In our members area on this site we recently took a look at studies on managing stress among college students. One great way of keeping stress manageable is to become very good at managing your time. This video here gives some great ideas and is particularly relevant to anyone in college or who cares about someone in college. Remember, time is the one thing you cannot get back! Here are some ideas for managing time
1. Set goals
Planning for goals at different time periods in the future is an important aspect of time management. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know what steps to take? Plans can easily be changed but it is important to have them in the first place.
2. Keep a time journal
These take a bit to do but are great for helping you figure out where you are spending your time and what time savings you can create. Update time journals every half hour so that you remember all of your activities. (See the video for an example).
3. Evaluate time journal
This is where you look over your journal and evaluate it in terms of where time is wasted, what times are productive and what you could be more efficient at. Remember that needs to include healthy habits such as eating, sleeping and exercise!
4. Create a schedule
Base your schedule on your findings including utilizing your most productive times for your most intensive tasks. You should also include those healthy habits as mentioned as well as time with family or friends.
The scheduling is really the biggest task and key for improving your time management. This video suggests that you use your most productive time for your studies and be prepared to fiercely defend that time!
You may also choose to use any dead time periods for socializing (which we all need to help cope with stress!) and any periods where you know you are not at your best productively for tasks that do not require too much brain power.
Check out this video link for further great time management tips. Take back your time and reduce your stress!
