By Rafael Robledo
It’s the third week of school and some students are already behind in their classes and studies. The best way to catch up is to improve time management skills. As silly as this may sound, being organized really does help on succeeding in school and it’s also a skill that you will need in the near future.
From personal experience, I can vouch for the importance of time management because my first semester here at SDSU I didn’t focus on it and my grades weren’t as great. Second semester I used a Google calendar with my schedule and it actually helped me out a lot. In all honesty I didn’t really think that it would work but to my surprise it got easier to keep track of things.
In my opinion, time management is better if you get to enjoy how you keep track of your busy schedule. I will list some examples that one might use to create a schedule so that you may find your unique way of handling time management.
To begin, I will go over some digital applications that you may use as a means for time management. One of the best applications that anyone can use is Google calendar.
Now in this example we have a regular class schedule and even though it may look simple, It would still help the student with knowing when he is available. I personally like this method of organizing because I get to visually see when I can schedule a study group with my friends or when I can go out with friends and family. Now, you could further improve this calendar by adding exam dates, when assignments are due, your own homework time, etc.
Another application is the Outlook calendar. It works similar to google calendar in the form of structuring and organizing dates and deadlines.
In this example, we have an identical calendar but with a few more things added. Again, creating a schedule is personal and you can customize it the way that may help you the most. What I like about Outlook though, is that you can create tabs on top of the day like seen with the math assignment and chem report which shows you what is due on that day.
Additionally, something about Outlook and Google calendar is that you can add reminders. For example, you can set reminders on your mobile phone about an activity, class or homework. This is helpful since it keeps you on track on what you have to do that day.
Another thing that you can do if you don’t like to make an online schedule is having a planner or Passion Planner. With these you can write out your schedule and make it more colorful and to your design if you want to. Again, if you make it more personal it’s better since you will feel more motivated to plan out your schedule through the week.
This is what a Passion Planner looks like. On here you have more liberty with your own creativity. Heck, there’s space of infinite possibility! If you write out your own schedule and then start adding in the assignments, group meetings, special dates, etc. You can see how available and how much time you will have to do the things that you love doing. Additionally, something that is included in the Passion Planner are monthly reflections which make you reflect on how you, what you could do to improve, etc.
The semester is just starting out and if you put your mind to it to start improving your time management skills little by little you could end up cruising this semester with ease. I wish you luck this semester Aztecs!
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