Time management- Mastering It Can Be Harder Than You'd Think

In high school, it was in a sense easier to manage my time.  Because the high school class schedules are so set in stone, I basically spent my whole day in one place (with the exception of Senior year, and part of Junior year).  I was always either taking classes at USU, or InTech.  As for extra curricular activities, that was a whole different story.  After school was either spent tutoring students as part of NHS (National Honor Society), and sometimes rehearsing with the band I formed my Junior year.  Not to mention Mondays and Wednesdays I had dance class, followed by hours of homework every night.  I also got a math tutor, and went to every SI session for my USU classes Senior year.  There definitely was a lot of driving back and forth, but luckily my home is only five minutes from the USU campus, and InTech!(:  And to top it off I also was patrol assistant for the Girl Scout troop I had been in for 10 years.  I definitely mastered the time balancing schedule in high school pretty well.

In fact. . Dance and my band really helped break apart my studies from the day, and helped keep me sane.  I sure do miss my old dance team, as well as playing music in a band. Yes, I was drummer, and loved it! :D

College is a different story. . . I have much more free time, yet not enough hours in the day to get everything done! How can this be? Getting used to classes spread out during the day has been a big change, but I quite like it. It gives me more time to prepare for each class beforehand, and I like this layout so much better than high school! However, having a spread out schedule at first was a little difficult.  I found myself with too much time on my hands, and often would turn to Netflix as a source of making time go by faster.  Now I barely have time to watch an episode a week! I've learned to use the extra hours in my day carefully to study, and to go into work for a few hours.  That way I am productive, and not wasting any minute of the day! Even though I only have ten minutes in between a class and dance practice, it is good to be kept busy.  That is the essential key to college- time management.  Without this skill it can be very difficult to focus and to get studying and homework done! For me it actually has helped writing out on paper my weekly schedule.  Blocking out times for classes, studying, dance, and work.  It may sound silly, but having a schedule to look at in front of me really does help my day go much smoother.  Especially being a pre-nursing major, we really have a tough course load!! Right now I am taking Psychology, Sociology, Stats, Organic Chemistry, and a CPR class.  I actually really am enjoying all of my classes! Well. . my stats teacher could pick up the pace more, but thats okay! And although I thought I would be afraid of Chemistry, I actually really have been enjoying it! Last semester the labs were a little tedious because I completed all of those experiments in high school, and after working on my own in a research lab, doing experiments like that don't really interest me as much anymore!

Well, despite us college kids having crazy schedules, and almost no time for ourselves, it is important to find some time out of your week to get out of the dorms, take a break from studying, and to do something enjoyable!  If I had the option my getting away time would be spent with my kitties! hehe!(:

xoxo, Cate