On Time Management
When you first arrive in college, there are overwhelming opportunities just awaiting you to sign up, and sure enough, you put your name down in 12 different clubs and activities because college is the prime time to try out things on your bucket list and get better at things you’re committed to, with other people who have similar interests. The typical college courseload also gives you room to pursue these interests.
However, as the excitement of novelty wears off after the first few months, you focus on a few activities and get less involved in others you find that you don’t like so much after all. Add that to the heap of home reading and research, house upkeep, socializing, partying, quality couple time, a possible job and still getting enough sleep to function and your time becomes the most precious commodity (or the secondmost, after money).
What if you want all three, plus extra time for unscheduled events?
There’s a modicum of efficiency for all three angles.
1. Enough Sleep
The average college student goes to sleep early in the morning, wakes up for class 4-6 hours later and takes a 2-3 hour nap later in the day. That’s incredibly inefficient and a waste of your time. Take 4 1/2 to 6 hours of sleep on a weekday, maybe a luxurious 7 1/2 hours on a weekend. It’s plenty for anyone; too much sleep is actually counterproductive to your level of restfulness.
If you need to take a nap because your energy levels are too low, make it 30 minutes tops or 90 minutes if you got less than 4 1/2 hours the night before. Here’s a helpful website to calculate when you should wake up to maximize sleep efficiency by waking up in between sleep cycles.
Basically, sleep cycles are 90 minutes. Ideally, you want at least 4 of them, or 6 hours, to feel fully rested, but you can run on 3 sleep cycles to save on time. Many hard workers go months on end on 3 sleep cycles. That’s how they outhustle you in every aspect.
2. Social Life
I don’t need to tell you that you shouldn’t stay home to watch TV or play video games alone most of the time. Use your free time to pursue hobbies, increase your knowledge (http://www.noexcuselist.com/) or hang out.
About alcohol and parties, always bring your own booze and drugs if applicable, and be liberal in sharing. The number one rule is LEAVE WHEN YOU’RE BORED. Don’t just sit there and drink, walk around and interact with different groups to get the most of the experience. Dance if you feel like it, crack jokes, be bold enough to enjoy yourself, otherwise you’re wasting your time. Don’t get sloppy drunk at a place that you don’t know well. It’s not classy and makes it very awkward for the host to take care of you if you don’t know each other. You should only get smashed at yours or a friend’s place surrounded by people who care and are willing to take care of you. You don’t need to be the life of the party or try hard to be, just enjoy yourself and people will gravitate towards you. Leave when there’s nothing else to see, you have better things to do than hang around with a bunch of drunks. Oh, and take your drunk friend home with you, you will prevent them from embarrassing themselves and gain tons of brownie points even if they don’t tell you.
3. Good Grades
Studying remains the top priority in a society that emphasizes academia in college environments. Make an effort to understand each of your classes. You won’t get it all in class, and that’s normal. Hit the books, there are almost infinite resources online as well. There’s KhanAcademy, a free website that has courses on everything, free online courses by prominent universities on YouTube, entire guides written about academic subjects everywhere on the web, you just have to look to find it. Talk to classmates, GO SEE THE PROFESSOR if you have an interesting question. You get your doubts dispelled, your professor likes you more and you waste less time fumbling around for the answer. Use what’s best for you to learn, not what the system tells you to do. If you have a TA who’s absolutely horrendous at teaching and you don’t learn anything from him, don’t go to class and use that time to study on your own.
You have to master the material, but you are free to use whatever method you want in order to arrive to that goal. Find your favored study method, take a break when your brain is fried and get a friend to study with you when you feel that you’re about to waste an evening procrastinating. Maximize your time learning and minimize your time wasted, so you can move on to your interests when you’re done. Hopefully in time your studies will be synonymous with your interests.
With that said, there’s no reason to miss any of the three corners. Take good care of yourself, keep discipline and order in your room, always eat regularly, workout when you can. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it, and you can do everything you want and still have spare time. It’s a question of whether you have the will to live a plentiful life.
Dk's Ordinary Life 