Time Management
One of the hardest things to learn as a college student is how to manage your time so that you can fit all that you need to do into the 24 hours you have in a day. Many students sacrifice their sleep in order to get everything done. With a little advanced planning, and self discipline, you can get everything done, and still get 8 hours of sleep a night. Here is how...
- Get a planner, desk or wall calendar. Also, the Willamette University Student Handbook includes a section on time management in the "Learning Resources" section.
- Fill out the calendar with all of your "nonnegotiable" activities. This means your classes, work, club meetings that you want to attend, and major family and social obligations.
- Plan to get your studying done in the time that is left. Count up the number of hours you are in class each week. Estimate 2-3 hours of study for every hour in class. An average 16 hours a week in class means a minimum of 32 hours a week for study time.
- Choose which hours you are going to use for study, and write them in your calendar in pencil. Use the hours between classes during the day, and weekend hours as well as your evenings.
- Plan 3-4 times each week to exercise.
- Remember to be reasonable with yourself, leave enough time open to sleep, keep your room clean, run errands, hang out with friends, go to movies, etc. Once your study hours are set, the rest of your time is yours to do as you please.
- Keep your schedule as a guideline, allowing for flexibility. Think of your study time as a bank account that you want to balance. That is, if you borrow from study time for recreation, be sure to pay yourself back by adding study time later in the week.
- Review and update your schedule each week, taking into consideration special events for that week.
Time management plan [PDF-format]