Top 5 Tips for Mastering Time
Students often don’t realize, especially when they are young, how time slips from their hands. They are more interested in playing and other entertainments. But that is natural, considering their age. However, if they realize the importance of time management and start mastering time, they will be much more successful in their studies and eventually in careers. Here are some tips.
1. Keep a Calendar Always at Hand
It may seem a no-brainer, but students often don’t do that. They don’t keep a track of their commitments with reference to a calendar. Keeping a track is of a lot of help to analyze yourself and your dedication. You can use Google Calendar by syncing it with your computer calendars or even phone or tablet if your parents have given them to you. This is great because you can color-code and enter whatever you think important from the classes, volunteering or apprenticeship. You can also keep a note of your playtime, tournaments, sports practice sessions and so on. Also you can set reminders for assignments and other important things. This will help you a lot in organizing your life.
2. Make a To-do List
Don’t rely fully on your memory about things you should do. Better you jot down the tasks. You can make such a list while starting the day and can include even things that seem very basic or small to you. Believe it or not, you will soon find that you are getting more time for your tasks! This is because your mind becomes more organized when you have a clear picture of things to do in a day; so, you can do them more efficiently and faster.
3. Get Knowledge from Others
You might apply your own ideas or others’ – your ultimate goal is to organize your time for studies, career hunt and other activities. There is no harm in taking tips from others. If the tips suit you, you can accept them or you can leave them. For example, see these 5 steps to really, actually live in the present moment. They are fantastic and you can really learn a lot from them.
4. Schedule a Longer Time for Things than You Think
If you are overestimating yourself about doing a certain task in a certain time, stop it and start underestimating. For example, while you might think that you will complete an assignment in an hour, you may find that you actually take 2-3 hours for that. So, start scheduling 2 or 3 hours for the same. What’s the benefit? You will schedule the task earlier, complete it in time and will be much more relaxed than times when you used to schedule much shorter duration for that. This will relax your mind and offer you energy to plan other things.
5. Schedule Time for Rest
If someone (mostly one of your parents) is condemning you about being too much lazy, sleepy, etc, neglect her/him! Plan for rest. Of course, the time should not be such that you won’t feel like getting up again and you will actually feel lazy. And also rest need not be a nap always; it could be TV, meeting friends, watching a movie or anything. This will give your mind a good break from the task you have undertaken and you will be surprised to see that you have started getting much better ideas when you come back.
Apply these tips and they will be useful to you not only for your school or college, but throughout your life!
