Time Wasters: The College Student’s Worst Enemy
Monday, May 25th, 2009
For four years, a college student enjoys a lifestyle they will never know again. Living with peers in an environment cut off from the "real world," students navigate through a minefield of temptations. When will you ever have the free time to play marathon games of poker with your friends? When will you be able to simply jump in a car and go visit your friends for a long weekend whenever you want? When can you set up a schedule so you have no responsibilities on Fridays and Mondays? These are all attributes of a college student’s day-to-day existence: free time. The question is what do you do with it all? At the beginning of a semester you might tell yourself that you are going to devote this time to your studies. However, after a week or two, this plan has gone out the window.
The aim here is not to tell you to not enjoy yourself; rather, there are some ways you can still have a great time and also manage your time more wisely. One of the keys to accomplish this is to set aside a certain time each day where you will go to the library, even for just an hour, to do school work. Take yourself out of the dorm environment and go somewhere quiet to study or read for at least a little while each day even if you don’t feel like you have any work to do. Getting into a routine like this will pay huge dividends down the road when you do have a pile of work in front of you. Your friends will respect this use of time, so don’t be afraid of getting a hard time from them. Go to the library at the end of your last class each day so you don’t even have to tempt yourself with going back to the dorm.
Don’t be afraid to say no to your friends. You may feel like you’re not being cool if you say you are not hanging out on a certain night. But, if you have work to do, then you need to make that your priority. There will always be someone around that is willing to hang out. So, if you get your work done tonight, you will find something going on tomorrow night. Don’t allow one night of partying to interfere with your academic goals. The friends that are begging you to go out probably don’t have any pressing work to do. Be firm with them and let them know that you would love to go out, but this paper or project is just too important to give minimal effort.
Social networking sites and video games are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to wasting time. They can certainly be addictive to the point where two or three hours can go by in a flash. Set goals for yourself to earn time to go on the computer. Such as, "I will read for two hours and then go on the computer for a half hour." Self-discipline is a virtue that will serve your best interests throughout your life. If you can learn it now, you are setting yourself up for success later on in life.
