Without a doubt, college is where you will learn every lesson vital to your existence. You’ll learn the works of the world, who you are meant to be, and how to succeed in a society that is waiting for you to fail. Some lessons are taught the easy way; some lessons are taught the hard way. Nevertheless, this element of college is inevitable. The one valuable lesson college has taught me is that time is not your friend because there will never be enough of it. One moment, you believe the extents of your deadlines are endless and that time is of no essence when it comes to the opportunities presented. The next moment, you’re panicking trying to figure out where the time has gone, and why you have nothing accomplished. The only way I survive the seemingly endless battle with time is to set alarms, alerts, and use resources that help ensure you never forget anything. Time management is crucial, but its significance becomes an even more important element in life as we get older. College is the convenient platform for this lesson. Here are four tips I use to help me better manage my time:
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Morning Alarm(s)
I believe to speak for everyone when I say one of the hardest parts about college is making sure you wake up for that 8 AM or 9 AM class. You seem to have no motivation to get up this early. The only thing that drives you to get up for these classes is the lingering question, “Is attendance necessary for me to pass?” Even for those who don’t have classes as early, they still have to make sure they wake up and get going at a reasonable time or else the day will consist of no productivity. That’s why these morning alarms are so important. As annoying as they are, without them, my days and nights would run together, and I wouldn’t get anything accomplished. The more the alarms, the better. If you’re not a morning person, you may have to set two or three different alarms, and that is okay. Just make sure you GET UP!
2. Reminders
Time flies by quicker than you think. The long days and the short nights can exhaust anyone and obliterate any sense of control you have over your time. In order to stop this from happening I have to set reminders. Set reminders for before each class, meetings, events, due dates, EVERYTHING! Time has a way of sneaking up on your when you least expect it. These deadlines seem insignificant for the time being, but setting reminders helps keep their significance apparent.
3. Use Your Calendar
Planning ahead is probably the only way to stay one step ahead of time, but the extensive deadlines are the ones that sneak up on you the most. That is why it’s so important to have a calendar or an agenda and to keep up with it. The minute you find out you have a project or a paper due next month, WRITE IT DOWN. It is a proven fact that the simple act of writing can assist with memory. Therefore, just writing down the due date may ensure that you do not forget it. In college, days run together. There are a multitude of priorities to keep up with in college, and a calendar makes things more manageable.
Let’s not ignore the fact that everyone is different. Some people may need more alarms than others while some may need less. It’s rare, but others may not need any alerts at all. The truth is, the problem we have in college is not our procrastination or forgetful memory. Our problem is time itself, and the fact that we think we have enough of it and that it’s on our side. As Peter Drucker once said,
“Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.”