So, you thought high school was a drag and heading off to college was your ticket to freedom before you got a hold of those grueling project reports, study schedules and even more focus required of you to select a major?

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest industry news and trends across the globe, you will know that time management is not for business persons and harried housewives alone who juggle different tasks and need to always come out tops! It is equally important for the student community at large, especially college level students who have just come out of the sheltered and structured environment of high school and need to understand the essence of basic time management in order to prioritize goals, have an organized life, advance towards their dream careers and also reduce stress by working out a balance in their lifestyle.

Learn how to balance college fun and study life with student time management tips we have compiled from the best resources right here!

• Conduct A Personal Time Survey For Yourself: list the things you need to do on a regular basis (weekly/monthly) and note down the approximate time it takes you to attend to these. Multiply the time spent on each activity by seven to know the approx. number of hours you spent on that activity in a week. Do this for all activities and add them up; then subtract the sum from 168 (total number of hours in a week) and you’ll know jut how many hours you can study.
• Now, make out a time table for yourself. You can buy a ready made one or customize the online charts available on various websites and take a print out for making your calendar to fit in classes, meals, exercise routine etc. keeping in mind intervals needed to go from one to another/commuting time.
• Fit in breaks in between long hours of study and organize your free-time as well so you can accommodate assorted tasks in your daily schedule without having felt you’ve left out on something or given others too much importance.
• Be realistic in choosing goals you can achieve in the time-frame you set yourself; don’t aim at being a perfectionist for then you’ll only get de-motivated after a while of not getting the right results.
• Prioritize your ‘to-do’ list and ensure these are in keeping with your goals. Learn to say no politely when others demand of your time kept aside for reaching a particularly important goal.
• Multi-task wherever possible e.g. do laundry while listening to an audio lesson so you revise your work, read on the bus to college etc.
• Don’t lose focus of what you need to do in the timeline given to you: if circumstances beyond your control require you to change your schedule, then re-prioritize with taking up where you left off the most important task the day before. This way you will find yourself back on schedule again!

As mentioned before, the key to organizing your life and living college life to the fullest is proper time management, which can be achieved with various web tools and basic knowledge of what makes you tick, knowing which are your strong points (e.g. perhaps a talent for public relations, artistic skills, good memory etc.) which are your weak areas that need to be worked upon (e.g. tendency to procrastinate, sleep late, eat junk food etc.) so you can sift through this information and arrive at a list of things you need to do.