Exhaustion prevention

In the busy world of today, time management is a necessity. This problem is crucial in college, as many entering freshmen lag behind and get caught in the mix of college life. As I made the transition from high school to college, time management became a huge problem for me. It seems like everyday I wake up, rush to class, do homework and eat in between classes and then head from one meeting to another. When I have time to myself, I'm beat. I lie awake in my bed, pondering about the agonizing tasks of the following day. As the end of my first full month of college approaches, I decided I had to find a solution. The best advice was right here on campus at the IU Health Center Web site. This is what I found: \nFirst, write down all of your long term goals -- but make them important goals. Things like "I want a good job and be married to Brad Pitt or Halle Berry by the time I'm 25" are not good ways to start. Think, "I want to be a head anchor for Cable Network News at the Atlanta headquarters after graduate school." This is definitely a better approach. \nFor each long term goal, write steps and actions that will help you accomplish it. College students are advised to map out their courses for all four years. Doing this will provide a chance to get acquainted with yourself. It also provides you with the opportunity to see how you will change as you progress through your goals.\nTry keeping an agenda or planner. Although this might not work for everyone, it has definitely worked for me. Perhaps plug your goals in a calendar with realistic "complete by" dates. I found it very helpful to "pencil in" the time I spent in class each day. It allowed me to see what extra time I have for other things such as jobs, homework, studying and extracurricular activities. A good way to schedule time for these activities is to list them in order of importance or amount of time necessary. \nThe ultimate goal is to break procrastination. Also, don't get involved in a million organizations. Part of call out meetings here on campus is to provide students with information about the organization and give them a general idea of what each is all about. List the ones that will be most beneficial to you. If your major is apparel merchandising, the Apparel Merchandising Organization might help you out more in the long run than the Bowling Club.\nLast but not least, schedule downtime. Find time just to relax, watch TV and check your Facebook and MySpace messages. If you stick to a basic schedule, you will find plenty of time to do all of these things. My closing thought is that college is like a job. Get all your work done between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and you should have plenty of leisure time. This should keep you stress free.