“College is way different than high school,” is something most of us have heard countless times from our high school teachers – and I hate to be the one to say it – but they’re right. It’s different from high school in quite a few ways, but the one difference that’s come as a bit of a shock to me so far is how much free time you have.
At first, that doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all. But with all this time on your hands, it can be hard to even know what to do with it. If you’re a frequent procrastinator or someone who’s easily distracted, having maybe 3 hours of class a day can make for a quick spiral into unproductively.
To combat this very real issue that can make or break your GPA, you should invest some time into instilling a sense of self-discipline in yourself.
For me, self-discipline and time management means keeping myself on an hourly schedule and regularly updating a planner. Most college students keep a planner, so I’m sure that’s nothing new. But the whole “hourly schedule” thing might sound a little intense. I promise it’s not.
Here’s what my hourly schedule looks like:
As you can see, it’s very colorful! I’ve color-coded everything I do in my daily life and scheduled it to an hour accordingly. However, I DO NOT stick to this schedule on the dot every day. I almost never get up at 6am. What this hourly schedule does for me is give me a very general idea of what I should be doing at the moment. Having a certain time when you do certain things builds the foundation for good habits, and that’s the great thing about managing your time well – whether it’s through a method like this or a way that’s all your own. Once you start building productive habits, you’re able to be productive not only in your academic life, but in your personal life as well. That’s going to make you a much happier person in the end, and when you feel good it’s much easier to tackle the big stuff in college.
Now get out there and manage your time! If you said you’d do your homework at 8 and it’s 8:02 and you’ve already put it off till 9… I’m talking to you here.