How to Improve Time Management in College

As responsibility starts to pile up with a combination of schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and out-of-school commitments, building habits to take care of this work effectively without stress is crucial. When dealing with many commitments, finding an effective way to cope up with these added responsibilities ensures that you are able to remain a leader in your community without facing burnout. In preparation for the time-intensive years of junior and senior year, time management is a skill that should be improved.

💡 Strategies

While everyone has a different method of getting their life together, any time management strategy should set out time for different activities, prioritizing the importance of different activities, and enough time to relax from this work

Weekly Agenda

• Track what activities and work you need to complete for each day of the week in a planning session at the start of the week.
• Advantages: Requires less time for planning, flexible daily time, gratification for completing tasks

Daily Schedule

• Set out a block of time for each commitment at the start of each day, then strictly follow the schedule.
• Advantages: Structured time setting, preplanned days to limit distractions, planned free time

Google/Apple Calendar

• Set up reminders and time blocks for meetings and assignments with automated notifications.
• Advantages: Direct reminders for events, visual interface for plotting a schedule, integration across multiple devices, fewer chances of forgetting a deadline

Other strategies for tracking time include mobile apps such as Toggl, Calendly, as well as screen time managers, habit trackers, and any other tools that work for you!

✌ Tips and Considerations

Planning a schedule at the start of each day or week can be a difficult task with oftentimes too much work for the time available. Instead, use these mindsets when thinking of how to structure a healthy yet productive schedule.

1. You are not a work machine.

• Any schedule, no matter how packed, should always leave time for the important things in life, such as spending time with family and taking time to relax.

2. Prioritize.

• When dealing with unexpected schedule conflicts and diverging commitments, knowing the task to value most is a crucial skill. In this difficult situation, making a list of activities and their importance in your life beforehand can make the decision much easier.

3. Keep it flexible.

• While you should try your best to stick to the schedule set out, stressing over the boundaries of activities and events shouldn't be a normal occurrence.

4. Look at long-term goals.

• It is often easy to get caught up in the day-to-day work in high school, but in the end, looking at the dreams and achievements that you are working up to help get some perspective for your work.

📑 Conclusion

By using strategies for time management and reducing distractions in daily life, the workload of high school becomes easier to manage and less stressful. With any new challenge or commitment, understanding your current availability is important and a necessity to prevent yourself from being spread too thin. In time, by using these strategies, the workload of high school is bound to be a breeze.

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