Time management is something every student dreams of mastering. Well, dream no more. Here are the top ten time management tips for college students.
Schedule
Though, you need to know yourself well enough to come up with a good schedule. First of all, you need to know when your best working hours are. Your working hours are the time periods when you feel most productive and energetic. For instance, some people feel their best in the morning, when others take some time to wake and come to their senses. You want to build a schedule that fits your personal hours and preferences. A good start here can be coming up with morning and night routines.
“Time is not the main Thing, It is the only thing”
Miles Davis
Write it down
Whatever plans you have for the day, write them down, even if those tasks are rather mundane, like doing the laundry or getting groceries. First, make a habit of writing down your plans for the day. This way, you will have a better time making plans for big projects along the way. Also, writing down your tasks for the day help you reduce anxiety and stress. Often, we feel all worked up when we carry too many mental reminders in our heads. Having all of those reminders on paper will help you stay calmer and focused on the tasks in front of you.
Be realistic
Way too often, our time management is off as we don’t set realistic goals. Instead, we push ourselves too hard, thinking we can squeeze three days’ worth of work into one. Setting unrealistic goals can lead to grave consequences.
First, we often end up being disappointed with ourselves since we believe we can’t finish the work on time. You lose faith in yourself and stop trying hard enough. Second, we are often left with no other choice but to either read advanced writers reviews to find professional help or pull an all-nighter. None of this option is desirable if you remember that you planned to make the work yourself and on time.
“Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life.”
Alan Lakein
So, whenever you need to plan out some work, be realistic. Think about how much time each task can take you and how much spare time you can dedicate to it.
How To Be Realistic in Time Management:
- Figure How Long It Really Takes
- Don’t Let Others Get You Off Track
- Don’t Over-Schedule Yourself
Figure How Long It Really Takes
you must separate a large task into smaller ones to estimate its duration. To begin with, try for yourself with a day-to-day task and measure the time using any clock. do not panic, or feel stressed. Just carry on with your recursive task and see how long it takes you to complete it.
Then, you can break down your daily schedule based on the length of each task. By breaking a larger task down into smaller ones, you can estimate the time for a bigger project.
Don’t Let Others Get You Off Track
Make Sure You Don’t Get Off Track Being on schedule requires reminding others that you are on time. For that, you have to synchronize with your calendar if you have an hour appointment with someone. You need to inform them that you only have an hour to complete the business. Thus, they will be able to know that you are on time and will devote their attention to important tasks. except wasting your time.
Don’t Over-Schedule Yourself
do not schedule yourself, take some time to relax. make sure that you can make changes to your schedule if necessary. Occasionally, there might be unexpected delays. Don’t forget to schedule in routine things like driving time, lunch, traffic jams, etc. Most important : don’t forget to give yourself small breaks that will help you clear your head. An open mind cannot fail to make good decisions.
If you want power, control the narrative in other people’s head. If you seek happiness, control the narrative in your own head.
Johnny Uzan
Leave spare room
You never know when the emergency can hit you. That is why they are emergencies. However, you can be ready for them by leaving some room in your schedule. It’s best if you don’t plan out every minute of your day. You want to be flexible just in case. You don’t want to go into panic mode just because you forgot about homework for the day or when something unexpected comes up. Of course, you can always read academized reviews and seek some help during homework emergencies. Or you can just have room to fix it.
Break down your tasks
Whenever we have a large project coming up, we feel intimidated by its scale and importance. When you are looking at your final goal, your path to it seems unbelievably long. You start to doubt whether you can even get there at all. However, if you break down this project into its components, it doesn’t look that scary and unapproachable anymore.
So, the next time you have a big project to work on, start by breaking it down into smaller tasks. For instance, let’s say you have a long and important paper to write and you don’t even know how to start. See what you need to do for this assignment and start small. You need to pick a topic, set a theme, define a thesis statement, research the topic, and so on. Once you have all those tasks written down, they start to look like a solid plan. Next, set the deadlines for each of those tasks and start moving on.
With an approach like this, you see the progress you make along the way, which helps you to feel more confident. Now you know that you can do it. All you need to do is to follow your plan and move step after step.
Prioritizing
Learn to see what carries the main priority for you at the given time. You may feel like you need to do like a dozen things in one day when, in fact, you can do just two or three tasks and still have a productive day. Prioritizing helps you define which tasks are urgent, important, and which can wait till you are less busy with your prior plans.
Limit the distractions
The day may pass, and you don’t even notice it. Does it sound familiar? We’ve all been there. You sit to read just one writersperhour review and end up spending hours on the Internet. However, if you want your time-management plans to work, you need to limit the distractions. For example, you can block all unnecessary apps on your phone on days you are too busy. Study in a library if you know that you won’t reach the needed level of concentration at home or dorm.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
Succeeding with your time-management skills is great, but taking care of yourself is better. You may feel compelled to fill in every slot in your schedule, though we suggest not to do it. You won’t win much by overworking. Actually, with such an approach, you will most likely face burnout sooner than later. Instead, use some free time in your schedule to reward yourself for good work. Always plan out some activities that you enjoy doing as a prize for the work well done.
Be flexible
Remember, every day, you wake up and feel different than the day before. One day you are full of energy, the next day, you are unfocused and tired. You can’t expect to perform at the same high level every day. However, you can do the maximum of your abilities every day. You can do the bare minimum of your plans for the day, especially if you have mastered prioritizing. Thus, even on your least productive days, you will know that you did the most important tasks, and your time management won’t suffer much.
Stick to it
You can plan your days and build priorities as long as you want. If you don’t stick to your plans, nothing works. So, last but not least, you need to promise yourself that you will comply with the tasks and deadlines you set. Time management is also about responsibility. You have to support your intentions with your actions.
