4 Time Saving Tips for Very Busy College Students
By: Susan Parker
College is where everything happens so fast and you barely have enough time to work according to your organized schedule. It becomes even harder if you have a part-time job that’s very demanding and leaves you with little or no time for classes or assignments.
However, the secret of being a successful college student is knowing how to manage your time while creating a balance between your work, school activities, spending time with family and friends and also taking care of yourself.
Below are 4 time-saving tips that will help you avoid frustration and stress, become more productive and also have the time of your life at college.
- Write out your plans
Sometimes we go off track with our daily activities simply because we didn’t plan it out from the beginning. To manage your time effectively, write down your plans for the next day from the previous night. This will help you plan how to move and the amount of time to be spent on the activities.
Doing this will ensure everything goes as planned and you have enough time to take care of your college activities without any hindrance.
- Avoid multi-tasking
As a college student, you believe you’re up to the task of multi-tasking effectively and getting the desired result, I mean you do it all the time, you’re watching the TV and also cooking, doing your project work and also chatting with your social media pals, etc. So it couldn’t possibly be a big deal, yea?
However, it is better to do things one at a time, for more effective results, than multi-tasking. Multi-tasking divides your attention into different places and you’re barely even organized enough to see the tasks through. You then create a mess of everything and have to start over – this time, doing it one by one like you should have from the onset.
The commonest form of multi-tasking among college students is the act of listening to music while trying to assimilate the content of their college textbooks – how laughable.
Although some students claim to only be able to assimilate when there’s music in the background, but honestly, often times than not, the music or your friends being around will only create bigger distractions for you and at the end of the day. You find that you were only browsing through the book and you had nothing stick to your memory.
- Stay tidy
We all know how untidy college students can be. Sometimes it’s almost as if being tidy is a taboo. They have their books in different corners of the room and used cutleries under the study table.
If you don’t stay tidy, you will spend a good amount of time looking for your belongings and panicking when you need them or even losing some small but valuable possessions like your diamonds or gold ring. It is advisable that you put your properties right where they belong as soon as you’re through with each. Put your dirty clothes in the laundry basket, your custom printed reusable bags in the store or kitchen, etc.
This will keep you from looking around for them and help you stay on track with your schedule. With time it becomes impossible for you to lose anything – except you have a roommate of course.
- Take breaks
Working non-stop is unadvisable. Your body will eventually breakdown and you’ll be left with no choice but to be on bed rest – time saving indeed.
To truly save time as a busy college student, relax once in a while. Give your body the chance to recuperate from all that stress of shuffling between class work and your part-time job.
Reward yourself with a night or two by hanging out with your favorite people, listening to your favorite artist’s new music or even sleeping all through. Doing this will keep you healthy and away from the hospital bed – giving you just enough time to carry on with your normal activities.
Susan Parker is a writer and tech geek. She volunteers for local environmental conservation programs and writes stories online about things that inspire her.
