The Days Are Just Packed – But I don’t do anything

There is never enough time!

I have just been chatting with friends who are all heading to or are just starting bachelors and masters programmes, and what struck me is the genuine excitement and motivation to go to University to party (of course) but mainly to study their chosen subjects.

These are individuals who have read much wider than school needed them to, worked harder at work (experience) than their peers to be able to truly understand the subject area they are moving into. The passion is tangible and for someone excited about learning their attitudes are inspiring.

But sometimes, when we get to university we lose sight of the core motivations we had to study, but why?

• Is it the partying?
• is it a worry about the financials?
• the intimidation of having to self-manage one’s time, one’s reading and studying?

I think its the latter, as the partying is important, and I think that whether one’s wallet is fully loaded or empty, financials are a constraint (More on this later). The reason its Time, is that it is so easy to miss a reading or a lecture/seminar. Having missed one, perhaps by accident, we give ourselves permission to miss another. The permission can turn into further permission to miss a course. The short term gain of coffee with friends or a lie in is wonderful…the longer term aaarrrgh factor is the mouse, that grows into an aardvark, that grows into the elephant of unread course material combined with looming deadlines in a corner of the room.

So we need to determine how to manage one’s time so that we can read, we can study and party hard too (remember that is really important!).

There is plenty of stuff out there to support learning about time management, some write to do lists on their hands (or write with a biro on a banana), stick notes on walls, or use something like tada lists. I would recommend you invest in either a time management course or work your way through this book, which has excellent tools and techniques for making your time more efficient, effective and more fun.

Next time the choice arises between the lecture or the lie-in, remember bed will be there in an hour…but the opportunity to learn may not.