If you take away anything from college, it should probably be something involving your time management skills. It’s the one thing that will never go away, you will always have to manage your time. As you might be able to tell, this week I’m talking about the keys to time management.
Time management put simply is being able to do everything you need to in an allotted amount of time. The full definition from Oxford dictionary is, “the ability to use one's time effectively or productively, especially at work.”
There are many aspects of time management and some of the best ways to go about it are, planning, setting daily goals and objectives, prioritizing tasks, being organized, etc.
As it pertains to the life of college students, time management should be your best friend, stick by you through thick and thin. And what I mean by that is, take it seriously because you will never get this time in college back, so don’t waste it!
With that being said, as a way to introduce the things that I do to stay on track and succeed in college, I’ll talk about the different organizations, groups, jobs, and activities that I do on a weekly basis.
Right now, I am a part of three different organizations that I have meetings for weekly, plus I have an on-campus job working with the marketing associate for my school’s dining hall.
So, while having to balance weekly organization meetings, working almost every day, doing well in my classes, working out, plus having a social life; I definitely have my work cut out for me. And even though it's a lot of work, time consuming, and an adjustment, it has all helped me learn the best ways to utilize and time management in the long run, so I can't really complain.
And without further ado, here are some of MY keys to time management!
1. Keep and Use a Planner
My biggest lifesaver in college has been keeping a planner and color coding it for each of my classes, meeting time reminders, outside of class meetings, my work schedule, and just random task reminders.
Since I am involved in quite a few things, and have different meetings on separate days, and just things I need to be at, it can get hard to keep track of them all if they’re not in the forefront of my mind. But by keeping a planner and color coding each activity, it keeps them separate from each other and is honestly just more fun to look at, as childish as that may sound.
Along with that, by keeping and using a planner everyday it will motivate you to write things down, which is one of the best ways to remember things and will help you be able to plan out your day before it even starts.
2. Planning Out your Day the Night Before
Planning out what you’re going to do the night before will give you peace of mind that you will be able to get tasks done throughout the day. If you start to do this, it most likely will alleviate some of the unknown stressors that happen throughout the day.
Every night when I’m getting ready for bed, I take a few minutes to remind myself and mentally go through of all the things I either have to go to, or have to just do in general, and the times I have to do them. By doing this it brings everything to the front of my memory, and I can plan out what I have time to do.
The biggest thing that I have to plan for is the time I am able to go to the gym because it has a lot of moving parts to it. Like do I have enough time to spend an hour there, will I have time to change or shower in between time commitments, or is it going to be too busy at this time. Those are the types of things that I have to think about daily in order for me to efficiently get things done.
3. Setting Daily Goals to Achieve
By setting daily goals for yourself it’s another way to keep you on track, and it will make life a little more fun. Like doesn’t everyone enjoy being able to cross something off a list? Or is that just me?
Anyway, by setting daily goals to achieve, it helps you section things off in your head in order to keep everything you need to do in order, which will make you less likely to forget it, and it will keep life from getting a bit too overwhelming.
Along with that, it will also subconsciously make you feel more productive throughout the day, which is something that I feel like everyone strives for one way or another. Being productive every day is the one thing in today’s society that has been sought after and romanticized to the point of almost making it unattainable. But we can change that!
4. Prioritize Your Life
Prioritizing anything from most important to least important will fix a lot of problems. By doing this it will make sure the essential tasks will always get done, while also keeping your stress levels down.
This tactic works in every aspect of life, not just while taking college classes and having assignments due every week. By prioritizing things more, it’s been the best way I’ve been able to stay sane throughout college and just life in general, while also still having time for myself.
And like I said, finishing and categorizing tasks into most important to least important will save you a lot of time and effort for doing one thing, and then getting distracted by the smaller thing’s life may throw at you.
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Well... that’s all I have for you this week, but be sure to follow my social media accounts, on Instagram and Twitter, to see more content from me on the topic of time management throughout the rest of the week!
Thank you for reading and tune in to my next blog post to read about my beginners guide to making the gym less intimidating, where I talk about the different ways to make the gym more approachable and less scary for everyone, but especially beginners.
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