Time Management
Using a planner can help with time management. Photo by Jeremy Roberts

Time Management

ONE THING I AM asked about in meetings or working with students is about time management. The conversation usually starts off as “I am great with time management” or “I can remember details just fine.” Then, when asked when their next test or when an assignment is due, I get the deer in headlights look, and panic starts to set in, followed by “well, okay, so I am good at writing stuff down but don’t really know what to do with it after.” That’s where I step in! 

How does one manage their time in college?

College should be treated just like a job – something I did not realize until after my first or second semester here at Ole Miss. Someone is paying for you to be here (could be you, could be your parents, could be in the form of a scholarship or even a loan) Either way, you are paid to come to college and should think of college as a job. You may not like every subject, team/group projects, or the time of when the class is but we can work through it all. Many classes require work in team/group projects because most jobs have us do that – very few jobs are done in solitary, so working with others is important. Class times are set and are immovable so we move forward and do our best even if we do not like to get up early. 

So, if college is a job and we may have a job outside of this one, where does the time come for focusing on our studies? We know students have a social life. We also know that students have a personal life. Students have projects and other commitments to school – studying! There are doctor visits or trips to the grocery store. You have practice for different extracurricular activities. Tutoring is there somewhere. There also needs to be time factored in for sleep, eating, and other aspects of keeping up our personal hygiene. 

Where does all of the time go?

There are only 24 hours in a day, no matter how you slice it. There are only 7 days in a week, no matter if you pull all-nighters (that’s a different topic all together, but let’s just say don’t do that). If you are in class for roughly 12 to 15 to 18 hours a week, you are also expected to devote 3 hours on top of that per each class to work and studying for that specific course, so that is 36 to 45 to 54 more hours a week - there are only 128 hours in a week. Everyone should be sleeping 7 to 8 hours a day so that would be between 49 and 56 hours a week of the 128. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are roughly 3 hours a day so that’s up to 21 additional hours a week of the 128. So, let’s say that you are enrolled in 12 hours, that would be 12 hours of class, 36 hours of studying, 8 hours of sleep (on a good day, right?) for 56 hours a week and then 21 for eating – that all equals 125 hours of our 128 hours a week. That leaves us 3 hours to do whatever else we want during the day so we can split that into 7 days, well maybe 6 days. That leaves us 30 minutes a day of free time! That should be devoted to our personal hygiene… we haven’t factored that in yet. 

Wow, okay, so let’s take a different approach to all of this because we all know that will not work for us.

Setting up a schedule

One thing many of us are used to from high school is the daily schedule we had – school began at one time, minor breaks between classes to get to the next ones, a scheduled lunch, more classes, extracurricular activities (sports, a job, clubs and other school organizations, etc.), then home, dinner, study/homework, and bed, and repeat. (Or some variation of that type of schedule.) But, now in college, we do not have that structure and have “unlimited” freedom, hours between some of our classes, work between classes, practices throughout the day, and so much more. We do not have a set schedule, so we need to put one in place, and that all starts on day one of the academic semester. Each class has a syllabus, the guide to the course (or as EDHE 105/305 puts it – “the road map to college”), so going through this for every class is very important. Putting test and due dates in our planner, making sure we have a set time for when we will study or work on each assignment, and planning out the rest of our semester after each class will help us succeed. If we do this, then we can see what times we have free in our week for all of our other events and activities.

Set time in your personal life each week to review your schedule. I like to do mine on Sundays when I know I have a few hours free so I can sit down and really look over my weekly schedule to see what I have going on that week. Also, work on a to do list for the week - another tip or trick of the success trade to keep you on track. We know by writing down our notes in class that we are more productive so if we write down what all we have to do then we can be productive in scheduling. (Check things off as you go along throughout the week too!)

Best Planning Practices

There are several ways to help you with planning your time.

First, use a planner – you can get one in our office, while supplies last, purchase one at any of the bookstores around town and other large office supply chains, order one online with all the bells and whistles, or print off planner sheets from Google or another search engine. Don’t just write things down to say you “put them in your planner” but actually use it when you review for the day or week ahead to know what you have going on.

To enhance your use of a planner, mix it with an electronic feature – Google Calendar is FREE! It syncs to your other calendars on your phone and can be used with your Ole Miss Email account since it is a Gmail account. You can use one of these on your smart phone, tablet, or through your email account on your computer to keep you up to date with adding to your planner. This is great for smart phones because you can use the notifications feature to send you reminders and show in your locked screen settings. Google Calendar will also let you color-code various events, so you can have one color for each class or one for all classes, one for work, etc. 

Second, as mentioned earlier, create a to-do list for things that are immediate and for seeing what you have to do for the future – put your grocery list on it, add that you need to get your oil changed, or include things you do when paying bills or people to call. Adding a to do list to your weekly planning session will help with making sure you do not forget what you need to do. Cross things off your list as you go along and you will be impressed with how much stuff you have gotten done and feel good about the work you are accomplishing!

Third, schedule some time for yourself- an hour here and there if you can (30 minutes if you don’t have an hour) to just sit down, relax, drink some water or tea, watch an episode of your favorite show (limit yourself!). Doing little things for the betterment of yourself will help you in the long run. Burnout is a real thing that most college students deal with on a regular basis because a) they did not plan and b) they did not schedule “me” time in there as well. 

How do you manage your time?

From Academic Skills for College - a chapter on Time Management for our students on probation, academic suspension, and returning from dismissal (those taking our EDHE 101, 202, and 303 courses at the University of Mississippi)

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