In college, time management skills can save you much trouble and frustration. Some students are fortunate enough to have professors teach them the value of properly managing their time. But for others, they must struggle with challenges and learn it the hard way.
With all the complexities and obstacles in university life, you may find that with the proper time management skills, you can still keep up with extracurricular activities and activities outside classes.
How to maintain successful time management is relatively easy. You merely have to put together a calendar of activities and due dates at the beginning of the semester. By the time classes start, you will know which things to mark as important and which ones to set aside as lesser priorities.
Consider the people who hold jobs while they are still in college. If you have a family depending on your job, you would to put your that job as your most important priority. There are many types of jobs that offer various work shifts. You can choose one that would give you enough time for classes and studying.
Your classes would come in as a close second in your list of priorities. You may be able to choose class schedules that will not conflict with your work schedule. Try to choose a class schedule that would easily fit into your general work schedule. If you mostly work evenings, choose classes that meet in the mornings. If you work mostly during the day, consider night classes.
Your third priority should be study time. Designate an hour or two of studying before, between, or after classes. That method has worked for the majority of working students. You can fit this study time during breaks or while you are in transit to your class. If you work far from campus, you can read some notes while waiting for the bus, traveling, or while stuck in traffic. Of course, be careful if driving and reading. Don’t focus on reading unless traffic is stopped.
Your fourth priority would be your home life. Block off times when you are going to assist in household duties, bill payments and other related obligations. It would be a smart idea to block out interruptions while you are at home and busy with your tasks. You can take care of those other things another time.
The last, and one of the most meaningful priorities, is making time for yourself. With your hectic schedule, it would be the best time to do things you cannot do at other times. These are your personal, special times. You should be able to do activities that you enjoy, spend time with friends, or just relax. You will find that this is very critical for you since these times will be your time to breathe and wind down.
A sensible option is to have a work schedule at night and school in the morning or vice versa. Such a schedule would not have you frantically dashing to go to work or class. With proper time management, you would have more time to accomplish more tasks. When you have this schedule, you can get involved in campus-related activities, especially if your schedules do not begin immediately after each other.
You can actually finish a degree, get an early start in earning some money and increase your chances of a more successful life in the future simply by being flexible and learning how to manage your time.
This is the importance of being flexible, exercising time management and having a career while still in college.
Unlike some of the more privileged students, there are many university students who do not have the money and resources to get through college without the income a full or part-time job provides. It is for this reason that they are determined to finish their studies while working for it in the process.
It can also be advantageous to have a career while attending college. It allows the student to learn how life really works early on. Not only that, they can develop a great sense of responsibility and accomplishment through the application of time management skills.
Without knowing how to manage time and sticking to schedules, none of this would be possible. Properly managing time to balance a university career with a job is a matter of disciplining yourself to stick to your goals in order to make them all possible.
