Scheduling your life around classes, group projects, extra-curricular activities, and spending time with friends can be stressful. I don’t know about you, but it feels like every obligation I have seems to take place between the hours of 6-8pm on the same night. So how does one cope with being overscheduled? Here are a few tips.
Be organized.
Not everyone gets as excited as I do when buying a new planner but physically writing down your schedule can be extremely helpful to remember what you have to do and when you have to do it. Grab a post-it, type a note on your phone, or go old school and jot it in your planner.
Prioritize.
When you have chapter at 7:30, a club meeting at 7, and dinner plans with a friend at 7:15 and you know you can’t go to everything, it helps to rank the events in order of importance. Consider the consequences, if any, you will receive for missing each event.
Communicate.
Keeping an open line of communication with your superiors is vital to maintaining good relationships. If your club president knows you have work during the meeting times and your boss knows you have class at a certain time, it makes your life a little easier.
Get ahead.
In a quarter system some weeks are immensely more difficult than others. Know which weeks are your busy weeks and get ahead on work whenever you can.
With all of this, it is important to note that not everything is controllable. You will have to miss some events and that’s ok! College is a balancing act that just takes a little practice and hopefully these tips added to it!