The Importance of Effective Time Management in College

College is so different from high school, and here I thought they were one in the same. Everything about myself has changed since I started college. I don’t even have free time for myself anymore. I probably should have believed the alumni from other colleges when they told me to kiss my old life good-bye. There was a time when I could go to school running on 5 hours of sleep. Trying to do that in college is impossible, especially on Tuesday and Thursday. If I’m not in bed by 10:30, don’t expect to me wake up until late afternoon. I never assumed that trying to get your studying in could screw up your sleep pattern. I use to be a light sleeper, but that has changed. Staying up past midnight use to be my routine. Now I’m staying up past midnight just to finish work. That is definitely an odd thing for me. When I was in high school, I never studied for tests, or did my homework at home. That really isn’t an option for me anymore. After my last class ends, I’m in the library for the rest of the day studying. I might as well marry it. I have never been so productive with work before because back then I just didn’t care, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I have worked well with getting my work done while still having enough sleep though. I try to do my work based off the classes I take that day.

For example, I have math and English class on Monday, and don’t have it again until Wednesday. But since I have class on Tuesday too, I try to do the work that’s due on Wednesday that Monday and if I don’t finish it all on Monday, I still have that Tuesday. I am normally not a time waster; can’t really say that I have become one in college though. There is just a certain someone at MTSU that always needs company. Somehow I became his best friend and study buddy, now I can’t get rid of him. I always have to have lunch and dinner with him, go to the library, and walk around campus so he can get girl’s numbers. He definitely makes me waste time when I could be doing homework, or studying for a test. I’m a nice person, so it’s kind of hard trying to tell him off and leave me alone, plus I’m a best friend. Maybe one day I will have enough courage to tell him I can’t hang out and that I have work to do. Most of the time I don’t need that much studying, but there is one course I have that makes me work every day just to finish the work on time. I find African American Studies so interesting and informing, but the work in that class is no joke. I have like 63 pages to read every Tuesday and Thursday in that class.

Sometimes I’m so engaged in African American Studies I forget that I have other classwork to work on. I can’t fall behind in that class because it’s hard to catch back up. I don’t even use the same time management for all my classes because the labor is different in each one. Some assignments take longer than the other so I don’t need as much studying. None of my classes have suggested tools for time management except University 1010. I bring it upon myself to create weekly schedules and to do lists. If I don’t I will forget what I have to do and fall behind. I like to keep an agenda book with me at all times so I can write down any upcoming events, projects, tests, or assignments. I check my agenda hourly so I can keep my mind on what needs to be done. If I don’t do that I will lose track and get caught off-guard with a test or something. I just wish that I had more free time for myself. I’m always so busy studying, or trying to catch up on sleep that I don’t get to do what I want anymore. I never have time to read books, or write more chapters to my own book. If there was a way for me to just relax and have time for myself, maybe college would go just a little bit smoother for me.