Managing Your Time

Once you’re done finally managing yourself-we knew you could do it-learn to manage your time. You have so much time to get your stuff done. Insert some deep quote about the mystery of time here. Let’s get started.

To manage your time effectively, you will need to determine three important pieces of information:

1. What do you need to accomplish? Consider the classes you must attend each week, your work schedule, social commitments, class assignments, and so forth. One of the hardest problems to figure out is how much time an assignment will take. Some of the ability to know how long things will take comes with experience, but the following general rule may help you plan your time: THINGS ALWAYS TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK THEY WILL.

2. What things do you currently do that waste your time? Before you can figure out how to spend your time effectively, you need to find out if and how you are wasting time. To do this, think about how you currently spend your days. Are there some things you do that simply waste large amounts of time? How might you restructure your days so that less time is wasted?

3. How can you keep track of what you need to do? Most people who manage their time successfully say that they can’t live without their schedule book or daily planner. It helps them keep track of appointments, assignments, social commitments, and even important phone numbers. If you don’t already use some kind of schedule book invest in one today. Take your schedule book with you to class and be sure to mark down your assignments. But writing things down is only half the battle-you have to make a habit of checking your schedule book every day to see why you need to do.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.