With the advent and the nonstop development of technology, it helps lessen the required time and effort to do a single task. We all know that with the invention of some technologies that are now widespread such as computers, television, smartphones, and other innovations, the activities are accomplished by people effectively and at a faster rate. However, although it is indeed helpful, it created an opportunity to do more complicated tasks and it led to the increase of possible tasks a single person can do. Because of this, everyone became busier and we all feel that time runs faster today. Included with this are the college students who are studying for the degree of their choice. College students are really busy since they need to attend a number of classes for a day, and there are exams, homework, projects and other requirements that they need to do regularly for each of the subject that they have. Moreover, the use of technology made it possible to make online submissions and even class discussions. Since college life is really overloaded with tasks to do, time management is very important. In fact, technology is again being utilized through creating apps that help people manage their time effectively. Without time management, for example, if classes are not organized by schedule or if meetings and appointments are not planned, we can only imagine the chaos that this could give to everyone.
Time management refers to a process of carefully planning and organizing the time allotted for the tasks one needs to do in order to achieve productivity and to accomplish those tasks more effectively. It is very important especially for college students to manage their time properly in order to be successful in their studies. Time management will allow the students to have proper time allocations for the tasks they need to do. Through managing their time, they can also quickly have an overview of the things that they need to do without missing some of their tasks. This is very essential since it would help them remember all the homework, or projects that they need to accomplish and avoid late submissions that would greatly affect their academic performance negatively. Through time management as well, the students can properly assign a particular time period in their schedule of when they can study or review for upcoming exams especially for midterms and finals. Additionally, through carefully organizing their time, a student can also quickly see if they still have a vacant in their schedule in order to accommodate any last-minute plans or other activities that one might want to do. Although of course, it would be ideal that the tasks would be done according to their allotted time, it is actually impossible to do this in real life since there could be unforeseen events that may happen. If these unexpected events suddenly occur, then with a properly managed schedule, one will be able to adjust their time effectively and quickly as well since their plans are already organized in the first place. With all of this, time management is indeed really helpful to college students since it enables them to accomplish their tasks effectively and also productively.
With all the given importance of time management, how exactly does one manage his time? Time management is actually not really bounded by a strict set of rules or guidelines but it should be created while keeping in mind the different styles and methods of every person. If, for example, an individual is a very detail-oriented person, then he or she might want to create a schedule that is exact and carefully planned to the point that every minute is significant. On the other hand, if a person prefers to only have a general grasp of how he or she will manage time, then he or she can create a schedule that is not too tight such as only allocating tasks by morning, noon, afternoon, then evening. However, based from consolidating the ideas of different sources, the basic steps one needs to do for time management are composed of four elements: enumerating or listing, prioritizing, scheduling, and lastly finalizing. First, you need to summarize and enumerate or list every activity or tasks that you need to whatever medium you decide to use. Then, the next step is to prioritize the tasks according to its importance. Prioritizing is important since realistically, we really cannot do every single task that we need to do in a short amount of time. Therefore, we can first do the tasks with the highest priority and after that, if there is still enough time, then the less prioritized tasks can be accomplished as well. After prioritizing the tasks, scheduling will follow. By giving importance to the prioritized task, organize and plan your schedule by allocating time for each activity that you need to accomplish. Lastly, you can now finalize your schedule by checking if all the tasks have been accommodated or if there are certain adjustments that you want to do, then you can adjust it accordingly. These steps are only the most common way of managing your time but again, there are different ways people can do time management in line with their comfort and convenience.
Most of the people nowadays, especially the students, often opt to download time management or scheduling apps sometimes even equipped with a Pomo timer, a timer that helps the student track in real-time the time he or she spends in studying without looking through their phone. With these, the application will automatically arrange the tasks one needs to do according to the time and date that the user has set for that specific task. It is indeed a helpful tool for time management since one can choose how to view their schedule whether daily, weekly, or monthly.
