College Journey: Time Management

This edition of College Journey kind of bounces off of the stress problems I've been having.  I'm not horrible at time management, but I'm also somewhat of a procrastinator.  So, I decided to take a step back and figure out what it was I needed to do each day to in order to fix this problem, and I think I've found it.  It works for me, and maybe this will help you if you're a procrastinator, too!

So, I've talked up planners quite a bit on this blog.  I swear by them; they're great!  I've also recently taken up bullet journaling, and it's another good tool to have.  It helps me look at the next day in advance and schedule when things need to get done so that I don't overwhelm myself with small tasks.

Planning out what needs to get done each day and what you want to do each day is important.  You don't have to write it down, but for me it's helpful.  Really you should just have a general idea.  For me there are a couple of categories I consider when planning my day.  First is whether I have anything I have to do at a certain time (I call this category Schedule) and this is my top priority since it probably means that other people are expecting something from me.  Then I look at Blogging and HW (I call this category Work).  I keep track of anything I want to write/edit/post for that particular day and what homework I need to get accomplished each day in order to stay on top of things (more on homework later).  The reason I combine blogging and homework is that blogging is, sort of, a job for me.  It's not a career, but I consider myself a reviewer and blogger at this point, which means it's a time commitment.  Also, I love doing it, and adding things you love doing to your schedule makes a day easier to get through.  After this I look at TV and Writing (I call this category Pleasure).  I love watching TV and I try to watch at least an episode a day in order to relax.  I also try to write each day for the same reason.  Finally, I look at what I want to get read each day (aptly, this category is called Reading).  I don't really set page numbers, but I write down what books I'm working on in order to visualize whether I've read recently or not.

Most of those categories are easy to explain, but homework has a little extra organization for me, in order to stay on top of it.  During the week, whenever something is assigned, I write down what day I want to get it done by, and what days I want to spend doing it.  I think it's better to use an example here:

I have a Monday/Wednesday/Friday class called Ways of Reading, and it's more or less an English class.  Every time we meet for class we have at least one essay to read and a summary to write in time for the next class.  So, that means I have about two days to get this done.  Rather than do all my homework for this class on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Weekends as I was doing at the beginning of the term, I've started doing a little each day.  On Monday (the day something is assigned) I read a third of whatever has been assigned and take notes and that reading.  Then, on Tuesday, I finish reading and taking notes and write my summary.

That's just one example of how I manage when I'm doing homework and that particular example has actually helped me understand what I'm reading much better and just glancing at my grades for the class you can tell when I started doing this.

Another good way to manage your time is to have a set time for doing homework/work versus doing pleasure.  I try not to do any homework after dinner because I just don't focus so well once the day is wrapping up.  Anything after this is time for pleasure.  I also like to wake up early and do work because I think better at the beginning of the day.  Still, I try not to start any work until after about 9 o'clock because before that I need to read and get myself situated.

I hope all of this helps if you have trouble managing your time!  If you have any advice about time management, please add it in the comments!  Thanks for stopping by :)