliable day off, and anchor study there. Set a backup slot for each block and a routine for updating the grid when a new schedule posts. Instructors generally credit plans that handle unpredictability over ones that ignore it.
Should the plan include time for family and rest?
Yes. A schedule filling every free hour with study will fail, and a rubric asking for realism will notice. Protect sleep, meals and family time explicitly on the grid. Showing where rest sits makes your study commitments more believable, and it demonstrates judgment about workload that later courses will simply assume.
Where can I find a free MT106 Unit 4 sample paper?
This page holds the complete MT106 Unit 4 time management plan for a night-shift receiving lead, with a time log, priorities, a schedule, contingency rules, three APA 7 references and margin notes.
Why does the plan move study to the mornings?
The log showed that study after a 1:00 a.m. shift produced nothing. Weekday mornings, after sleep and before work, are the quietest and most alert hours the writer has.