Abi Hilden, staff writer

Dear Abi,

In high school, I was able to keep a steady routine with no problem due to the structured nature of my school days. Now that I’m in college, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep a routine because I have so much flexibility with my time. Do you have any tips for keeping a routine?

Sincerely,

Timetable Trouble

Dear Timetable Trouble,

As a fellow college rookie, this was a problem I dealt with the first couple weeks of the semester. Like you, I enjoy a regular structured routine. Schedules make life a lot easier, but they can be hard to develop and stick to! However, you are in luck, as I have a few tips on creating and maintaining a well-balanced routine.

A calendar is your best friend! One thing I’ve found most helpful in college is using a calendar to keep track of my classes, work schedule, Echo meetings, and anything else that comes up in my day to day life. I like to color code my calendar to add to the visual appeal and help separate my various events. Not only does this provide a clear visual representation of the things you have to do, but it will also give you reminders when things are coming up! That feature can be very helpful if you often forget about things happening in your life. If a digital calendar isn’t your thing, even just having a paper calendar to write down your daily plans can help tremendously! 

Get a routine buddy! Having someone to eat or study with can help keep you accountable and on track of your schedule. They can remind you to do the things you might not explicitly put on your calendar. It also allows you to have some social time built into your day which can be especially helpful if you’re a pretty busy person, like myself.

Consistency. The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone struggling with time management is to keep everything as consistent as possible. Even if you don’t set up a calendar or anything like that, just going to classes, having the same window for meals and studying at a similar time every day will create an unconscious routine for yourself. It can definitely be hard to do this at first, but once you get in the habit of doing all of this, your routine will create itself! Now, this is not to say that you should do the same thing all the time, but doing similar things everyday will make your schedule much easier to follow.

Schedules can be challenging, but they don’t have to be once you get in the habit of keeping one. I hope these tips help you on all of your scheduling endeavors! Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to!

Best,

Abi