Once you get into college life, you realize that it is not just only fun and chilling out as you dreamt of. Work too gets a lot in between. In fact, students have their weeks clogged up with submissions, assignments, case study, documentation, presentation, experiments, field visits and maybe even more! 

Even thinking of all the tasks at the same time makes one go exhausted easily. And when the exams are near, time seems to fall shorter and students wish they could manage all the things better.

Well, as every problem has a solution, a well planned time management is the key to dodge all the chaos. Yes, it does sound like an age-old suggestion which all your elders have been telling you to do since you were a kid, but the trick indeed works! 

As the old saying goes, time is money, indeed you have to spend it wisely.

A clear estimate of what to do, when can help you avoid many problems that occur at the Last minute due to mismanagement of time. Now that does not mean that you draw a timetable for each hour and make yourself follow it anyhow, but a sketch of the timeline in your mind, for doing all your stuff can work wonders too.

To help you understand better the importance of time management, especially in college life, go through the following points to know it better.

1. You will have more time for yourself

Looking broadly, we spend our time mostly on others or things. Chatting with friends, listening to the faculty, making notes, watching a movie etc consume a large part of the day. And we derail from being with ourselves slowly, without even realizing it. 

When was the last time you sat all alone, thinking about your goals and planning your next move in career? 

Managing your time would give you quite a time for yourself, which you can utilize to sleep well, workout on a regular basis, take a walk around and more. Spending time with yourself give time for a person to think about his own life, plan his future and career ahead. Also, it is a common thing to see that college students do not pay much attention to health and fitness. 

Make health a priority and spend time on your fitness making your time plan wisely.

2. Reduce your stress levels

Stress can definitely go low with a time plan put properly in action. The last-minute madness can always be avoided if you make a decision on organizing your week. Let us consider a situation, wherein you have been asked to submit a report on the recent experiment conducted on a selected subject. 

A lazy, chilled out the way to go would be to think that you are a know it all person, who can do wonders at the last hour and come up with a good report. Thinking this, you keep delaying things, and the deadline draws off nearer with each passing day. When the last night before the deadline arrives, it all turns a nightmare, and students end up clueless.

To avoid such a panic situation, draft an outline and follow it well. Keep working on your academic schedule throughout the semester, rather than working in the final days before the exam. 

3. Develops a responsible behavior

One of the important benefits of time management is that it develops a sense of responsibility in a person. Once you are through with your graduation, you will be stepping in a professional world, wherein your interpersonal skills and personality play a key part of your success. Being responsible is a highly important characteristic of your personality. Managing your time can help you coordinate your daily affairs well and provide you the time to plan how much time to spend on each activity.

4. Helps you completing work in time

Time management clearly saves you from being caught in panic situations. Completing your assignments and projects will not only give you time to do other things simultaneously, it will also improve your overall performance. 

Plan your semester before it begins. Keep a note of the exams and the holidays in between, so that you can decide the schedule of work and make sure to stick to it.

5. Manage time to manage money

As time is precious, so is money. A well planned time plan for your academic curriculum in your college years can definitely help you spend money judiciously too. That doesn’t mean that you will become a super saver and save all your spending if you manage time, but you can definitely spend it wisely. 

Wastage of time can be a huge factor behind wastage of money. The more the time you waste, money gets blown away at a similar pace too! A smart time plan will help you save time, with which you can spend or make money in various approaches. 

6. It prepares you for life ahead

Time management during your college years is a great way to get skilled in leading a better life ahead. Once you graduate, you realize that there are even more challenging tasks that college, all at the same time to be done. Office meetings, presentations, client meetings and other office tasks will consume a major portion of your day while taking time out for spouse, children, parents, traveling, fitness and other personal requirements would be the other important section of your time. 

To strike a balance between both is extremely important, for which one needs to be a master of time management. Thus, when you in your college years, take it as a practice time to manage various things well in time. 

Now that you know as to why time management is a quality one must polish well, it is not late to make a fresh start even now! It is always good to add a good habit to your schedule. 

Follow these quick tips to make the right time management plan for you, which will help you keep up with your academics and have fun too.

1. Make a realistic time plan

Now, do not end up making a time plan which you can’t follow. Keep it practical. The best person who knows you is yourself. You know how much time you would require for your studies, what kind of workout you prefer, your sleep pattern etc. think well accordingly, and give a relevant space for each thing smartly in your time plan.

2. Maintain flexibility in your time schedule

Surprises keep coming up anytime. Do not make your plans so strict, that if something sudden or urgent hits you, you don’t have time for that. Spare some free moments to fit in such requirements. 

3. Keep an early update of your academic curriculum

Prospectus and syllabus are told to the students at the beginning of the semester itself, which often students do not pay much attention to. Well, change the habit right away, and go through your semester plan. This will give you the idea of the tasks that you will be required to complete and can plan your weeks and months to come by. Remember, the key to success is to be a good planner. 

Thus, make it a habit to plan your academic life well in advance.

4. Maintain a checklist

Printouts for report               Done

Examine recent samples       Done

Netflix payment                    Pending                       Offers ends in 3 days

Phone bill pay                       Done

Type report to submit           Pending                      Deadline coming in 2 days

Apply for part-time              Done     

Well, you can go for a checklist like one given above. You can go on making either a weekly checklist, a monthly one or as per your convenience. Strike off the tasks which you are done with, and work on upcoming ones. A checklist is a great way to keep all your tasks in your view so that you can keep a track of the completed ones and the ones to kill.

5. Pledge to follow it

Don’t just make a time plan like the New Year resolutions; make one and forget it the next day itself. Understand its importance and the factor that it will help you improve your daily schedule, and prepare you better for your professional life ahead.