Wasting time is something that every person, college students included, must fight against. In this article, we point out the hidden ways that you are wasting time and what to do about it.
Time management plays an essential role in college life. Students not only have to make sure they balance their studying with attending classes and clubs, but it’s important that they don’t waste any time while doing so.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of hidden ways that students are wasting time without ever realizing it. In this article, we will analyze some of these hidden traps and highlight strategies for better managing one’s time.
Underestimating Time Commitment
One common way students end up wasting time is by underestimating how long activities will take them to complete. Whether it be studying for an exam or writing a paper, students often fail to factor in the amount of research and editing required before completing a task.
This can lead to taking longer than necessary to finish the activity and ultimately wasting precious minutes or even hours of their day.
Estimating Time for Exams
When it comes to studying for exams, it’s important that students understand how much time they need to devote to the task. An accurate estimate will help them plan out their study sessions in advance so that they can be as productive as possible.
Generally speaking, students should plan on spending about an hour of quality study time per day leading up to the exam, depending on the subject and difficulty of the exam. This includes both dedicated studying and reviewing of notes, as well as practice tests and drills.
Estimating Time for Assignments
Estimating the amount of time a student needs to complete a paper or project assignment is an equally important skill. First, it’s helpful if the student has an understanding of what the final outcome of their work should look like.
Once this is established, the student can then break down each part of the assignment into smaller tasks and use these estimates to calculate an overall completion time for their assignment. For example, a paper may require five hours for research, three hours for writing, two hours for editing and revising, etc.
Helpful Tools
There are various tools that students can use to help accurately estimate their time needs when tackling both exams and assignments. A planner or calendar app is always useful when breaking down individual tasks into manageable chunks and keeping tasks organized over days or weeks.
Also helpful are apps that track how much actual time was spent on specific tasks – this helps students get more accurate estimations in future assignments since they will have better data to review when making their assessments.
Common Pitfalls
When it comes to time management, there are many common pitfalls students need to look out for. One of the most frequent issues is not breaking up tasks into smaller parts or, again, underestimating how long tasks will take.
It’s important for students to set realistic goals and create achievable plans when taking on big tasks so they can avoid getting overwhelmed. Another pitfall that can easily lead to wasted time is procrastinating by putting off certain activities or assignments until the last minute.
This may seem like a good strategy as far as saving time, but in reality, it just causes more stress and frustration in the end when the task needs to be completed at the eleventh hour. Finally, it’s also important that students don’t get sidetracked by unimportant activities such as checking social media or playing games during times when they should be focusing on completing their work.
Though these might seem like harmless distractions, they can quickly consume hours if you’re not careful. In the sections ahead, we will discuss some more practical strategies for avoiding these pitfalls.
Too Much Socializing
One big way that students often unknowingly waste time is by spending too much time socializing with friends or on social media instead of focusing on their studies or other responsibilities. It’s easy to get sucked into hours of conversation with friends over coffee or repeatedly checking social media accounts throughout the day.
But if not done in moderation, this can lead to ignoring academic pursuits and obligations at work or home. Too much social interaction can also be mentally draining, leading to distractions from more important tasks like studying for exams or doing household chores.
Diagnosing Social Time
When it comes to studying and being productive, it’s important for students to evaluate how much time they’re spending on social activities. In order to effectively diagnose this, students need to first start tracking the amount of time they’re spending on non-academic activities such as playing video games, chatting with friends, or scrolling through social media. This data can be collected over a few weeks and then used to analyze where their time is going.
Focusing Time
Once the student has gained an understanding of where their time is going, they can then focus on redistributing it more wisely. This often begins with setting concrete goals and creating realistic plans in order to ensure that distractions don’t take away from important tasks – such as studying for exams or completing assignments – that need completion.
When blocking off specific times for social activities (such as lunch breaks with friends), it’s important that these get built into the plan so that they don’t end up eating away at more important blocks of time.
Setting Boundaries
It’s also helpful if students have clear boundaries in place when it comes to their social activities during academic times. For example, having limits set for how often games should be played or how long conversations can last will help keep them from getting too sidetracked during a study session and ultimately wasting too much valuable time.
Procrastination & Multitasking
Procrastination and multitasking are two additional ways that students unknowingly waste time. Though it might seem like a good idea to wait until the last minute to tackle a big project or task, the truth is that most of the time this just prolongs the process and puts unnecessary stress on the student.
As for multitasking, even though it seems logical that one could do multiple activities at once, in reality, this usually ends up taking up more time than if one were to concentrate on completing them one by one which results in more mistakes.
Fixing Bad Habits & Improving Time Management
The key to avoiding these hidden traps when it comes to wasting time is self-awareness and discipline. Students need to be aware of how they manage their time and how much effort they put into certain tasks so as not to fall victim to these common pitfalls.
They should also develop strategies for better managing their time such as setting a daily schedule or using tools such as timers and calendars to keep track of what needs to get done.
Take Steps for Better Time Management
As you can see, there are numerous hidden ways students can waste time without even realizing it. These include underestimating how long activities take, spending too much time socializing, procrastinating, and multitasking instead of focusing on important tasks.
The key to avoiding these traps is being aware of how you manage your time and setting strategies for better managing your day such as with calendars, alarms, or timer apps. With some practice and discipline, anyone can learn how to effectively utilize their hours each day and make sure no minute is wasted.
Are you wasting time without realizing it? If so, what are some things that are commanding the most of your time? How are you developing a strategy to combat it? Sound off in the comments section below!
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
