During my first year of college, I found myself wasting a lot of time on useless things. So, I did some research to figure out how I could stop wasting time in college.
So what are 5 ways to stop wasting time in college?
- Break down your long-term goals into daily goals
- Start a college student side project
- Find a productive group of friends
- Learn how to get into a productive mood
- Occupy your free time
Now, let’s talk about these methods in more detail.
1. Break down your long-term goals into daily goals
This method is a great way to stop wasting time in college because it gives you something to do on a daily basis. Start by writing out your long-term goals (any goal you’re aiming to reach in over a year). You can do this on a piece of paper, or on a writing tool like Microsoft Word.
Don’t worry if you only have a few (1-3) long-term goals. After you’ve written down your long-term goals, estimate how long it will take you to reach each one. You should now have something like this:
Choose one long-term goal you’d like to reach first. I’ll be using the make $100,000/year in 5 years as an example:
1. Change the number of years you expect to reach your goal to one year.
Using my example, my new goal is to make $100,000/year in one year.
2. Take your goal and divide it by 365 days.
I’ve now turned my long-term goal into a daily one. I am now aiming to make $273.98 a day as opposed to $100,000 in a year. You should be able to do the same with your goal.
If you’re working with smaller numbers (e.g. lose 20 lbs in a year), take your goal and divide it by 52 weeks instead. Do not use months as they do not keep you focused like days and weeks do.
As you can see, I now have a daily goal to achieve if I want to reach my long-term goal. I need to make $273.98 a day in order to make $100,000 a year. With this daily goal, I have something I can work on every day.
Because I was supposed to reach this goal in 5 years, I won’t be able to achieve my daily goal for a while. However, I now have a goal that’s easily measurable and that I can focus on every single day. If you want to stop wasting time in college, work hard until you achieve your new daily goal!
2. Start a college student side project
A college student side project is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a side project you start in college. Why should you start a side project in college? A side project will provide you with hands-on experience and practical skills that will set you apart from other students.
Feel free to check out my complete guide on how to start a college student side project. Working on a side project is a great way to spend your free time. What sounds better?
- Spending two hours a day working on a fun side project that can turn into something amazing.
- Spending two or even more hours a day watching random YouTube videos, scrolling through social media and gossiping with your friends.
I hope you said option one. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with going on social media and hanging out with your friends. It’s all about managing your time. You shouldn’t spend the majority of your time on things that don’t benefit you.
Think about the 80/20 rule. You want 80% of your results to come from 20% of your efforts. What results are you going to get if you don’t put in any effort at all? Nothing. Unfortunately, that’s the case with option two.
3. Find a productive group of friends
When you’re in college, you’re bound to make friends with people who don’t spend their time wisely. For them, everything is about going to parties, the club, the bar, or just hanging out in somebody’s basement. Again, there’s nothing wrong with going to these places. It’s just not wise to constantly spend your time in them.
You aren’t benefiting yourself in any way. Sure, you might have a good time, but at the end of the day, you’re not doing yourself any favors. In fact, you’re doing yourself a disfavor by spending a large sum of money on things like Uber and alcohol!
Instead, find yourself a productive group of friends who like to spend their time wisely. You can even do method two of this guide with these friends! Starting a side project with a productive group of friends would be amazing.
Imagine what you could accomplish if you put four or five creative and smart minds together. Even if you don’t start a side project, you’re surrounding yourself with people who will motivate you to work harder. This is key when you want to stop wasting time in college.
Have you ever heard the saying:
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with?”
Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Let me know by leaving a comment down below!
If you want to look for a productive group of friends, you can:
- Join some clubs at your school or start your own
- Attend networking events
- Volunteer at an organization you support
- Join a mentorship program
4. Learn how to get into a productive mood
A lot of students including myself have this issue. We have a hard time getting into a productive mood, but once we are, all we want to do is get work done.
It’s like going to the gym. When you’re not in a sporty and pumped mood, it’s incredibly hard to get yourself to go to the gym – but once you’re there, it’s easy to start working out. However, during the time when you’re not pumped, you end up wasting time instead of heading straight to the gym.
Here’s another example for those who don’t go to the gym. Think back to the last time you had to finish an assignment or study for a test. Getting ready to study is the hard part, but once you start, it’s easy to finish. You’re more likely to say “No” to your friend who asked you to hang out after you’ve started studying.
This is why you need to learn how to get into a productive mood. The sooner you’re in one, the less time you’ll waste. But how do you get yourself into a productive mood?
- Mental preparation. Tell yourself that it’s time to get work done. The sooner you finish, the more time you have to do other things.
- Isolate yourself from distractions. Move to a quiet place and let your friends and family know you have to do and that you’ll talk to them later. Close all your social media tabs and set your phone on silent.
- Listen to the right type of music. Study shows that music can affect your mood and emotions. Therefore, you’ll want to play the right type of music for the work you’re doing. If you’re going to the gym, you may want to listen to loud and energetic music. If you’re studying, ambient music is a good choice.
- Start working for five minutes. If you’re still not in a productive mood, you need to force yourself to start working for at least five minutes. This is going to create some positive momentum for you to keep working.
5. Occupy your free time
If you want to stop wasting time in college, you need to occupy your free time. If you constantly have free time on your hands and you’re sitting around doing nothing, you’re wasting your time. College is the time for you to build a professional profile of yourself.
You want to graduate and be well-prepared for the workplace. You’ll want to have connections in place so that you can get a job and start paying back your student debt immediately. Don’t let the free time you have now go to waste. Occupy yourself by:
- Working on a side project
- Learning new skills
- Working a part-time job
- Getting ahead of your classes
- Doing some freelancing
- Getting an internship or volunteering
- Staying active and working out
- Joining a club or attending events
- Trying something new
Once you graduate college and have to start heavily supporting yourself, the fun ends. You’re now doing everything you can to have a roof over your head and some food on the table. You won’t have nearly the amount of free time you had in college.
Follow a daily schedule
I recently created a guide on how to stop being lazy in college. In the guide, I show you how to create a daily schedule that teaches you how to value and manage your time. The schedule focuses on allocating some of your free time to be productive, leaving the remainder of your day for leisure.
Conclusion
College is supposed to be the best years of your life – not only for the social aspect, but the professional one as well. If you don’t want to regret wasting your time in college, give these methods in this guide a try.
Time is one thing we never get back in our lives, so we can’t let it go to waste. If you can make use of every second in your life, I guarantee that you’re going to be successful in the future.
If you have any questions or comments about anything I talked about in this guide, make sure to leave a comment down below!
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