Dear ‘Eater Readers: This week, I want to sit down and talk about an age-old collegiate problem that has been quite the beast for me: time management. Professors swear by it, parents shove it down our throats and college may just be the time we have to master it. A study done on time management behaviors found that students who put more effort into managing their time “have a significantly greater cumulative GPA,” and these habits are associated with “lower levels of anxiety in students.”
The goal of a good schedule for college students is to work (but not overwork) on days designated as productive, while also leaving a couple days with little to no work to refresh. Of course, there are going to be hiccups while trying to figure out what methods work and how long different assignments take. As a recovering STEM-major, I personally faced challenges when I had to find a new way to plan my weeks in a way that accommodated my new major. In the months since, I think I’ve developed a sturdy system.
I like to start the week off by making a list organized by class (handwritten or on Google Docs) of every task and assignment that needs to be done the following week. At the top of the doc, I also list any activities that week (club meetings, plans with friends or group study sessions). From there, I give each day of the week a color, and then split homework and events between each day while paying attention to deadlines.
Here’s where the personalization comes in. I don’t like having heavy Mondays, so I try to assign myself less work on that day. I also assign more work on Fridays because I don’t have any classes. Typically, my schedule is the heaviest from Tuesday to Thursday because I feel most open to being productive.
I normally try to have my planner set up by Sunday, so I can’t use creating my schedule as an excuse for not doing homework on Mondays. It’s become a comforting routine for me after keeping up with it for about a year. I feel less stressed about chasing deadlines throughout the week, and I don’t find myself pulling all-nighters nearly as often. Creating a time and space for planning my week lifted a weight off of my shoulders, and I hope it can do the same for you.
Best of luck,
Hawthorn
Edited by Abby Stetina, astetina@themaneater.com
