Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Make the Most Of Your Time

Being a full-time student requires me to manage two different worlds at the same time- being able to perform well academically and stay on top of my coursework, and being able to market yourself and constantly network in order to remain competitive for internship offers and future opportunities. Of course, when dealing with a full plate like this one requires an air-tight time management system to not only keep everything afloat but perform above what is required of me both inside and outside the classroom. One time management technique that has been working for me since I was a sophomore in high school is creating a list of all that I need to do for the day, sectioning off chunks of time throughout my day dedicated to activities such as studying, networking online, and finishing up homework. This often requires me to create a time schedule at the beginning of my day and load it up so that I am able to set a concrete division between my personal time (meals, exercise, etc), and my working time (class, studying, internship work). Another method that I have become accustomed to since getting to college was a method known as the “pomodoro method”; a concept that revolves around a continuous routine of twenty-five minutes of uninterrupted work, paired up with five minutes of time to decompress and get refocused at whatever task that I am doing. This idea has proven to be very helpful and efficient for me as I am able to address every task efficiently and with full focus, making sure to hide my phone while I work in order to not get distracted and throw my attention away. I believe that these two habits that I have become accustomed to doing over the past several years have given me the ability to make the most out of whatever that I am working on and have molded me into the time-efficient worker that I am, as I continue my internship.