How To Organize Your Days

By Sara Broyles

Before I learned proper time management skills, I found myself in a never-ending cycle of procrastination and stress, never having enough time to complete something and always wishing I had more time to do it. 

Time management is an essential life skill that many college students have difficulties perfecting. Without a doubt, it's an acquired skill which must be honed. To that end, it also takes a lot of practice.

 Here are a few tips that can help you develop more effective time management skills so your work can be completed in a more timely and efficient manner, ultimately allowing you to spend more time with friends and doing the things you enjoy. 

Understand Yourself

Some students have little trouble with time allocation for school work and other things. Others have a hard time resisting the pressures from their peers to go out when they know they have to complete an assignment. To gain a better understanding of yourself as a student, try and figure out what study habits and methods work best for you. Do you need absolute silence or a little bit of background noise? For midterms and finals, do you work better studying with a small group or individually? Understanding yourself and your study habits is the first step in effective time management skills because it will help you become more efficient when you study.

Stay Organized

Staying organized is crucial to time management. If you don't use a planner, think about investing in one. Being able to look at weeks in advance and writing in due dates for lab reports and papers will visually help you to see all of your assignments and plan out a schedule that works for you to get it all done. Use colored pens and highlighters to make important deadlines stand out. Staying organized will help you to stay on track and complete your assignments on time. 

Set Goals

Goal-setting will help you to prioritize what needs to be done and when to do it. Having clear goals allows you to make the best decisions and creates your highest motivation. The key to setting goals is to be specific. For example, a goal such as "study for CHEM 33 for one hour every day up until the midterm" will help you stay on a consistent study schedule and also help with information retention. Once you have your goals in mind, writing them down will help you solidify exactly what needs to get done and when. Keeping yourself accountable will help you to remain on track to completing everything on time without feeling stressed out or rushed to finish whatever the task is at hand.

Plan Ahead

After you've written out your assignments in your planner, you will be better able to plan ahead on what needs to be completed. Over the weekend, look at your assignments for the following week and write out a list of the order in which you want to complete the assignments. Afraid you're going to miss out on the nice weather because you'll be trapped in the library all day? Take your reading outside so you don't miss out on catching some rays while also finishing your work. This will save you time throughout the week so you can spend more time on other things. 

Time management will make you more efficient and focused, which will produce better results, ultimately leading to a happier, healthier and more focused you.