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College and Time Management
by: Sue Behlmar
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Effective college students have essential personal time management skills in place. Students with these essential skills are usually high achievers not only in school but also in life. Good use of time management all but ensures that you will be able to function and handle your college workload even under some of the most intense pressures. Work overload may be a thing of the past once you hone your time management skills and take control of your college responsibilities; therefore, learning some practical time management methods should be at the top of your list.
To optimize your efforts focus on the results you want and not just on how busy you are. This is a serious waste of your time; therefore, you must re-direct and re-focus your thoughts in order to truly take control of your workload. Recognize that you will feel overwhelmed and that this is normal. Now re-direct your attention to the tasks in your workload that matter most rather than continue to worry about how busy you are.
You need to be able to take control of your time by eliminating the areas that are wasting your time and energy. The best way to do this is to set short-term goals in order to accomplish the bigger, long term objectives. You would do this by scheduling your activities in order to take control of your workload and personal life.
The "Oh heck, I'll get to that later" thinking has led to the downfall of many students. Once this thinking takes hold, your workload can get so high that it is insurmountable. You need to refocus because procrastination is a habit you do not want to form. So, it is very important to recognize that you are procrastinating, figure out why you are doing it and then setting up some strategies to beat this pattern of behavior. Cultivate the habit of starting assignments promptly and make up your own rewards for each task completed.
Prioritizing what you need to do and accomplish is especially important. Without prioritization, you may be working very hard and feeling like you are getting nowhere. This is where a "to do" list comes in. But it cannot be a random list, it must be structured for maximum effectiveness. Set your list up strategically in any way that makes sense to you (most important to least important, easiest to hardest etc.) so that when deadlines are approaching you won't find yourself totally frustrated trying to get something critical done at the last minute.
Whatever you do, you need an organized system that allows you to handle your workload regardless of the pressures placed on you. Time management skills are the keys to your college success; get serious about effectively managing your time and you will never again have to worry about what needs to get done or where you are going. You will be on your way to knowing your goals, maximizing your effectiveness and winning control of your life and time.
Keywords: time management,time management for students,time management in college,organizational skills
Article Resource
Author: Sue Behlmar
About the Author:
Sue Behlmar writes eduaction related articles for the American Educational Guidance Center. Subjects of her articles include online colleges, financial aid and online degrees most likely to lead to career advancement.
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