BY TATYANA SOHAN-FAGAN
Being a student can be overwhelming at times trying to balance schoolwork with personal life, work life and even extra activities. To ensure you can make the most of your school life without changing other areas in your life, it’s important to manage time in a way where you can be successful. Chanelle Archer, a student in Sheridan’s Art Fundamentals program offers to succeed in college/university. Archer says it’s hard to balance her personal life with school.
1. Prioritize the big stuff.
Unless you have essential assignments/tasks that entirely must be handled right away, it’s better to use your time working on major assignments, studying, practicing the skills you need etc.
2. Keep a routine.
Time is an essential resource. Most students make sure nothing interrupts their schedule routine. The more you are consistent using certain periods for the same type of work, the more beneficial it is.
3. Break your time.
Pay attention to when you feel more focused and you can schedule your most challenging task for those times. You can leave the less-challenging things for when you have less energy. Remember to schedule some naps and recreational breaks.
4. Use a daily planner to schedule your tasks.
Many students love their phones, why not make good use of them and use the calendar on your phone, also along with a daily handwritten list providing the best system for organizing their time.
5. Plan ahead.
Letting hard days sneak up on you is not fun. Make sure you have the syllabus for each course you’re taking and highlight the challenging components like midterms, final exams etc. Then start setting aside time on your schedule to prepare for them in advance. Make notes to limit distractions.
6. Avoid overcommitting.
Sometimes it’s tempting to think that saying yes will make situations better, doing so may have the opposite effect. Trim down your activities to only the most important ones, such as the ones that provide benefits to personal life and school.
7.Start the important stuff right away.
Lots of students procrastinate regularly. The more you delay, the less likely you are to succeed. Playing catch-up last minute can cause stress. Instead, it’s smarter to start on your schoolwork right away or at least when you get the chance.
8. Minimize your multitasking.
Many students say the more they multitask, the less effective they are at what they’re trying to accomplish. It’s best to manage your time accordingly. It gives you space and permission to give attention to just a critical task at a time.
