Time Management in college is critical to your success. College is all about taking the reins of your life, managing your time, and learning to balance your responsibilities. Take a look at our strategies for eliminating clutter, maintaining a social life, and getting things done.
Why Time Management Is Important In College
Time Management makes all the difference in succeeding in college, graduating on schedule, enjoying this time in your life, or completely struggling and being stressed out, and maybe, like 50% of students who enter college, completely dropping out altogether. The foundation for forming good habits starts with clearly understanding your goals and developing an effective time management system.
The Grand Illusion
At first, you will seem to have more time available to you than you will know what to do with. Even if you take a considerable class load, have a part-time job, and sleep a lot, I guarantee that you will initially feel like you have more time than you imagined. This feeling is a grand illusion and is the underlining reason why most students find themselves overwhelmed, depressed, and having to pull the dreaded all-nighters that everybody fears.
You see, in college, it is not unusual for 40% to 50% of your grade to be earned in the last month of a semester. While you are cruising with little care at the start of the semester, that last month is looming, waiting to reap havoc on your GPA. This previous month’s effect is like a mountain that has accumulated snow over the winter months, a slight change in conditions can bring about an avalanche. What seemed like a manageable workload has now spun out of control; the avalanche is upon you.
Take It Step By Step
Proper Time Management is about breaking your assignments, tasks, and commitments into smaller chunks and then maximizing your time each day. You see, by working a daily plan, we never let those snowballs roll too far down the mountain; we keep them small and manageable. At any time, we can bend over, pick one up, and throw it wherever we want with little effort. When the unexpected happens, you get sick, a parent has a health issue, you must pull that extra shift at work, your buddy the squirrel has gone missing, you have kept life’s snowballs manageable and within control. You would be shocked to learn the number of times a student has come to me and said they couldn’t turn in a project they were supposed to be working on ALL semester because they had left their project to the very last week of the term and some life event happened. Even if that life event had not occurred, they would be lucky to pass the assignment, given their dug hole
Take A Breather
We all probably wish that there were more hours in a day, but since that is impossible, we must make the best use of the hours that we do have. By utilizing the information in this book, you will be well on your way to achieving better time management skills and becoming an all-around better college student. It doesn’t matter if you’re an 18-year-old freshman right out of high school, a senior almost ready to graduate, or a 35-year-old returning to classes for the first time in 15 years; these skills and ideas can apply to everyone. And, they will apply to your life after college as well! Learning effective time management skills makes life much easier and allows you more and more time for you to pursue the things that matter the most to you.
Lazy College Student
Often, it only takes small changes to get to the place you want to be. The Japanese notion of “Kaizen” best exemplifies the impact of small changes. Kaizen essentially means lots of small changes that build up to significant results.
For instance, if you want to graduate with a 3.7 or higher GPA, then it might be easier to look at small changes you can make to get there rather than massive ones.
• Go to class every day.
• Create note cards after each lecture.
• Make sure you get 7 hours of sleep every night.
• Commit to the use of your daily planner.
• Visit your professors during their office hours.
These are just a few small changes that should be easy enough for most students to stick to, and yet they can be enough to impact your GPA total in your favor – eventually leading to a cumulative GPA of 3.7 or better!
Keep Your Commandments
Consider, for instance, the goal of obtaining your college degree. This goal can be broken down into four sub-goals. Each sub-goal is the successful completion of one year of your program. These sub-goals can be further broken down into individual courses within each year. The courses can be broken down into tests, exams, term papers, etc., within the passage of the 16 weeks of classes in each semester. Each week is broken down into individual days and hours and minutes you’ll spend in your classes and doing homework for each day.
The Smaller, The Better
While it may seem a bit overwhelming to think about all the activities that will go into earning that college degree, thinking of your goals in smaller chunks helps to reinforce the idea that there is a connected path linking what actions you take today and the successful completion and earning of your degree. Seeing these connections can help you monitor your progress and detect whether you are on track or not. Take some time now to think through the goals you’ve set and to break them down into smaller constituent parts.
Time management requires self-management
It takes time, but after a short period of self-management, time management becomes an everyday habit.
• Pay attention to how you spend your time.
• Do not procrastinate on chores to be done.
• Do not leave assignments and projects until the last minute.
• Schedule enough time in the day for doing things you enjoy and for eating and sleeping. Lack of sleep is an epidemic problem on most college campuses.
• Use your time wisely. If you take the bus or shuttle, plan to catch up on your reading while traveling.
One of the best time management strategies is staying one day ahead. I’m sure some collective groans meet this statement, but I promise that staying exactly one day ahead of your classes will make your life much easier, especially when that bug that is circulating campus knocks the wind out of your sails.
Set Aside “Me” Time
Most students struggle with structure, and that is natural. By creating a schedule, you are not somehow magically sucking all the fun out of your life. In fact, you are reducing your stress and improving your performance which will allow you to enjoy yourself a whole lot more. You will miss study sessions and other events on your calendar… that’s ok. It is very valuable to know you missed an event and not go around fooling yourself into thinking you are on track. If you miss something, ask if you can make it up. You would be surprised how many students just assume the professor will not cut them a break. Make sure you identify what caused you to veer off course, make adjustments, and learn from the experience.
What to learn more about Time Management Secrets For College Students? Pick up this bestselling book which was ranked #14 on the list of best college books of all time!
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