Time Management

UHCS Services

Counselors at UHCS are available to assist students in many life areas, including exploring students’ academic and personal goals to help increase success. Counselors can help students explore strategies designed for time management and organization. Identifying and prioritizing academic and personal goals can help students maintain their physical, mental, emotional, social, and occupational health and overall well-being.

Overview

College life can be both exciting and overwhelming. Whether you are an incoming freshman or transfer student, life strategies that were helpful previously, may require some modifications in your new environment. Many students need to work one to two jobs while attending college. These added responsibilities, while maintaining academic standards and goals, can become very challenging. College may be the first time you are away from home. Also, there are a lot of changes and adjustments that occur when living with one or more roommates.

Time Management Tips

1. Set Goals. Write down academic and personal goals. Post reminders that can help keep you organized, focused, and motivated to meet your goals.
2. Prioritize Goals. Write down your goals in order of importance, along with short term and long term goals. These can include academic and career goals such as making the Dean’s List or maintaining a certain grade point average. Others could include personal goals such as communicating with advisors and professors or joining a club or organization.
3. Create a schedule based on your goals. Don’t be afraid to revisit and modify your initial schedule if it isn’t working. You may find yourself struggling to keep up with school work because you are over-involved in other activities activities; therefore, something may have to give.
4. Schedule enough sleep time. Each person has different sleep requirements. It is advised that students try to get between 7-8 hours of sleep/night. Make sure you implement adequate sleep time into your daily schedule.
5. Avoid the procrastination game. Don’t wait to feel motivated for studying. Start studying and the motivation will follow. Break projects down into small steps.
6. Study Smart. Find the best time of day for you to study. Some students study better at night while others may find it more productive to study earlier in the day. Studying during the day could help those students who are side tracked by distractions or just plain lose their energy to study at night.
7. Setup a Study Location. Some students can study in front of the television or listen to music, while others may fare better in a quieter environment. Find out what works best for you.
8. Have fun. College can’t be all work and no play. Balancing your schedule can help balance your physical and mental health. Developing friendships can be an important component of your college experience. College offers a time and environment in which you can “re-invent” yourself. For example, if you were shy and quiet in high school, you may want to challenge yourself to get involved and ‘step out of your comfort zone’ in college.
9. Multitask. Consider studying while doing laundry or bringing homework along while waiting for an appointment.
10. Get to know your advisor. Advisors can offer support and also serve as an advocate for you. Advisors can help keep you on track and can also review your academic and personal goals with you to help keep you focused and excited about your college experience.

Resources

• Principles of Time Management