Being a college student is hard. You have to spend your time wisely if you want to succeed in various components of college life such as your academics, your social life and at work. Having experienced (and still experiencing) the rush of the life of a commuter who wants to maintain a full schedule filled with classes, research, down times with friends and work, there are five good habits to develop that work really well and help me get through it all without too much stress.
1. Wake early.
There is never enough time in the day but by waking early, not only do you give yourself time to eat breakfast, check your emails, and finish any outstanding tasks from the night before, but you also give yourself time to relax instead of rushing and preparing yourself for success. Many times students wake 10-15 minutes before their first class and forget stuff like homework or pencil. Think about it: a nice walk with a side trip to Starbucks or running like a maniac down a crowded street?
2. Plug out when working.
What I mean is stay out of social media. When you're working on homework, it's easy to procrastinate by going on Facebook and Twitter and roaming the web for cool funny stuff but the homework will still be due the same day and time. My motto is 30 minutes work, 3 minutes play which I enforce with a stopwatch. T
his helps me get myself through the work with breaks. Once you start work, sometimes you find yourself immersed and you don't need breaks. It's starting sometimes that keeps people away.
3. Keep a calendar handy.
In order to make sure you are available when asked, always have some sort of calendar available, whether it be a paper schedule or digital. This not only lets you plan ahead to study and do work but also avoids the "oops! I forgot about that!" moment you might have without it. Many college students now can easily pull up their class schedules from their college's website but it's better to develop one you can customize. I recommend Google calendar or Jorte (an app I have on my Kindle which also lets you choose from several cute icons to represent my tasks).
4. Write or update a to-do list daily.
Aside from having a calendar, have a to-do list to prepare for the day. When you write it down, you're more likely to do it. The best time to prepare the list is either in the morning (habit 1!) or the night before. Give yourself ten minutes every night to remember what needs to be done tomorrow. If you have an agenda book or planner, you're in good shape! Just a side note, it is also best to set assignment due dates a day before so that you have it done early and avoid the stress of running out of time to complete it.
5. Make use of all your time.
Every second is precious and shouldn't be wasted. but don't kill yourself trying to do everything and using every second for work. There will always be time you can give to ad-hoc events (your buddies ask if you're down for lunch? Go for it!). What I mean by this is that you want to avoid doing nothing. You should always be doing something. Relaxing on the weekend is something but keep in mind how much time you can afford to spend relaxing if you have a bunch of homework due during the week. Also, I recommend exercising for at least 30 minutes a day. Don't think, just do. Afterward, you will feel sharper and your mind will be clearer.
I hope this helped and for those who have other good habits for the time-strapped college student, feel free to leave a comment below! Enjoy!
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