College students practicing time management skills
Sometimes you can get that feeling that you're the only one behind in a class and you're the odd one out. I can speak from personal experience that I have felt this way. Its hard to think that everyone in your class is ahead of you, and you're left stressed and confused. One of my peers, Nathan Burruano has opened my eyes to some tips on how to manage my time so that I don’t feel left behind.
“ Many successful people always have a plan of what tasks need completed on a weekly basis. Having a plan drafted makes it easier to organize what is needed to be completed.” (Burruano, 2017)
Nathan has made it a point that planning what you have to do is very important in order to get things done in a timely, and efficient matter. Nathan says that you should have an agenda that has the dates and times of when you have homework due, meetings, events, etc. Along with having a list of what to do, you should also incorporate how long this specific task will take you. This is essential because if you know something is only going to take an hour, and another thing will take 30 minutes, you can plan your time accordingly. Also by doing this it lets you visually see what task is the biggest, and most likely the most important, which you should always get done first. You should set aside time in your busy day to prepare yourself for what you have to do for that day, and the days to come. Keeping an updated version of your plan is important to do because it shows you what you have already completed, and what still needs to be done. When you can visually see what you have already done and what needs to be done, it helps ease the mind and helps you relax. After completing your work that needs to be done for the day, that doesn’t mean you should just be done. It would be very beneficial to start the work that needs to be done for the next day, or even fully complete it. This makes it so you don’t have to spend as much time on it the next day, and you wont feel as stressed. In other words, making a plan or a schedule of what you have to do is very important. By doing this, you can plan your time more effectively, and this will allow you to see what needs to be done, when it due, and about how long it will take you to complete this task. Doing this will help you master the soft skill of time management because you will be using your time more effectively. I agree with Nathan that it would be a good idea to make a detailed plan of what you need to do because it will help you in the long run, and I even use this tip to help me with planning my work for the week.
Burruano, N. (2017, September 24). When in doubt draft a plan [Blog post]. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://medium.com/time-management-skills-in-the-financial-sector/when-in-doubt-draft-a-plan-b87c5e6e1687
From my personal experience, planning ahead is one of the best things that you can do to help you with your time management. I rely heavily on my school agenda because if I don’t write down what I need to get done, I forget about. Although I already used this tip to have a plan of what I need to get done, I have improved on it. I have improved because instead of just writing down what needs to be done, I have made it to be more clear. I write down in my agenda in order of importance, and when these tasks need to be completed by. Instead of just seeing a whole list of things that need to be done and stressing out about how much I have to do, writing it in order makes it more clear to what needs to be done and if i need to work on it immediately or not. To continue practicing this skill I will keep writing my tasks in my agenda in order of importance and making sure to write when its due. This will definitely help me in the long run, and make my use of time more efficient.
