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oujustdon'tunderstandit. Yo u r student
only has one or two classes each
day, but he calls in a panic a fter miss-
in gan assignment deadline or overwhelmed
with a huge assignment due
tomorrow morning. You wonder00/span>
what exactly is he doing with the other
20 plushoursin
his day?
On e ofthegreatestchal-
lenges experienced by college
students is time management.
Managing the major priorities
int heir life related to academics,
a job, co-curricularactivi-
ties, personal wellness an da
social life can of ten leave students feeling overwhelmed
and hopeless, ultimately leading to bad
habits such as procrastination and poor a cademic per-
formance.
So, then exttimeyourstu dent calls to share that
he did poorly on a test-because hedidn'tstudy,
because he overslept, because he was up all night
with friends, and slept through his scheduled study
group-consider challenging him on how he might
manage his time better with some easy"challenge and
support"time management tips.
How CanIHelp?
Help him assess how he is allocating his time by
suggesting that he keepatimelogforo ne week.
Encourage him to look for the"waste baskets"in
his time log.
Wastebaskets
are large chunks
of t imethatdis-
appear and are
wasted. Ask him
how he can
avoid those
"wastebaskets"
int he future.
Encourage him
to identify his
"prime times"
for studying,
socializing,
sleeping, etc. When does he feel best or per form
best?
Help your student learn how to prioritize his
time. Ask him to create alist of tasks and activities
he needs or wants to do, then rank order from
most important to least important.
Suggest that he createadailyto-do list to organize
his daily priorities and feel the satisfaction of
crossing off the priorities he accomplishes. It'sa
great feeling!
Help him understand the importance of saying
"NO"when opportunities arise that don'tmesh
with his priorities.
Encourage this common advice offered by college
professors: students should study two hours for
everyone hour in class.
Promote the idea of breaking huge tasks into
smaller, mor emanageabletasks, overtime. It will
be less overwhelming and your student will feel
like he is accomplishing the larger task little by
little.
Suggest he assess the distractions that sometimes
take his attention away from his priority tasks.
Instant messages, television programs, email, and
phone calls can be manag ed better when he con-
trolswhentheyar ereceivedand responded to.
Send a care packag efilledwithtools that will support
him in his efforts to better manage his time.
Tools to consider including are: a planner, a journal,
adry-erase calendar, a bulletin board, post-it
notes, aw atch, highlighters, and an alarmclock.
Y
Time Log
Keep as imple record of how time was
spent00ncluding sleep, meals, interruptions,
and socializing.
Account for blocks of time in increments of 15
or 30minutes.
Keep the log for at least seven straight days.
After completing the time log for one week,
review it and cross check it with self-per cep-
tionsofhowtimeis used.
Prioritizing Tasks
It is easy to create a quick
method for ranking t asks
based on high, medium or
low priorities. Consider
using "signals"for levels
of priorities such as:
00, B, C
00,2,3
00ymbols
00ighlight with differ-
entcolors
Time Management: Time Flies
When YourStudent is at College
download Time Management: Time Flies When YourStudent is at College
