Our Daily Schedules, Essay Example

Before I started keeping track of time spent on various activities, I had never realized how much time I was wasting and similarly, making things difficult for myself when it comes to important things. Our daily schedules may change over time but the amount of time available to us remains same, thus, the key is to have better time management plan. But one cannot have a good time management plan unless one knows where the time resources are being spent.

After I analyzed the data I had collected over a week, I discovered that I slept on the average for 8 hours which left 16 hours for everything else. 2 hours a day were spent in attending class sessions and another 2 hours in doing assignments and preparing for the next class sessions which left me with 12 hours or half a day. I realized the time spent in studying outside class might have been greater if this week was the one with long projects and tests. When I take meals, it is usually with roommates or friends which mean casual conversation often results in 30-minutes meals that could easily have been taken in ten minutes at most. 3 meals and few snack breaks would take another 2 hours out of the day. One of the most surprising findings was that I was spending almost 4 hours a day either talking on the phone or chatting. The rest 6 hours were spend in miscellaneous activities such as watching TV, movies, browsing the internet including social media, and slacking off.

As I gained better understanding of the way I spend my time, I realized time is not usually the problem as I would think. Instead, I had been wasting too much time in unproductive activities without even realizing it. For example, time spent talking on the phone and chatting was double the average time I spent doing assignments and preparing for next class. Similarly, the meals were consuming 3 times the amount of time they were supposed to. Last but not least, I faced each day on day-to-day basis without any plan for the future. For example, when tests are near, preparation for difficult classes often require more time. In addition, assignments in other classes continue to be given. As a result, one should adopt the same attitude towards college life that one adopts towards retirement.

I have adopted several changes as a result of better understanding of my daily habits. First of all, I will only take lunch with friends since I often take it at college. Taking other meals by myself will alone save me about an hour. I will reduce phone conversation and chatting to two hours. Even though 2 hours is still a lot, some changes should be made gradually to ensure long-term commitment to the goal. I have also decided to increase study time to 4 hours on the average. In addition, I will not divide time equally between classes but instead devote more time to difficult courses.