The ideal college balance: Priorities and time management

July 25th, 20081 Comment

Finding a good balance of social, academic, career related, and personal activities is always a challenge for new [and old] college students, especially scatter brained entrepreneurs like myself. Goal setting, prioritizing, and efficient time management are the keys to getting through college and achieving your potential in all facets of your life.

I understand everyone is in different circumstances, but feeling as if I have a decent grasp on the college life, here are my ranked priorities along with percentages that indicate how much of my time should be devoted to each activity.

1. Academics: 30%

Tuition is spendy, so I feel obligated to devoting a lot of my time toward academics. Academics should be your number one priority, but obviously the percentage of time spent on them varies greatly depending on the rigor of your program. Personally, ~4-5 hours of school and studying gets the job done each day.

2. Fun: 35%

College should = “fun” - When else will you have four years on your own without a heap of bills and responsibilities? So having fun partying, going out, and just relaxing should be priority #2. Time wise it’s hard to quantify since it varies, but I’ll guess 35%.

3. Career development: 5-10%

Freshman, and even sophomores in less competitive environments, shouldn’t have to worry about this yet, but career development is very important. Filling your resume with relevant experience, leadership positions, and school or community involvement is really not that difficult, and it’ll be worth it when interviewing for your summer internship or job upon graduation. An average of .5-1 hour a day at your given career development activities is all that is needed to give you a huge edge over other similar students.

4. Health: 3-8%

Averaging at least a half hour of healthy activity a day can go a long way in college. Drinking and greasy foods will take a toll on your body quickly if you’re laying around all day, so committing to being active and burning calories on a regular basis is important. A half hour a day isn’t too tough when compared to 3 hour high school athletics’ practices, is it?

5. Money: All remaining time

This includes my possible job and online business.  Outside of everything else, I let money consume all of my time.  With my online business and venutres, it’s easy to stay busy here. While my business and finances are important, I don’t think they should be in the way of the other priorities though because missing out on the college life over a few thousand dollars is not worth it, even for a greedy SOB like myself. But when there’s free time, you can count I’ll me doing my best to making money.

So take about five minutes to think and jot down your own priorities. Then remember them. And review them. And live them. Good luck

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• The Second New College Startup Blogger
• After graduation, do you look for work or let your business grow?
• The Freemium Business Model: Striking a balance
• New Year’s Resolutions for the College Entrepreneur

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