Time Management
Many students discover the need to develop or refine their time management skills when they move off campus. Unlike on-campus living with intimate living spaces, organized study groups, and dining halls, students who live off campus have increased responsibilities to maintain their residence, cook, clean, travel to and from campus, and continue their academic studies. This new freedom and flexibility mean that students need to re-evaluate personal habits to include additional household tasks.
Advantages of Time Management
- Gains time to maintain the residence
- Motivates and initiates peers, friends, and roommates
- Reduces avoidance of completing homework and housework
- Eliminates cramming and late-night homework sessions
- Reduces anxiety and improves relationships with friends, family, and roommates
Keys to Successful Time Management
- Self-knowledge and goals: In order to manage your time successfully, be aware of long and short-term goals to assist you in prioritizing your activities.
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Developing and maintaining a personal, flexible schedule: Time management provides you with the opportunity to create a schedule that works for you. This personal attention gives you the flexibility to include things that are most important to you.
Time Management Challenges
- Getting enough sleep
- Studying for an adequate amount of time
- Incorporating work, school, homework, and household maintenance into a comprehensive schedule
- Finding time for yourself
- Getting to class on time
- Using time between classes wisely
- Using the time between 5-9 pm wisely
- Managing friends, roommates, pets, guests, significant others, and the household
Tips for Effective Time Management
- Do a little of everything everyday. Develop a daily schedule that allows time for socializing, academics, household maintenance, etc. Sometimes, one action may take more time or may be ranked as a higher priority, but try to address all three in someway. This will keep you from getting too anxious when you realize that one has been neglected.
- Start working on something as soon as you arrive home. Before relaxing, engage in a productive action to develop a sense of accomplishment. Read a chapter of your textbook, wash a load of clothes, call a friend for a half-hour conversation, etc. before turning on the television or computer to “veg out.”
- Make time management a household commitment. Visit with roommates on a weekly basis about each other’s priorities for that time period. Develop a weekly chore schedule with roommates allowing each to have a different priority on a rotating basis. Communicate on a daily basis about lingering household chores that need to be addressed.
- Develop good study strategies. When students have good study strategies, other time management challenges can be addressed easily. Students should know when their prime study hours occur and utilize that time to its fullest.
