It probably took years to save enough money for college. For most students, parents began saving for their child’s college education even before they took their first steps. Some students had to make it happen for themselves by taking on odd jobs here and there. And even with all that planning, there are still many students that are forced to take out a loan to cover the expenses of a good college education.
While having enough money to get your foot in the proverbial college door takes a lot of planning, there is a different type of budgeting that each student will have to do in order to stay there. Your time is your most precious commodity and without it, you’ll quickly learn that you can quickly become overwhelmed with all the extra responsibilities that you will have to do. Here are seven time saving tips that every college student should know in order to ensure a successful academic career.
1. Determine Your Priorities: While as a student you’ll have lots of things to do, but not all of them should be considered urgent. Some tasks can be done with other students, others can be delegated to someone else and then others may just be a matter of preference so you can do them at a later time.
2. Determine When You’re Most Effective: Everyone is not the same. While you may be at your best early in the morning, don’t get lured into late night cram sessions with your fellow students. It will be a waste of your valuable time. Plan to do your studying and homework at a time that is conducive to your natural peak times; you’ll accomplish more in less time that way.
3. Be Flexible: While everything would be great if your plans would always go on without a hitch but that’s not real life. Always allow room for some flexibility in your schedule for unforeseen circumstances. It will keep you from getting too stressed out and cluttering up your mind.
4. Get Enough Rest: You might think that burning the midnight oil on a regular basis will produce better results but quite the opposite is true. When you don’t get enough sleep your stress levels rise, which will slow down your performance. If you find that you can’t get to sleep when you need to try taking a walk or some other form of physical activity to help you relax. This will prepare your brain for new information.
5. Prepare for the Crunch: Every student knows that midterms and finals are the crunch time in any student’s academic career. Before that time approaches make sure that non-essential activities and other matters are taken care of. That way you’ll have more hours to focus on your studies.
6. Take Advantage of Small Amounts of Time: Everything you need to do doesn’t have to be scheduled in. throughout the day you’ll have small blocks of time that will suddenly appear. Take advantage of those times to get the little things done. You don’t need to clean your house all at the same time but you may have 10 minutes to run the vacuum or wash the dishes. By taking advantage of small slots of time you’ll find that the small tasks you have to do won’t add up and overwhelm you.
7. Be Reasonable: Demanding perfection could be your downfall. Expect times when you’ll just have to realize that you can’t get everything done. Pat yourself on the back for your success and don’t punish yourself for those times when your work is not as you’d like it and you’ll be well on your way to a successful college career.