Life is a huge juggle of priorities. Besides the biggest priority of keeping up with your college classes, you still have to find time to study for those classes, go to the job that you have to go to almost every day, participate in extracurricular activities you’re involved in, have a social life on the side, and most importantly, yet somehow always forgotten, you need time to sleep.
How does a student find time to do all this with only 24 hours in a day?
From what I hear, freshmen students are hit with this problem the hardest. There’s the huge jump from being spoon-fed high school drama to a huge plateful of the new independent life.
It’s even harder for students who live on campus. Not only are they beginning the new and most important phase of their life, but there’s no parent or authority figure to reiterate the rules.
You wake up in the morning intending to get all your work done and read all the chapters for the night, but by the end of the day, you’ve done nothing but chill in a friend’s room and watch “SAW III.”
For some students, college life has become so overwhelmingly full, they can’t even tell when yesterday ended and today began. Life in college has just become a tsunami of wave after wave that keeps hitting you until you find out how to get to a level of safety.
Where is that level of safety? And most important, how in the world can you get there?
Step one: You have to make a decision. A decision is not a maybe, or a possibility. It’s a choice you make in your mind to do something no matter what waves sweep over you. It’s the first few steps towards that safe level that will help you gain your footing.
Step two: Choose carefully the people you hang around. If your friends think a successful school night is chilling in the room watching “SAW III”, then guess what — tonight you’ll be chilling in a friend’s room watching “SAW III”.
Step three: Maintain a balance. Try to work out your schedule so that you’ll have time to complete all your work, and still have time for your friends. You don’t have to be a stranger, or become a geek to keep up with your books.
Step four: Make connections with people that take your same classes. Not only is it easy and helpful to study in a group, but it’s fun too. You get the benefit of a study buddy, and in most cases, a friend as well.
Step five: Never be afraid to ask for help. While you’re sitting in the corner of the classroom thinking about how appalled and disgusted the professor will be that you, the student, had the nerve to ask him a question … your question (that isn’t dumb after all) is going unanswered.
Now I can’t agree with people who say, “There is no such thing as a dumb question,” because I have heard a few in my time. But in most cases, I assure you that your question will be perfectly sane.
So for those of you who thought managing time for college is difficult — think again. As freshmen, making the switch from high school to college can be a bit overwhelming. Hey, I’m just a freshman, too.
I’ve found myself watching “SAW III” on some occasions instead of reading about the French Revolution. But don’t give up. It’s possible.
It’s all just a matter of time.
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