Time Management

Time is one of the most precious resources we have. For whatever we do we cannot get back. This means that time cannot be wasted. So if time is so precious how can we spend it, so we can get everything done? The answer is time management but this is not something easily picked up. To understand it more we need to understand why people struggle with time, then we can look at how one can improve time management, and lastly this will bring us to the benefits to great time management.

Time management has been a consistent problem on college campuses. According to a study done by Tami Strang that 78 percent of the college population has moderate issues with time management and there is about 9 percent that majorly struggles with time management. This only leaves about 13 percent of students that have little to no issue at all. Just by looking at this study we can easily see that time management is not a skill most college students know or yet to understand. So why do college students lack this skill? The biggest problem is that students have is procrastination. Almost 60 percent of student say that this is the biggest struggle to be able to gain the best use of their time according to Strang. Procrastination is when someone wait to do something tell the last minute or the night before. When people are waiting to do homework they can get overwhelmed with stress and may not complete their assignment. Another big issue is distractions. Today there are so many different ways that a student can get distracted. One that has been around for years is friends. Peers are a great influence on how students do things. This is a range of playing video games to going out to the bars. Another way students are distracted is technology. Phones, laptops, Televisions, and video games have become a major impact on student lives. The access to the internet and social media has created many different ways for people to get tangled up in these distractions. Since we have found some of the biggest problems with time management, now we can look for some way to improve on these areas.

Improving time management is the best way for students to improve the things they are doing. The first thing we can fix is procrastination. For procrastination is to make a plan. A student who purchases a planner has a greater chance of being organized. Using a planner can help keep a student on top of their homework. This is due to them being able to schedule their day depending on what needs to be done. This will give them a visual on the times they will spend on homework and show them the possible time that they will be available to do whatever they want to which is a great success strategy according to Nist-Olejnik, S., & Holschuh, J. The only thing with the planner that all students should know. First, the planner should be updated daily. Second, is that you should plan your time into it so you can relax. And lastly but most importantly is that the planner does not make itself. For reducing distraction it is easier said than done. Since most college students are glued to their devices this makes it a lot hard to put them down. So the best way to do this is to go somewhere where these devices will be less distracting. One great place is to go to the library. This is a great place to get away from some of the technology. Or a student can put the distractions on the other side of their room to give them an opportunity to focus on the task at hand. And for the distraction of friends is help through the planner because with the planner it will show you when you should do and not do. So when all these improvements are applied, what benefits will they bring?

Benefits of time management range from big and small. On benefit is pretty obvious and that is the reduced stress. This is due to there being less of a worry on getting something done or not. Having reduced stress will improve performance in and out of the classroom. Being a college student is already stressful so taking one more stressful thing of a student’s plate will greatly improve their college experience. Another thing that will be a benefit that may or not is noticeable is that you will get more things done. Being able to use the planner to make the make your time more efficient there will be less time doing nothing that was not proactive. Being on top of one’s studies have been shown to improve grades. A study by Stanford showed that doing one’s homework more than 2.4 hours increased the chance of a passing by 84 percent.

Through looking at time management we can see how student struggle with this skill. Knowing most students have to trouble with this you know that you are not alone. So do not be afraid to be ask the people around you for help. But if you are not willing to ask for help. There are way you can do it yourself. Getting a planner and taking away distractions will help you greatly improve your time management skills. When you can put these in action there will soon to be results in your work. Even a Stanford study gave proof of being able to ones work will greatly increase your chance to pass in your class. Time management is one of the keys to success.