T.I.M.E. Management Series – T
Time management.
Fourteen letters, two words, one seemingly impossible task. Between classes, internships, homework, spending time with friends, sleeping, and work, managing your time well can be difficult.
No matter where you’re at with your time management skills, this series is for you! In four posts, we will learn more about time management strategies and hear from students who have found certain techniques to be useful in their own lives.
In T.I.M.E. Management, T stands for...
Take a Deep Breath
Wait, hold on. Annie, isn’t this when you tell me how to magically solve all my time management issues? The answer: yes, sort of.
Time management isn’t something you can achieve overnight. Often, when you decide to make a change in your life, you might lean toward what I like to call the “overboard effect.” The overboard effect is when you make so many changes to your daily routine that you end up feeling more overwhelmed than you were before. You go “overboard” with implementing every time management strategy you can think of, and suddenly, you find yourself in a worse position than where you started.
So, take a deep breath.
Instead of over-organizing your day, making a boring routine of only studying, or beating yourself up for making a mistake, try to identify one part of your day that needs some work. Then, add in a time management skill that you think will work for you, not the other way around. For example, set your alarm earlier to get a head start on the day, or commit to studying after class for 30 minutes. Small steps each day lead to big changes, and consistency is the mark of success.
For more ideas on sticking to a routine and making small goals that build over time, check out this blog article: 5 Reasons Routines Fizzle – and How to Rekindle Healthy Habits
T is for Take a Deep Breath. Make one small change that you can commit to and build from there as we continue with this series. Keep a lookout for the next post in the T.I.M.E. Management Series — I is for Invest in a Planner!
