» Tips for College Students » Freedom
The amount of freedom afforded you in your college years can serve as your greatest source of growth. Mishandled, it can also hold possibilities for danger and derailment. First-year students often struggle with the transition from a structured pre-college world to an unstructured university life. Upperclassmen typically struggle with increasing time demands from all areas of life.
Are your time management skills in need of a boost or some refinement? Come meet with one of our Academic Coaches to sharpen your strategies and get a handle on your time, tasks, and commitments.
The following tools can also help you successfully structure your time and manage yourself:
- Daily planners and "to do" lists
- Weekly Schedule
- Semester Calendar
- Realities, boundaries, priorities, and rewards
Daily Planners and "To-Do" Lists
Your daily “to do” list should list all the important tasks you need to do that day.
- List the date at the top of the page, and write down all the important things that you need to do that day.
- Once you have made your list, place an asterisk (*) next to the important items. Give those items priority over the less important ones.
- Carry your daily planner/to do list with you at all times so that you may add things as they come up.
Weekly Schedule
» Download our handy weekly planner and fill it out.
Semester Calendar
»Use this convenient semester calendar.
Realities, Priorities, & Rewards
If time management were as simple as scheduling our work, all of us would be effective. However, even when we have enough time we often do not structure our schedules or use our time effectively. Sometimes we procrastinate or don’t follow our own schedule. Obviously, time management is more difficult than it initially seems.
Review the concepts and strategies below. If you find yourself needing more assistance in the area of Time Management, schedule an appointment with an Academic Coach.
Set Goals
The best way to beat procrastination is the active pursuit of a well-defined and intensely desired goal. Think you’re better off going with the flow or taking life as it comes? Try the opposite.
Define what you want in terms that are specific. “I want to be a better student” is too vague. Instead, try: “I want to earn a B in Chemistry, a C+ in Math, an A- in Psychology, and a B in English”
Want it. State your goals. Place specific goal reminders in places where you will see them.
Set Boundaries
Managing time means structuring your time into categories (sleep, study, work, recreation). Set specific blocks of time for specific categories. For example:
- Go to Supplemental Instruction (SI) for your Math class every MW from 4:30 to 5:30
- Read or re-read your Psych textbook one hour prior to class every TR 1:00 to 2:00
- Make good use of your time by filling any gap with studying (index cards, etc.)
- Reduce travel time (go to the library instead of back and forth to home)
Commit to those times. “Every” MW from 4:30 to 5:30 means EVERY MW—no exceptions nor excuses. Commitment involves blocking off clear and specific time boundaries which are not changed by exceptions or excuses.
Set social boundaries, saying no to other offers and options. In order to set social boundaries, you must develop language for saying no (or later) to friends and family.
Prioritize
You cannot succeed at the university level by simply adding school to the list of everything else you were already doing. Your academic commitments must take high priority. You must put other things, people, tasks, relationships aside to succeed at UT!
Set rewards for the future (if I earn a 3.0 this fall, I go skiing over the holidays), but work hard now!