Before I even get started here, I’d just like you to lower your expectations. If you’re looking for a researched-based guide to saving time, written by someone who actually has their life together and possesses effective time management skills, you’re in the wrong place. This is a list of tips and tricks to saving time from a third-year procrastinator who has put off doing school work just to write an “experience-based” guide to help you, my fellow students, scrape by.
Breakfast and Shower: Classes are well underway, and suddenly you have about a million different projects due, mid-exams are fast approaching and, oh yeah, you’ve got those two papers to write. You’re running on 4 hours of sleep and you just slept through your alarm. Let’s face it, you do not have time to sit down and eat breakfast (tbh, ain’t nobody got time for dhat). So don’t! Grab your towel and that two-day-old slice of Domino’s pizza. We’ve all heard of breakfast in bed, so why not breakfast in the shower? Slightly less romantic but definitely more efficient.
On second thought, maybe just skip the shower: Invest in some dry shampoo and you’re good to go. Or don’t, I mean if Lady Gaga can get away with wearing a friggin meat dress to the 2010 MTV music video awards, you can get away with not showering for a day. That’s a fact.
Prioritize!: Prioritize that priority list. If you’re anything like me, procrastinating is basically your full-time job. On Sunday night, when you are finally about to start doing some school work, suddenly organizing your sock drawer or color coordinating your closet seems like the number one thing on your list that absolutely has to get done! I mean, I don’t know what kind of state your sock drawer is in, but I am pretty sure it’s not as important as that eight-page essay due tomorrow. So if you find yourself cleaning out your deep freezer instead of doing those fifty-page readings, it might be time to reassess your priority list.
Meal Prep: Now I’m not talking cute little mason jar salads or a pile of fully loaded Tupperware containing your meals for the next week. I mean like honestly… baby steps, baby steps. No, when I say meal prep, I mean taking about five minutes before you go to bed to make yourself a classic PB&J sandwich and grabbing a granola bar for lunch for the next day. This will save you like 10 minutes and 10 bucks the next morning. But hey, that’s extra time to sleep and extra cash, and Lord knows you need it.
Transportation: Ya know what, just don’t bother leaving campus. We, students, spend so much time traveling to and from places only to end up doing it all over again the next day! There’s plenty of couches around, just pick a spot and set up camp cause we all know we’re in it for the long haul.
So, my fellow students, let us find comradeship in this craziness we call university. Good luck and Godspeed!
By: Sarah MacDonald
Photo: Sarah MacDonald