To sign up for our daily email newsletter, CLICK HERE
10 Time Saving Hacks for College and University Students
Time is often a defining factor in your success or failure. It is particularly true for college because students not only have to juggle their classes and lectures, homework assignments, project deadlines, part-time jobs, social lives, and other responsibilities; for most of them, it is the first time in their lives when they get relative independence. Back in high school, their parents, guardians, and schools themselves determined what and when they had to do. Many if not most things were scheduled. Now they have this jumble of responsibilities to deal with and zero experience of doing it. No wonder so many students get confused and manage their time poorly, with all the negative consequences you can expect.
In this article, you will find 10 useful lifehacks that will help you save time without affecting your grades or social life.
1. Organize Yourself
Some people hate organization and order, believing that it stifles their creativity and spontaneity. Unfortunately for them, there is no way around it – if you want to waste less time, you have to learn how to organize it. It does not matter, really, how exactly you do it – what is important is that you take responsibility for your time and your duties. A good place to start is to write down all your deadlines in one place so that you can see them at a glance. Plan every week and day ahead, paying attention to how you can spend your time most efficiently. Make sure you do not have any conflicting engagements.
2. Set Priorities
College is not just a time for studying. It is also an opportunity to meet new people, pursue interests and engage in extracurricular activities. However, do not forget that your primary goal is to get an education that will help you build a successful career. While doing a math or statistics assignment may not look like a fascinating thing to do, it is probably more important for achieving your personal goals than meeting up with your friends for a drink.
3. Schedule Classes Strategically
If you can schedule your own classes, make use of it. For example, make sure all your classes are always back-to-back – this way you will be able to get done with them in one block and have the rest of the day for yourself, instead of wasting time between classes commuting. If you feel particularly busy, it may be useful to sign up for online classes – they may require the same amount of time, but you can deal with them on your own terms.
4. Look for Help
If you find some part of your workload to be particularly difficult, do not waste time trying to figure it out on your own. Look for someone to help you out – there are always opportunities for this in college. Talk to your professor, join a study group, or consult a peer who has a better grasp of the subject in question. If things are particularly bad, consider paying for assignments to be done for you – you can find plenty of academic assistance services online where you can hire relevant experts.
5. Get Enough Sleep
Different people need different amounts of sleep to function properly. Pay attention to how you feel after sleeping for a different number of hours and at different times, and figure out exactly how much you require. Many students try to get extra time by sleeping less, but it is a fool’s errand. You can make your day a bit longer this way, but the more sleep you lack, the less efficient your work becomes. You spend more time doing everything, make more mistakes, your memory is worse – as a result, you may spend more time trying to fight off the effects of insufficient sleep than you win by forgoing sleep in the first place.
6. Get Rid of Distractions
Chances are, the main reason why you do not have enough time for everything is not that you have too much on your plate, but because a huge portion of your time is wasted. Don’t be in a hurry to say, “No, you are wrong about me”. Try tracking exactly what you are doing every minute of your waking life for a few days, and you will be amazed at how much time disappears seemingly into nothingness. Seemingly small distractions end up eating huge chunks of your time. All these phone calls, Internet surfs, short conversations with friends seem like they take a couple of minutes, but taken all together, they can turn into a real liability. Learn to fight them. There are many free and paid apps that prevent you from visiting certain websites during work hours. If your friends distract you, study somewhere where you do not bump into them (like a library or a café you don’t usually go to). Turn off your phone. There are always ways to do it.
7. Don’t Plan Too Much for One Day
You will probably fail to do everything you want this way, get demotivated, and waste even more time. Make balanced plans. The best way is to have one key task (like writing a major assignment), a couple of medium ones (like reading 30 pages of a book), and a few small ones (like meeting up with friends) for each day.
8. Use Digital Tools Wherever Possible
While using pen and paper can be oddly pleasant, these days students have plenty of ways to save time doing many of their activities. Bibliography services, proofreading apps, software for keeping to-do lists, reminders – you can find digital tools for virtually anything, and they are usually more effective than doing it the old-fashioned way.
9. Do Things in Bulk
It is usually more efficient to perform similar activities in blocks than scatter them around. Cook for a few days ahead. Study reading materials for a couple of hours instead of taking a few minutes here and there. Designate a specific time to make all the phone calls you need rather than do it whenever the need arises.
10. Do the Hardest Thing First
You may feel inclined to put the most difficult and unpleasant task until later, but bite the bullet and always start the day with it. This way, you will be able to handle it while you are still full of energy and at your best.
Of course, these are not the only ways you can save time while in college – but we believe that these are among the first habits you should adopt if you want to achieve success.
