Best Time Management Tips for Students
Time management is important in almost every aspect of human life but most important to some aspects and education is among such aspects. As a student, the time has a lot of impact on almost everything you do. If you utilize your time appropriately as a student it will reflect in your academic results and vice versa.
This post will be discussing how you can utilize your time as a student so as to achieve more with the little available time. It is a thorough time management tip that has to do with students at all levels of education but mostly tertiary schools.
We will be discussing several ways you can use to manage your time as a student and out of the whole ways, it has been classified into four:
SCHEDULE/TIMETABLE
Among all the classifications in time management, time scheduling otherwise referred to as time planning and tabling comes to the top.
The first step in time management is to figure out all the activities you will likely be caring out in a day and a lot of time for each of the activities as well as the duration the activities will last respectively. Here are likely plans you are going to make as a student among others:
EATING PLAN
Good eating habit includes eating at the right time. The human body adjusts easily to eating schedules and works well when there is a specific time maintained regularly for eating.
Besides eating a healthy diet as a student you equally need to eat it at the right time. The right time is not just any time but the time it will not impair your ability to carry out other activities.
Considering the fact that students have a lot of activities to carryout out every 24hours including class works, assignments, and personal stuff, it is mandatory to clearly tabulate time in such a way that it fits into all your activities as a student including the time to sleep.
Mark out suitable time for eating routine and duration of such activity. Your time of eating should not come before your reading time as a student.
The reason is because of general body weakness that comes immediately after heavy food consumption and such lead to the feeling of rest or sleep because more blood and body organs are channeled to the digestion of the food, hence reading or trying to read within such time may not work out well and could impair on your concentration as a student.
Based on the above reason, your time for eating and timing should be close to your time of rest or sleep, then afterward comes your reading time.
SLEEPING PLAN
Sleep is very important to students’ health and good academic performance. As a student, it is good you create quality time at the right time for sleeping. Sleep helps the body and brain to be at optimal functions which is very important to the students’ academic performance and good health.
Sleeping time should be clearly stated and planned on your timetable. It should come at the time you are usually exhausted and need some rest. There is no specific time that is generally mapped out for you to sleep as a student, the sleeping time depends on your activities and schedules.
You can decide to sleep three times every 24hours or two times or even once but in all, the important thing is to give your body a good rest.
The best time to sleep after carrying out very difficult tasks that could be strength and brain energy-consuming or after eating heavy food as a student.
READING PLAN
Reading is very important to students’ academic performance because it defines the time for improvement of knowledge, understanding of class works, and gaining more insights into areas not properly understood during class lectures.
Students’ reading time forms the major activity of everyday habits in the students’ academic period. It should be a suitable time for the student not just for comfort but the ability to assimilate and comprehend quickly.
Based on the above reason, it is suitable for the reading time to fall at the quietest moment both for the body and the environment because that is when the brain functions properly.
Most students prefer night reading because it has been proven to be very effective. It is the time students are just waking up from sleep and their body is fully calm while the brain cells are very active are ready to process more information.
As a student, consider making out appropriate time for your reading plan, it should not come when you are busy or have something else bordering you rather it should be when you are calm and have little or nothing bordering your mind.
SOCIAL PLAN
A social plan is the allocation of time you will use to do other stuff such as going shopping, visiting or interacting with friends, or attending school social gathering events such as parties, religious fellowship, and lots more.
A student that wants to succeed academically should be able to do different academic activities from school social activities. You should know that you may not likely be present in all social activities because some will fall at the time you have allocated for other activities.
Based on the above reason, create a suitable time and specify the duration of time you will be spending on the social activities that fall within your free time.
AVOID DISTRACTIONS
Students have many distractions from campus distractions to off-campus distractions. Things that could distract a student revolve around entertainment, relationships, and part-time jobs, etc. Below are things you must take note of and avoid them from becoming a source of distraction to you:
SOCIAL MEDIA
While some posts would recommend avoiding the internet, I would rather say you should avoid social media and unnecessary internet usage. The Internet itself could be used to your own advantage as a student by using it to access valuable information to aid you in your assignments and projects.
However, using the internet for social media and entertainment only could harm your studies as a student. It could steal your attention and cause you to become addicted and put more time than necessary into it.
As a student, you should be able to strike a balance on how to use the internet to your advantage rather than a disadvantage. Social media should be paused or activity on it should be reduced to it minimum while more attention should be paid to a thing that matters most to your academics.
MOVIES AND SPORTS
Going to the cinema, watching television, and going to the stadium to watch sports activities or becoming involved in sports are parts of students’ distractions. As a student, you can avoid such activities if possible or minimize their time to the most minimum time-consuming activities.
While you have a lot to do as a student from classwork to lectures and practical classes, homework and assignments, and domestic activities, etc. it is advisable to cut down some of your activities that are not impacting much on your academic success and such includes watching of movies and sports.
While it is not bad to partake in a short sports activity that could last for few minutes as a form of exercise, it is not good to allow such activity to occupy most of your time as a student.
SOCIAL GATHERING/EVENTS
School is a field for social activities and events especially the tertiary institutions. Sometimes it could be off-campus activities. In all, a focused student should strike a balance between academic activities and social events. Though you may not really avoid all the social events it is good to choose only the ones relevant to your course of study or social life.
The easiest way to decide and maintain such a standard is to avoid peer pressure and distance yourself from individuals who like to attend every event to catch fun while in school.
DEAL WITH UNFRUITFUL FRIENDSHIPS
As a student, it is not bad to have friends but the friendship should be positive and not negative towards your academics. In other words, any friendship you are keeping in school should be to improve on your academics or at least not impact negatively to your academic activities.
If you have a friend or friends who usually distract your attention in your academics and make you become less focused on your time management plans then you need to discard such friends or friends as fast as possible.
It is better to be without any friends than to be with negative friends. A good student knows the best students that can help in improving in his/her academics and such are those suitable to make friends with and ensure you do not become a distraction to them as well.
CREATE STUDYING ROOM/LOCATION
Not everyone can comprehend very well in a noisy environment. Some students can read almost anywhere and still comprehend while some need a quiet place to be focused and comprehend.
If possible as a student create a studying room separate from your sleeping room. It could be a classroom that is always quiet, an idle and quiet open field on the campus, or any similar place. When it is time for studying you should ensure you are at the studying location.
This method may seem funny, stressful, time-consuming, and expensive but it pays off very well. As time progresses your body gets accustomed to it and gets you ready for assimilation the moment you are ready to study.
While doing this, you should have a good reading pattern that will not make you start sleeping in your studying location.
UNDERSTAND YOURSELF
The next way of managing your time effectively as a student is to understand yourself in terms of reading patterns, sleeping time, and general lifestyle. If you know how your body operates by default or how your body was trained for a long time, it will help you to know the right way of planning your time.
As a student, you should not try to change your body response pattern by forcing yourself to read when you normally sleep or forcing yourself to study when you usually sleep. This could impact the maximum use of those time.
Below are things you should consider when making your time management plan:
READING PATTERN
Your reading pattern could be different from another person’s reading pattern. Do not plan to read when others are reading simply because you feel that is the right time. If your body is not usually ready for assimilation at such time you will not get maximum benefits of the time.
Some people are very good at reading in the midnight hours while some are good at reading before going to bed and some read-only during the day. Know the best time for you and put that time in your timetable for reading.
Another consideration is the method of reading. It is very important to know the best reading method that enables you to understand faster.
Some students read by making using note-taking and summary method, some use images and illustrations, some cram definitions and keywords, some are good in just reading and re-reading again according to their study timetable.
Get the best pattern that works for you faster and apply it to save time. If you adopt the wrong or unfavorable reading method you will find yourself spending much time a single page trying to comprehend and store the information in your brain.
The next thing to consider is group reading or reading with someone who knows better than you. This helps to share knowledge and get information in areas you do not know which is a very good means of saving time on things you do not understand.
SLEEPING PATTERN
As I mentioned earlier, sleeping pattern varies. Some people like going to bed early and staying away at the midnight, some go to bed very late and woke up at dawn, sleep go to bed a little late and sleep only at the midnight hours and stay awake before dawn.
As a student, you should know what works for you. When do you normally sleep even before you entered school? The answer to this question will help you to fix the right time for you to go to bed as a student and it should be stated on your timetable.
While sleeping, use the best comfort method that could enable you to get deep sleep. For instance, you should not sleep on the floor, desk, chair, or mat rather sleep on a good foam with pillows that provide good ventilation by opening your windows and your insecticide if the need is to prevent mosquito bites and disturbances.
BEST RESTING METHOD
The resting period is different from the sleeping period but sometimes the two go together. For instance, during the resting period, someone could fall asleep which could be counted as sleep time. However, some rest are for few minutes and intended to ease stress and continue on a certain task.
Some use watching movies or sports events as a way to rest, some use visiting a friend as a way to rest, while some use lying down on the bed as a way to rest, etc. which method of rest is very good for you?
Apply the right resting techniques according to the way your body has been patterned, this will help to maximize the time for optimum results.
BEST RELATIONSHIP TO KEEP
The next consideration is the relationship that usually helps to get out your best. Some relationships keep you on the toes and propel you to do your best.
Consider having such a relationship that is based on academic competition of results, sharing of class works, borrowing of notes, becoming a reading partner or reading group partner, and asking of questions.. It will help to reduce waste of time, those time you would use to start surfing the internet for information, a fellow student can easily tell you all you need to know regarding the information you seek.
BE CALCULATIVE WITH TIME
Calculation of time simply means being time conscious. It equally means saving time by being proactive. The timetable you are using for time management has time allocated for every activity. To ensure the timetable works effectively, you need to be very calculative with time.
Anywhere you are as a student, you should be able to know what the time is and the next activity on the timetable. Getting a good wristwatch could be of help and using alarms will be even better to keep reminding you of the time for certain activities.
EVENTS/GATHERINGS/ENTERTAINMENT
If you are to attend any event in school or off-campus, do not go before the key activities that will be of interest to you start. Rather, you should be very calculative to go at the heat of the main activities, grab all the key events and activities, and return back to the other activity once you have grabbed the vital aspects of the events.
HANGING OUT
If there is time stipulated for hangout, it should be done without loss of time to the main hangout. Punctuality and time consciousness will help you to avoid overstaying during the hangout.
EXAM/TEST PREPARATIONS
The best way to maximize good use of your time for tests and examinations is early preparations. If you made your timetable early and followed it closely, you will have little to worry about tests and examinations
Early preparation is the best way to manage time effectively. If you started reading and studying your courses, you will have a good understanding of all the subjects offered and be able to save the time of reading extra hours for the exams and tests.,
EATING HABIT
The eating habit defines your ability to maintain your timetable. Since eating usually bring a feeling of rest and sleep, eating without control could cause you to disregard your timetable and get the whole thing wrong.
To avoid such abuse of your timetable, adopt good eating habits that will not impair your ability to study at the right time. Know when to eat heavy food and when to eat light food.
HEALTH
To be calculative about your health means to take proactive measures on your health. As a student, you should be mindful of your health. Take medications early to prevent possible health breakdown. Malaria, typhoid, and other common illness medications should be taken on time the moment any of the symptoms come up.
The early medication prevents loss of time for students so it is a good time management practice to be proactive about your health as a student.
BUY TIME WITH MONEY
Buying time is another way of saving time. It simply implies means paying someone for certain services to save more time for yourself as a student. This option will be very good if the student has money for expenses but need to save time. In other words, a student with good financial backing will find it very helpful to adopt this approach for time management.
There are services you could sublet to save time example includes; laundry works, instead of cooking you can eat from the students’ canteen, pay someone for some domestic works if your school permits it.
