Hi everyone! My name is Asha (she/her), and I am currently in my third year of the Honors Life Sciences Program at McMaster University and am the VP of fundraising for the Life Science Society. My blog post today is going to focus on the importance of a routine during the school semester which will include some efficient time management strategies. After completing almost three years of my undergraduate degree, including a full year of online schooling, I have had experience testing out different strategies and building on skills in order to maximize success in different courses.
Importance of routines
Building a routine that best fits your lifestyle can contribute to your overall success as a university student by improving productivity, organizational skills, and your focus. By creating a timeline or guideline of your day or even your week, you can visually see the goals or tasks you would like to achieve, which in return allows you to organize your time according to completing those tasks. Routines also aid with mental health, as they allow you to schedule and allot time for yourself to relax, spend some time with family and friends, or enjoy some hobbies you partake in. Overall, creating a routine allows you to allot your time in a productive manner in order to complete any goals and tasks at hand as well as maintain a work life balance.
How to create a routine that works for you
When creating a routine many factors should be considered. For example, being realistic on whether you are a morning person or a night owl, will allow you to create a long-term routine that is achievable for your lifestyle, and you are more likely to follow. Furthermore, creating a calendar with due dates and test dates creates a visualization of how certain weeks may look and what tasks need to be completed. To further specify daily routines, create a list of daily tasks you hope to accomplish each day, including non-academic ones such as going to the gym or cleaning your room. To allow for even more structure, a timeline can be created in order to allot time slots for each task in hopes to prevent procrastination. By breaking down the tasks that are required to be completed and creating visualizations of different components of your lifestyle, you are able to create more organization in your life and manage your time easier.
Creating healthy habits
By creating different positive habits throughout your undergraduate years, you not only benefit during these academic years, but can perhaps carry through with these for the rest of your adulthood. Consistency is key in order to maintain these habits as well as your routine. For example, set a time you want to wake up every morning, and remain consistent with that time. Set yourself a morning routine, whether it be waking up and going to the gym, or setting some time aside for some self-care, just remain consistent. Not only is your mental health important but so is your physical health. Therefore, strive to drink a certain amount of water, eat out less, and ensure you get some sort of movement in every day. These habits and the consistency of them will also help you establish a daily routine and achieve your daily goals as well as your goals for the entire semester.
Resources that can be used
Firstly, a great resource to use is Google or Outlook Calendar for your due dates. By placing all of your due dates at the start of the semester in your online calendar you are able to determine which weeks of the semester will be the busiest, as well as set reminders to your phone in order to stay on top of your academic work. Furthermore, for creating a routine for each day, a planner that contains the days of the week can be purchased. In this planner, you can write down the tasks and perhaps time of each task for each day within this planner. This also creates some sort of checklist that you can go through to ensure you complete all tasks at hand.
Overall, the main takeaway from this post is that creating a routine adds so many benefits to all aspects of your life. However, when creating a routine that is best fit for you, it is important to be realistic with yourself. This will allow you to remain consistent, complete your goals in an efficient manner, and to follow your routine for a long term rather than for a couple of days. To conclude, finding a routine that is best fit for you takes time, don’t feel frustrated or angry at yourself if you struggle to stay in routine when you first start off! Just try your best!