Fall semester is in full swing, and in addition to the papers and assignments that seem to keep piling up, your other activities are requiring more of your time as well. So how can a busy collegiette™ like you find time for everything? By managing it, of course! Time management is a skill that everyone needs, but it is also a skill that takes planning and discipline. If you’re ready to learn how to manage your time well so that you have time for everything you love, read on!
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Plan for Every Day
“Treat each day like an 8-5 job,” said Melissa Medlin, the director of Career Planning and Development at the University of North Alabama. She says to make a schedule of your class time and work time, and use the breaks in between each for everything else. Taking advantage of breaks can really cut down on the time you spend at night studying and preparing for class. If you schedule that two-hour break between biology and English to go to the library and do research for an upcoming paper, you’ll have two hours of research done! Sure, it’s fine to occasionally take a break from school and hang out with friends mid-day, but remember that the time you spend during the day relaxing will be the time you spend studying that night.
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Use Your Free Time
“Don’t just leave time empty. Plan free time, too,” Medlin said. She says planning naps, hanging out with friends and other fun activities is important, too because you can see when you have to do work and when you can leave some time free for something fun. If you know there is going to be a great party Saturday night that you don’t want to miss, make sure you study throughout the week for that huge test on Monday.
Don’t Procrastinate
“You might work better under pressure… until that pressure pops,” said Medlin. She said that working well under pressure is common, especially in college, but that pressure can really wear you down. If you wait to do that 14-page paper until the last minute, not only will the quality of work be worse, but you will be way more stressed out about it than if you had worked on it since the time it was assigned. She also said waiting until the last minute leaves no room for “what if” situations. If you are planning on working on something the night before it’s due, but then an unforeseen emergency happens, you won’t be able to finish the work. Many professors will have sympathy for the situation, but they will also expect you to turn in the assignment, especially if you’ve known about the assignment for a while.
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Choose for Your Future
“Pick what will benefit you the most in the future,” is the advice Medlin gave on choosing what activities to continue staying involved in. If you’ve committed to several different organizations, but you find that you need to drop something or fail a class, Medlin said to choose to stay with the activities that will help you the most in your career.
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Meghan Frick, an Appalachian State University senior and HC contributing writer, said that she sometimes gets overwhelmed and has had to choose what activities would make the most difference in her life. She not only considered her future, but she considered how the activities benefited her right now, as well. “Make sure you’re making that decision carefully, and not getting rid of something you genuinely love and enjoy,” said Meghan. “Recently, I was really stressed and thought it would be a good idea to quit something I really enjoy, but immediately after doing so, I missed it. You definitely have to make tough choices to manage your time effectively but, when at all possible, don’t say goodbye to something that makes you happy.”
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Stick to Your Priorities
Medlin said that choosing to drop something you enjoy can be difficult, but it is very important to know what your priorities are and stick to them. Amanda, a senior English and Spanish major at the University of North Alabama, is involved with the student newspaper, the English club, the Baptist Campus Ministries and she is a language partner for international students. With all those activities, a full load of classes and a part-time job, she has to know how to manage her time. She was involved in a sorority, but she decided to give that up in order to have time for the activities that were more important to her and to prepare for graduate school. “It’s not that I disliked the sorority. I loved it, and I still miss it,” said Amanda. “But I know that the other activities I’m involved in will benefit me more in the future.”Â
Chantal Johnson, an HC Campus Correspondent at James Madison University, agreed that being involved in what you’re most passionate about is a great way to not get overwhelmed. “I found that it was better to build a leadership position in one organization that I really enjoyed, rather than just being a member in clubs that didn’t mean much to me,” Chantal said.
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Choosing what to spend your time doing is a major life skill that takes some people decades to figure out. Medlin said that one thing to keep in mind when trying to manage your time is that you tell your time where to go.You know what you need to spend time on, and making a schedule and sticking to it will ensure you have the time to do all the wonderful things you do.
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Sources:
Melissa Medlin, Director, Career Planning and Development, University of North Alabama
College women from across the country