5 Strategies for Effective Time Management in College

Did you know that only about 18% of the population has a time management system? That means that 82% of the population is left without time management strategies. 

While that may not seem like a big deal, this means that 82% of people are being less productive than they could be if they learned better time management skills! This is especially true as a college student. 

Having the ability to manage time in college can make or break your grades, your social life, and even when you graduate! 

Ready to transform how college works for you? Keep reading to learn tips and tricks for time management in college.

1. Use a Planner

Using a planner or a calendar of some sort is one of the best ways to manage your time effectively. This can help you to keep track of everything that you have going on without feeling a sense of overwhelm.

When you see it all written down, you are better able to manage your time. That's because you aren't forgetting about anything and can see the tasks at hand. When you see the tasks, you know what needs to be done and can estimate how long each will take. 

There are also so many different types of planners out there to choose from. For starters, you can choose one that is online or in written form depending on what you feel works better for you. 

How to Effectively Use a Planner

So once you have a planner and you write everything down, how exactly do you use it?

This depends on the type of planner you are using, however, it is important to make sure that you are writing everything down that you need to do first. 

Getting it all down on paper will help you to organize it next. You should jot down everything that needs to be done that month. From there, you can organize it into the weeks and then the days. This allows you to break down your tasks into manageable chunks based on the timing that everything needs to be done. 

Don't forget to start with the larger goals first and then break them down from there! That ensures that you get everything done that has to get done!

Prioritize

Part of using a planner is learning how to prioritize your tasks. 

To do this, you should start by identifying the tasks that are the most important and require your immediate attention. These tasks could be assignments with impending deadlines, studying for exams that are coming up, or attending mandatory classes. Once you know the tasks, you should block that time in your calendar and in your planner.

Once you have identified your high-priority tasks, make sure that you allocate enough time to complete them! That should be another few chunks out of the calendar!

2. Set Clear S.M.A.R.T. Goals

One of the most important things that you can do for yourself when it comes to time management and setting goals.

If you do not have goals, it can be hard to stay focused and prioritize what is most important to you. Once you have goals, you're able to break them down into smaller and more manageable tasks. This can help you stay on track to reaching them. 

But how do you set goals that are actually going to work for you?

You need to make sure they are S.M.A.R.T.!

This stands for:

• Specific 
• Measurable 
• Achievable 
• Relevant 
• Time bound 

Let's break down each of those a bit more so that you know what to do when it comes to setting goals.

Specific

The first thing you need to think about when setting goals is if they are specific enough. If they are not, odds are you will not actually be able to achieve it.

For instance, you may want to set a goal of getting better at photography. 

Saying "Get better at photography" is not specific. However, setting a goal of "watch 10 photography videos per week to get better at photography" is much more specific. This gives you more of a chance to attain that goal because you know how to do it.

It's specific. 

Measurable 

It's important to also be able to measure your goals.

You should answer the questions of how much of something you get when setting goals. You can also ask yourself how you will know if you accomplished it to make sure it is measurable. 

Setting a goal with numbers typically is helpful. This makes it easier to measure your progress.

Achievable

You also want to set goals that are achievable. If you set goals that are too far out of reach and will never happen, then you are most likely not going to take steps to make them happen.

For instance, if you have never made more than $45,000 in a year, setting. The goal to make $1 million may be a bit of a reach. To make it more reasonable, you may want to set it to $75,000 with smaller monetary goals to get there.

Relevant

You also have to make sure that the goals matter to you. If you set a goal that has nothing to do with what you are trying to achieve or is something random, there's not going to be much drive to get it done.

Instead, it should answer the following questions:

• Is this worthwhile?
• Do I want to do this?
• Does this match the trajectory of my career or life?

Time-bound

Last but not least, setting a goal that is time-bound means that you have a set timeframe for when you are supposed to meet the goals.

If you tell yourself that you want to make $75,000, you need to know when. is this something that you want to do over the next 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, or 3 months?

Knowing this will help you break down goals into smaller goals and reach them based on the timeframe you give yourself. This puts a bit more pressure on the set goal. 

3. Do Not Multitask 

So many people out there believe that they are good multitaskers. You've probably heard it before. Or maybe you've been the one to say it before:

"I'm great at multitasking! It makes me so productive!"

Well, unfortunately, it doesn't make anyone any more productive. Multitasking can make you do worse at school as well as affect your long-term memory!

So how can you avoid this?

You should only focus on one task at a time. That means that if you are working on a paper for class, you shouldn't pick up your phone, start browsing the web, or answer emails. This is not making you any more productive but rather is taking time away from your paper writing time.

If you struggle with keeping yourself on task and find that you get distracted easily, it may be best to put all distractions away.

Here are a few tips to help you focus: 

• Put your phone away in a separate room
• If you have a watch that also gets notifications, take it off and set it in the other room as well
• Set an alarm so that you have a set amount of time to work and when it goes off you can take a break
• Close out all of the tabs you aren't using for the one task at hand

These are just a few ideas to help you stay on track and not multitask. It may not be easy at first, but the more you practice, the easier it will be to stay on track with what you need to do!

One of the biggest culprits of distractions is our phone because of texting, social media, and emails. Everything is on there. So once you get rid of that for a period of time, you'll be much more focused.

4. Use Technology 

There are so many advantages to what technology offers us in today's world even if it can sometimes be distracting. The trick is to use it for good to help you become more productive with your time.

For instance, there are many technology platforms out there that you can benefit from in terms of setting reminders for deadlines, blocking distractions, and more.

So if you are ready to minimize distractions and bring your time management to the next level to excel at school, then using technology to your advantage is one way to do this. Here are a few tips:

• Find apps that can breakdown goals for you so that you can track them more easily
• Find an app that has tools for blocking distracting websites
• Set a social media limit on your phone so that once you reach it you have to go through an annoying process to override it (with the idea that you won't want to go through that process)
• Set alarms on your phone to take breaks so that you can reset and refocus 

By using technology to your advantage, your time management can get a lot better!

5. Create a Schedule

Before, we mentioned why using a planner and a calendar are so important.

However, we didn't discuss how or why you should create a schedule.

When you start to create a schedule, you get more into a routine that can help you stay on top of things. 

For instance, if every morning at 8am you plan to be at a coffee shop, you have that in your schedule as a set thing. This means that before that, you have to get other things done to even start your day to get to the coffee shop.

Then, you can set a lunch hour and a dinner hour.

Between those, you can time block different tasks on your to-do list. Let's do an example so that you can get the hang of why time blocking is so important when creating a schedule.

Let's say that you have four things on your list. You have to go through and send emails, write a paper for one class, study for an exam for another class, and plan out when you are going to work at your part-time job.

Let's start with the last one. Put that into your schedule first because these are set times.

Now, you can look at studying for the exam. You can dedicate one to two hours per day to doing that. Block those hours off so you know you can't use those hours for anything else.

Do the same with writing a paper for the other class.

You can now send emails and do all of your other smaller and menial tasks outside of those set time blocks. This will improve your efficiency and productivity every single day of the week.

It's Time to Improve Your Time Management in College

Are you ready to take your time management to the next level to be the best student you can be in college?

You should start with these tips and tricks to improve your time management in college. Use a planner, start mapping things out in your calendar, get rid of multitasking and distractions, and use the time-blocking strategy.

Once you start implementing all of these time management strategies, you may want to consider joining the Honor Society.

The Honor Society is for everyone and anyone who wants to join as a student! Our members come from all walks of life. This is a great opportunity to recognize your success as a student in college.