Time Management Tips for the Girl Boss In You

This one is for the girl boss wildcats. 

As a freshman on campus, you might be wondering why you should take advice from me, of all people. Well, I am currently active in over 10 clubs, intramural sports, three jobs and trying to keep up a social life with my friends and family. 

In high school I had a solid group of friends who loved going out and having a fun time. I, for one, wanted to get into a good school. Being a part of both made time management a crucial part in my academic and social successes. 

Every night before I go to bed, I make a list of all of the classes, events, and meetings I have to go to the next day. I then make a separate list of all of the tasks I want to complete the following day such as homework, COVID tests, or pretty much anything from brushing my teeth, to finishing a lab report. I then go through my first list and allot time to complete the tasks in between each event I have to go to. It ends up looking a little bit like this…

8:45 Wake Up

8:50 Brush Teeth, Go Pee

9:00 Makeup

9:15 Hair

9:30 Get Dressed, Perfume/Deodorant

9:35 Pack Bag

• Fill Water Bottle

9:40 Leave

9:45 Get Breakfast @ Philly

10:00 Leave

10:10-12:30 Biology Lab

12:45 Dorm

12:50 Biology Work

• Write Lab Report 1

2:00 Psychology Work

• Learning Curve 10a
• Learning Curve 10b
• Learning 10c

3:00 Health Science Work

• Discussion 5
• Write Outline for Career Exploration Paper

4:00 Gender, Power, and Privilege Work

• Write Privilege Paper Rough Draft
• Read Textbook and Complete 3 Index Cards

… and it goes on, day, after day. If you don’t complete the tasks you wanted to do in a day, that’s okay, everyone gets tired sometimes. Just add the things you didn’t get done to your task list for tomorrow! But, this is how I stay on task and make sure I get everything I want to done before the end of the day. After I complete a task or go to a class, event or meeting, I delete it from my notes and it gives me a sense of accomplishment and motivation to move on to the next thing I have to do that day. 

To make sure I do everything I need to on time, at the beginning of the semester I go through my syllabus from all of my classes and take the due dates and assignments and load them all onto a spreadsheet that I can refer to all semester long. I do this to make sure I am not missing anything and ensure I turn everything in on time. It can seem overwhelming, but the key to success is organization and motivation. What keeps me motivated is having an hour or two to watch Netflix or go on TikTok at the end of the day to unwind and get to sleep. I treat it like a reward for getting all of my girl boss sh*t done during the day. Keep working hard, wild kitties!