Do What Best Work For You

You have two quizzes tomorrow, a test Friday, a project, your best friend’s birthday party is this week and you have gotten a gift, you have to work tonight and you need eight hours of sleep to get ready for your 8 a.m. class. No wonder you’re on the verge of tears.

During your college career, if you don’t manage your time in a way that’s best t for you, you are going to feel like your head will explode.

When you have ve classes and each of your teachers are piling one thing on top of another, how do you think you can survive? Time management!

I know my parents want me to succeed in school, have a social life, work and be in bed early so I can be rejuvenated for the next day. I don’t know if they will ever understand that doing all these things without going insane is nearly impossible. Something has to give, and for me, that’s my precious eight hours of sleep. Sad, I know, but in college, does anyone really get eight hours of sleep anyways?

One of the things I had planned to work on while being in school was procrastination. Freshman year I was on top of everything, nishing assignments well before the due date and studying every night. Because of this, I was completely drained.

To me, there’s no such thing as the ideal “perfect student.” You just do as well as you can do for your own benefit.

I do better when I put things off until the last minute. Yes, teachers warn students against doing this, but in college, you have to do what is right for you. Knowing something is due the next day makes my brain go to work whether I like it or not.  I push myself through, and I surprisingly do a more efficient  job. When I say the last minute, I don’t mean late at night when I know that I’m going to be tired, or the next morning when I only have an hour until class. Once I get out of class, the first thing I do is start on work for the next day. It seems like I’m doing work everyday, instead of doing most of my work in one day so I can take a break the next day. However, trying to stay on top of things like that, at least for me, doesn’t do any good.

As far as my social life goes, I do my best to take time out for either my friends or myself. I can never spend a whole day in the books unless I have a very important exam the next day. It’s important to take some time out with your friends so you can unwind and your brain won’t be too cluttered to nish your work for the day.

How you manage your time in college is for you to determine. If you feel like you can spend a whole day with your friends and cram all of that work in two hours before class, then go for it. Just because you wait until the last minute to do work doesn’t mean you’re a slacker. That’s just doing what makes you comfortable.

I’m not encouraging anyone to put off work just for the sake of not wanting to do it. I’m just encouraging you to do what’s right for you. For me, it’s cramming before a test and doing homework the day before class instead of a week early. The important thing is, I turned it in right and on time.

But it’s up to you.