Time Management and Overcommitment

Fall Break is over, and we are now past the halfway mark of your Deacs’ first semester of college. Now might be a good time for students to do a gut check on their time management strategies.

Many Wake Forest students were used to juggling complicated schedules in high school – academics, extracurricular activities, perhaps a part time job or test prep classes – all the while trying to enjoy their friends and have some fun. I suspect that many of our first-year students successfully managed complex and varying priorities in high school and may have expected it to be the same for them in college. But one of the surprising realities of college life for most students is that while their actual time in classes is a lot less than it was in high school, they now have to work much harder – and for longer periods of time – on academics.

A college schedule typically means students are in class only a few hours a day, or some days not at all depending on their schedule. Having blocks of ‘open time’ during the day can be difficult for some students to manage. There are so many delightful distractions in college – clubs, activities, hanging out with friends, pick-up basketball games or lectures or other events – or if they stayed up too late, a long nap might be very attractive. Those distractions (or naps) can take up a lot of time, only for your Deac to realize they still need several hours for homework and studying.

There is another complication in the time management puzzle: students are used to near constant multitasking with their computers and cell phones. It seems like a small activity, but with a day-long barrage of text messages, instant messages, emails, snapchats, TikToks, etc., that can add a substantial amount of time in your student’s day – and interrupt study time.

If your student confides to you that they don’t have enough time to accomplish everything or feels overextended, you might ask them to reflect on these questions (not to answer you, but to think about this on their own):

How/when/where are you studying? Could there be another time/place that might be enable you to work smarter (not harder)?

How are you planning your time for homework, studying, etc.? Could there be a better way to keep track of your work and allow you the time you need to prep for exams?

If your Deac is struggling with time management, doesn’t know where to turn, and they ask you for help, here are a couple helpful hints you could offer:

Treat 9 a.m.-5 p.m. as their work day: consider any class a ‘meeting,’ everything else is ‘office time’ (where you do homework and study). This way, they leave the evenings open for friend time, workouts, other fun.

Create a ‘media free zone’ when doing homework/studying: no texting, phone calls, instant messaging or internet (unless it is required for their classwork). An alternative: have a strict “work for 50 minutes, scroll their phone for 10 minutes” policy.

Examine whether their study habits are truly effective and make changes where appropriate. Does studying in the library coffee shop mean they are easily distracted by people coming and going? If so, consider moving to a different part of the library. Does doing their readings on their bed end up with them falling asleep? Try working in the Benson Center or a different location on campus that is less comfortable.

Scheduling study time or homework time also can help foil one of college students’ toughest habits to break: procrastination. By waiting until the last minute to study, complete homework or write a paper, students only add more stress to their lives.  If your student tends to procrastinate, there are some helpful resources online with suggestions on how to break the cycle.

And while most Wake Forest students prefer to be busy and like to have a full array of extracurricular activities in which to participate, it is very helpful (at least for the first semester) to make sure that they can manage their academic load. So if your Deac signed up for 20 clubs and activities at the Fall Involvement Fair and finds they cannot manage to be in all of them, relay the message that it is OK to drop out of something if it overextends them.

It is all about balance, and it will come with time, practice, and careful schedule adjustments.