Time Management for College Students

Time management for college students can be a challenge with many demands on your time. You know that you need some time management help if you have ever had to pull an 'all nighter' before an important exam or if your marks have suffered because you have left the assignment to the last minute.

It is human nature to procrastinate!

But when it has an impact on your grades and stress levels then there are simple habits of effectiveness that you can put in place today to manage your time better.

I know that you probably have too much to do and not enough time so I’ll get to the point.

These guidelines aren’t a magic pill, but they will, over time, improve your organization, reduce your stress, and give you greater control on your workload.

Begin with the end in mind

When faced with a lack of time it is important to firstly look at the big picture with student goal setting.

Being a student is demanding!

You are probably juggling full-time study, social and sporting commitments, and possibly part-time work. You don't have time to "waste time"!

As a student, you need to be able to prioritize your time to ensure that you are doing what is most important to you.

Use student planners to reduce feeling overwhelmed

When you have a clear idea of your big picture commitments put the dates into your printable academic planner. By having a helicopter view of the demands your time you are able to identify and take a proactive approach to any bottlenecks of activity.

But this is not the end of your planning!

Time management for college students need to make the link between this helicopter view and what you do on a daily level. As Aristotle said:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Weekly student planners are critical to instilling this habit. To use your weekly planner first make a list of all the things that you do in the following week. Include assignments, work commitments, and personal commitments. Then plan them into your student planner.

Some students prefer to do this on a daily basis and I have provided a printable to do list for you.

What if I have too much to do in my weekly plan

Do you cut back and not do some tasks or do you try to shave a little time off all of your commitments?

Here it is important to “Prioritize”!

In other words you need to consider what is most important and what is most urgent.

To help you to prioritize see this time management for students prioritization tool. List the activities that you are doing in each of the four quadrants and try to choose only those activities in quadrants 1 and 2.

Avoid student procrastination

Procrastination is part of the human condition. But when procrastination is impacting your grades and spilling over into other areas of your life then it is time to think about taking disciplined action.

There are many ways to avoid procrastination that range from setting deadlines to breaking the large task into smaller sections. These college time management procrastination tips help you to take the steps to overcome procrastination.

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