Being a student-athlete can be very time demanding and overwhelming to be productive and also remain organized in your personal life as well and especially when it comes to your education.
When I was in college, between running from class to class, practices, individuals, workouts, and other team activities, I often found myself stressed with the list of ongoing things I needed to complete in the week. In this article, I am going to list a few tips of things that I did when I was feeling overwhelmed and unorganized to help me have better time management.
- Keep a Daily To-Do List
When I felt that I had done a bad job at managing my time for a few days, I would take some time before bed to write down a list of the most important things I needed to get done the next day. This would help me to not be forgetful, but also to have a physical list to hold myself accountable the next day to get those items done.
2. Chip away at assignments during your breaks-even if they are short!
In college, if I would have always waited to have a large chunk of time- 2 or 3 hours to do my schoolwork, I would have been extremely unproductive. The schedule of a student athlete can be so busy that the biggest break you may have during the day is an hour to eat lunch. This is why I started to chip away at my assignments, even if it was for 15 minutes while I got treatment, or for 20 minutes before practice started if I was there early. Although not the most ideal, this small progress helped me stay more productive as the days and weeks went on.
3. Make time for yourself
The most common thing I’ve seen with student-athletes trying to adjust to a busy schedule is that they try to be superhuman, and do everything in a day, every single day. Most of the time, this causes burnout both on and off the court/field. It is just as important to take care of yourself in some way every day to make sure you can stay fresh and motivated to the next day. If your answer to becoming better at time management is to become a workaholic, it won’t last very long.
4. Ask for help- make use of your resources!
Many college athletes are truly unaware of the resources that are offered to them, or they are aware, but they choose not to use them. Many colleges have a study space for student athletes, tutoring centers, along with other resources that can help your productivity and time management exponentially. I would often make a stop at our academic center during busy days instead of going back to my apartment because I knew I could be more productive in a public common space where I was surrounded by other student-athletes studying.
These are 4 simple tips that really helped me in my time as a college athlete and still helps me now as a professional athlete out on tour. These tips can be used both to better your time management and dedication towards your sport and your time spent outside of your sport.
Ivana’s Insights🌎 