Need a Fresh Start? (Or, Time Management 101)

So, you've made it through your first semester in college. For many of you, I'm sure it was a learning experience...after all, that why we're here, right? You probably learned quite a bit about yourself, your friends, and (maybe) your academic area of interest. Hopefully, you didn't have to learn any of these lessons the proverbial "hard way." Unfortunately, that's never quite the case...maybe your GPA isn't quite what you had hoped, maybe you got out of shape, or maybe you're just a little stressed. Here's the good news: I have a solution to propose to you.

First, though, a disclaimer is necessary. All of the great wisdom decent advice presented in the blog is based entirely upon the experiences of yours truly. I have very little data, research, or anything else of substance to back up my statements. With that out of the way, on to my advice...

One of the single most important tools I use every day is the Calendar feature of Gmail. My classes are in my calendar, my extracurricular actives are in my calendar, everything is in my calendar. I am in no real danger of forgetting what time I have class, and I can usually even remember the meetings that I need to attend...so why do I do this? Quite simply, time management.

In my opinion, it's quite important to set clear boundaries when it comes to your time. Again, I won't forget my 8:00 am class (thanks, Dr. Scharstein), but putting it in my calendar marks that time as "occupied" in my mind. This particular strategy of putting everything in your calendar may or may not work for you. However, it is very important for you to set aside time for the following things:

• CLASS: It may seem obvious to you that you should mark off time for class, but the attendance levels in most of my freshman classes showed otherwise. As someone who has skipped his fair share of classes, let me tell you that being in class is absolutely essential to academic success.
• Study Time: Again, this one may seem obvious...but very few people seem to set aside enough time for study. Cramming the night before a test is not ideal (for either your GPA or your long-term recall ability).
• Meal Time: One of the most common causes of overeating/eating unhealthily is a lack of planned meals. If you want to eat healthily, it is essential not to "fly by the seat of your pants" when it comes to food. Plan to eat three well-balanced meals and a couple of (healthy) snacks every day.
• Physical Activity: The benefits of regular physical activity are almost innumerable. Exercise burns calories, builds muscle, reduces stress, and keeps endorphins flowing. Setting an exercise routine and sticking to it is the key...personally, I try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise on 5 days per week.
• Relaxation Time: We all need time to read a book, watch some TV, play a video game, or just chill with some friends. Your mind and your body will thank you for the break.
• Sleep: The recommended amount of sleep for adults is 7.5-8 hours per night. I'm sure that most of you are aware of that fact, but I'm also guessing that many of you get less than 7.5 hours of sleep each night. I've had periods in my life when I got very little sleep, and I've have periods when I got plenty of sleep. I'll let you guess which was more enjoyable.

Again, you may or may not need a calendar to do these things. My main point is that it's important to set some boundaries with your time. If someone asks you to do something that will interfere with your ability to do one of the things that I listed above, just say no.