Time Management for College Students

So you have started college, and you are in your second week of classes, and you are finding that a twenty-four hour day is not long enough. You feel that you do not have the time to study, write papers, go to class, sleep, eat and socialize. So what do you do? You must learn time management skills. These are essential for you to be successful in college.

First you have to work out a plan. This is a schedule of your daily activities. It has to be realistic, because you have to get enough sleep. The plan includes your college classes, times you study, times you eat and sleep. As stated before, the plan must be realistic. For example, you can not plan to study to three in the morning and then just get three hours of sleep.

Be sure you make the schedule for what is the highest priority. For example, use the weekdays to schedule school-related activities and the weekends for socializing, relaxing and having fun. Also, include a certain time several days a week for exercise, because you need a healthy mind and body to be successful.

Always write down what you plan to do each week. Do not just think it through your mind and think that you will remember everything. Take note of any dues dates and write them down. The most effective thing to use when you are making a schedule is a planner. These are organized into weekly and daily pages. You can plan on the dates to make sure you get the assignments turned in on time. When you complete a goal, you can check it off as being finished. Only remember time management schedules are not perfect. Things can happen, such as a family emergency, which can disrupt you from your schedule. Leave enough time in your weekly schedule to cover from these interruptions.

Set a time for when you go to bed and when you wake up. This must be set at a regular time so you body gets used to going to sleep at a certain time. Make sure the sleep is uninterrupted. Also include times when you eat and exercise. Schedule your meal and snack times before your study times. This way you will not get the munchies when you are trying to prepare yourself for that exam.

On every Sunday set goals for the week of what you want to accomplish during the week. Divide them into Primary and Secondary goals. The Primary goals will relate to studying, class work, papers and other assignments. Secondary goals are things that go on in your college life such as laundry, exercising, parties and having fun.

Once you have listed all your primary and secondary goals, spread them out equally throughout the week. This might be something like doing laundry and studying for a test on Monday. Whatever you schedule for that week, make sure that follow through with your scheduled tasks. If your schedule seems to be overwhelming, break them down where you do an easy task first before doing a difficult one. When you do it this way, you do not do all the easy ones first and then save the harder ones for later on in the week. This prevents you from being overwhelmed when you have just the difficult ones to face.

The best way to manage you time is to combine two things together. For example, if you are washing clothes, you can study for a test.

At the end of each week, go over your weekly schedule and evaluate it. See if you had too much time on your hands after you met each goal or if you were overwhelmed by trying to meet all the objectives. If you find out that you did too little, revise your schedule and add some more objectives to your schedule. For example, you can schedule the extra time to go back over notes for a class. If you are overwhelmed, see how you can make your schedule more workable. For example, you may be taking too many classes. You may have to rework the schedule so you concentrate on a few goals over the weekend.

If you are the type of person who likes to go out on weekends, then use an reward system. If you meet all your primary goals that you set by Friday, treat yourself by going out on Friday and Saturday night. If you do not meet all the primary goals by Friday, then work on the on Saturday morning. Then go out that night.

As a college student, it is important that you learn time management skills. This not only will prepare you to be a successful college student, it will also carry over in your adult world. When you have graduated from college and are in the job of your dreams, time management skills are a must.

Reference:

Former college student.