Managing Time or Ourselves?

The common phrase of time management can lose its flavor after being heard so often. No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have.

Tips for Time Management

• Find out when you’re wasting time.  The free flowing schedule of college can lead many students to unintentionally or unknowingly waste time. Track your actual activities for one day. See how much time you spend on facebook, watching TV, sitting in your room or playing video games. These activities can be fun and relaxing, but we often spend much more time than we think doing these non-productive activities
• Make Time Management Goals. Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not changing time. A good place to start is by eliminating your personal time-wasters. For one week, for example, set a goal that you’re not going to take personal phone calls while you’re studying.
• Implement a Time Management Plan. Think of this as an extension of tip # 3. The objective is to change your behaviors over time to achieve whatever general goal you’ve set for yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you need to not only set your specific goals, but track them over time to see whether or not you’re accomplishing them.
• Learn Important Vs. Urgent. Your days are filled with both expected and unexpected incidents. It is important to learn how to prioritize your time toward things that help you achieve your goals rather than just those that require your attention.
  • Important activities have an outcome that leads to the achievement of your goals.
  • Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are often associated with the achievement of someone else’s goals.