Are you as productive as you would like to be? Do you put things off way longer than you should? Unless you are the rare “getting things done” expert then chances are you struggle with productivity in college. I have slowly been improving my productivity, but am willing to admit that I’m nowhere close to perfect.
Instead of giving you guys a list of productivity tips on a Friday afternoon that you would forget by the time Sunday rolls around, I wanted to try something different. Today I will be looking at common productivity issues that college students face:
When you say to yourself- “I will go for a few beers and do my stuff when I get home.” Yes I have done this many times and so have you. Whether you tell yourself you will go for a quick lunch, quick beer, quick coffee, or quick walk, I’m sure that you have at one point done this to yourself. You should NEVER plan to do your school work or any other important tasks after you go out first. Stepping out should be either used as a break or as a reward for getting things done. Once you’re out the last thing on your mind will be your school work.
Thinking you’re a loser for staying in. Staying in at home to get your stuff done will not make you a loser. I can promise you this. What will you miss by not going out once in a while? I’m a big advocate of enjoying yourself while in college WHILE striking the perfect balance between work and play. If you play too much and don’t work enough then you will fall behind on your school work which will in turn costs you lots of money down the road.
Using college as an excuse to be unproductive. I know college consumes a high amount of your time but don’t make it seem like it fills up every second because it doesn’t. I know it and you know it. Instead of watching the whole season 5 of The Office on dvd that time can be used to complete one of the 25,000 tasks on your to-do list.
Having too many “relax” days. We all need one day to relax but anything more is a bit excessive. A break is good for you but after a few days your brain might start to forget some of the important notes from your last class. This happens to me all of the time. I take a few days off from school work or from Studenomics and then have a hell of a time trying to get back into the groove of things. The take home point here is that a little rest is needed but do not overdo it because you will get lazy.
Have a great weekend and try to squeeze some productivity into it!
photo: louis79
The interesting thing I noticed is the older you get and as you move up higher within the educational system, the more you begin to branch out.
By branch out I mean you start forming yourself. You don’t just follow what everyone else is doing, you start doing what you like.
On top of that you start caring less and less of what others think of you.
I agree that branching out in your final years of college is a must. It’s important that you feed your interests and hunt for knowledge by connecting with others that feel the same way. There are many great groups around college that you can join and work with on your interests.
Thanks for this article. I know that I used to think “oh, I’ll go to happy hour then get started after dinner”. That didnt work for me, and probably wont for most people. See the onion article titled “Having one beer plan goes awry”. It’s a great read.
I also know alot of people who used college as an excuse to slack…Most of those people have not found jobs and are living at home with mom and dad (Which is a whole different arena of problems).
You seemed to have left out alot of internet based distractions. When I was in school, I would get tied up reading the newspaper online for countless hours per week. Not a good habit, but an enlightening one.
At least you were reading the newspaper online. Most college students will spend the whole day checking everyone’s status on Facebook. I try to avoid Facebook and MSN completely. Every time I go on for a quick minute I end up staying logged in for an hour. I should have discussed online distractions further but I find that I always sneak them into my other articles.
Thanks for sharing that with us!