10 Time Management Tips for Busy College Students
Balancing responsibilities at work, home, and school isn't easy. No matter what, you’re always left with the same 24 hours in a day to check items off to-do lists, spend time with family and friends, and unwind. By planning ahead and using your time wisely, you’ll accomplish more and enjoy more free time.
If you're a college student looking to make the most of your busy schedule, try following these 10 time management tips and strategies:
- Identify time-wasters and set goals.
- Create a to-do list.
- Schedule your hardest work for your sharpest hours.
- Tackle small tasks to start.
- Do one thing at a time.
- Establish routines.
- Use breaks wisely.
- Take time off.
- Learn to delegate.
- Let AI help you plan.
1. Identify Time-Wasters and Set Goals
It’s easy to get distracted. Pay attention to what pulls your focus away from your studies and assignments.
- Are you spending too much time checking social media?
- Are you prone to texting and answering personal phone calls while studying?
- Do you find that a lot of time has passed while you aimlessly browse the web?
No matter what is wasting your time, set a goal not to engage in that behavior during dedicated study time. Instead, use those activities as a reward for staying focused and accomplishing the tasks you set out to complete.
Try a Productivity App
RescueTime runs in the background on your desktop computer or smartphone, tracks how much time you spend on various sites and apps, and provides a detailed report on where you spend your time. Use this information to tweak your browsing habits and work more efficiently.
Freedom reduces distractions and improves productivity by blocking websites and apps on your smartphone or desktop computer.
2. Create a To-Do List
Identify what you need to do, and then prioritize the tasks based on when the assignment is due and how much time you need to complete it. This gives you a set plan for the day. Whether it’s just a list of priorities or a full schedule for the day, having a plan will ensure that you know what to do and when.
Unless there’s a pressing priority, it’s important to also consider what sort of work you’re in the mood to do.
- Do you feel creative? You may want to prioritize working on a writing assignment.
- Do you feel focused? You could spend the day studying for an upcoming exam.
Try a To-Do List App
Any.do is an easy-to-use desktop and mobile app that keeps your to-do lists and calendar in one central location and syncs between devices and platforms.
Remember the Milk is another fun app that helps you manage to-do lists across multiple devices and users.
Todoist balances power and simplicity, using natural language processing to simplify scheduling and integrating with multiple apps so you can keep all your tasks in one place.
3. Schedule Your Hardest Work for Your Sharpest Hours
Chronobiology is the study of biological rhythms and natural timekeeping mechanisms in living things. You’ve probably heard it when someone asks, "Are you an early bird or a night owl?"
If you’re an early bird, tackle your hardest tasks early in the day. If you’re a night owl, tackle them later. Keep in mind that most people fall on a spectrum, and neither is better. But knowing which one you are matters.
Find your pattern. For one week, rate your focus from 1 to 5 at three points each day (morning, afternoon, and evening). By the end of the week, you’ll see when your energy peaks and when it dips.
4. Tackle Small Tasks to Start
Large projects and big exams can feel overwhelming, and the anxiety can make you want to procrastinate. Students may experience what experts call productive procrastination — the habit of completing lower-priority, secondary tasks, such as organizing your desk, answering emails, or cleaning, while avoiding a high-priority, anxiety-triggering task.
To combat this, try the 5-minute rule:
- Handle quick tasks immediately. If something takes 5 minutes or less, do it now instead of adding it to your to-do list.
- Keep small tasks from piling up. Complete them as they arise to help prevent a backlog of minor responsibilities.
- Save your task list for bigger priorities. Clear quick tasks to leave fewer small items competing for your attention.
5. Do One Thing at a Time
If you’re trying to juggle multiple assignments and tasks, you’ll likely be less productive overall. That’s because of attention residue, a cognitive phenomenon in which part of your working memory stays stuck on a previous, unfinished task even after you’ve moved to a new one. It means your brain can’t fully commit to the current activity, and your focus, speed, and accuracy suffer.
To combat the urge to multitask, ask yourself:
- What are your most common distractions (email, social media, electronics, etc.)?
- Can you turn off the devices or apps?
Turn off any devices that you can. And no matter what, don’t switch to another task until the one before it is complete. This may be a hard habit to break, but it’s worth it.
6. Establish Routines
A set routine can also help you accomplish the things you need to do. First, check out Tip 3. Are you an early bird whose home is quietest in the early morning? You may want to get in the habit of regularly using that time to study or read. Find out when you’re naturally at your best, then create a routine for that time. The more often you do this, the less you’ll have to think about when you’ll accomplish the tasks you need to finish that day.
Try a Habit-Tracking App
Streaks uses gamification to help you form good habits. It allows you to enter up to 24 tasks and how often they should be completed. As you mark off tasks, it tracks your completion rate and streak score.
Habi combines habit tracking, calendar integration, and to-do list functionality in one app. Use it to organize tasks, establish routines, set personal goals, and track your progress as you build lasting habits.
7. Use Breaks Wisely
Use the time between work, classes, activities, and meetings to complete tasks. People who use the Pomodoro® Technique, developed in the 1990s, work in focused intervals and take short, regular, timed breaks. For example, you might use a timer to work in 25-minute sprints, broken up by 5-minute breaks away from your workspace. After every fourth Pomodoro®, take a longer break.
8. Take Time Off
Have you heard of burnout culture? It’s an environment in which long hours, chronic stress, and little rest are normalized, expected, and often rewarded as signs of dedication.
It’s important to take time for yourself. Break up long study sessions with time away from screens or textbooks. You need to give your mind a rest.
If you’re feeling particularly overscheduled, try practicing something known as strategic underachievement.
Popularized by Oliver Burkeman in his book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, strategic underachievement is the deliberate choice to lower your effort and accept average results in nonessential areas of life to protect your finite time, energy, and mental health for what truly matters.
And try meditation. Many scholars have studied the impact of meditation on reducing the effects of stress and improving overall well-being. The National Institutes of Health gathered these studies and published them in Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety.
9. Learn to Delegate
While your significant other, family members, or roommates won’t be able to study for you, you can ask them to help out more around the house while you continue your education. Freeing up a little more time by having others help with household chores and errands will ensure that you can stay focused on your studies and coursework or that you can take a well-deserved break.
10. Let AI Help You Plan
Use AI as a scheduling assistant to cut down on planning time. You feed it the deadlines and priorities, and the AI agent turns them into tasks. Try these tactics:
- Turn your syllabus into a study schedule. Paste in your course syllabus and try the following prompt: “Create a 10-week study schedule breaking down these readings and assignments into manageable daily 1-hour time blocks.”
- Break big assignments into smaller steps. A research paper feels less overwhelming when it’s split into milestones. Try: “My 8-page paper is due in three weeks. Break it into weekly goals with a mini-deadline for each step.”
- Build your week around your real life. Share your work shifts, class times, and family commitments, then use the following prompt: “Build a weekly study plan that fits around this schedule and puts my hardest tasks in the mornings.” (Tip: Use what you learned about your energy peaks in Tip 3.)
- Rank your to-do list. Paste in everything on your plate and ask the tool to sort it by due date and effort so you know what to tackle first.
Additional Time Management Tips for Online College Students
Research shows that online students who can self-manage their behavior are less likely to drop out of their courses and have better academic outcomes.
While all of the above tips are applicable to online college students, there are a few additional considerations:
- Establish a study space. Having a designated spot for studying can help you avoid distractions, especially if you’re trying to study in parts of your home you regularly use for entertainment.
- Get dressed. You don’t have to go all out, but just the act of getting dressed for the day can help your brain shift from lounging mode to working mode.
- Check in each day. It can be easy to put off studying when you're not physically going to class. Therefore, make sure to visit your virtual class chatrooms, chime in on conversations, and ask your instructor questions. This will keep you engaged in the class and on top of your assignments.
- Create physical reminders. Many people use their phones for reminders and calendars, but getting on your phone can lead to time-wasting activities. Instead, use a physical desk calendar or sticky notes.
- Set SMART goals. Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Explore these SMART goal-setting strategies, and find more tips from The National Society of Leadership and Success.
- Learn more about time management with these books:
- The Productivity Revolution: Control Your Time and Get Things Done! by Marc Reklau
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Ask for Help
Take advantage of academic resources that help busy college students balance studies, work, and life. Many online schools offer peer-to-peer and faculty support. For example, Purdue Global offers personalized student support through Academic Tutoring and Support Centers.
To learn more about online programs offered by Purdue Global, request more information today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Is Time Management Important for College Students?
Time management helps college students make room for coursework, work, family responsibilities, and rest. Planning ahead can help you stay on top of deadlines, avoid last-minute study sessions, and make steady progress toward your academic goals.
How Can I Balance College With Work and Family Responsibilities?
Start by adding your work shifts, classes, assignment deadlines, and family commitments to one calendar. Schedule study sessions around those responsibilities and when you tend to have the most energy. Ask family members or roommates to share household tasks, and leave room for breaks and unexpected changes.
How Can I Avoid Distractions While Studying?
Identify what most often interrupts your focus, such as email, social media, or television. Silence notifications, close unnecessary browser tabs, and turn off devices you don’t need. Choose a designated study space and focus on one task at a time before moving to the next.
How Can I Build a Study Routine That Works for Me?
Choose regular study times that fit your schedule and energy levels. For example, if you focus best in the morning, reserve that time for challenging readings or assignments. Start with manageable study blocks and repeat them consistently. A calendar or habit tracker can help you stay on track.
What Is the Pomodoro® Technique?
The Pomodoro® Technique is a time management method that alternates focused work sessions with regular breaks. A common approach is to work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. After four work sessions, take a longer break. You can adjust the intervals to fit your tasks and attention span.
How Can Online College Students Stay Organized?
Use a calendar to track deadlines, and set aside time each day to check your online classroom for updates and discussions. Create a designated study space, and break larger assignments into smaller tasks. If checking your phone distracts you, try a desk calendar or sticky notes for reminders.
How Can AI Help Me Manage My Study Schedule?
AI tools can help turn a syllabus into a study schedule, break large assignments into smaller steps, and organize tasks by deadline and effort. Share your available study hours and other commitments to create a realistic plan. Review the results against your syllabus, and adjust the schedule as needed.
How Can I Make Time for Rest When My Schedule Is Full?
Build study breaks and time off into your schedule instead of waiting until everything is finished. Share household responsibilities where possible, and consider which nonessential tasks can receive less time or effort. Stepping away from screens and coursework gives you time to recharge before returning to your studies.
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