Kevin Thursby: Too Much Time?
Freshman year was a very strange year for me, from online classes to limited time to have interaction with friends. Something I always heard going into college is the importance of time management and staying on top of all of your classes. To be completely honest, online school during my freshman year did not require that much time management. However, because of the limited interaction with my peers and the actual fact that we had to do school over Zoom, I think it was fair that school simply wasn’t as demanding as it should have been.
Fast forward to this year, walking to Lucas hall with my friends as a new internal transfer to the Leavey School of Business, I was ecstatic to finally be back in-person. To put it simply, in-person classes were a rude awakening for me. The biggest reason was due to effectively managing my time. However, the problem wasn’t that I didn't have enough time, it was that I had too much time! It became very easy for me to think “Alright Kevin, you have a class at 9:15 AM, and then no classes until 3:30 PM. You can just hang out for a little while and lay down.” I would fall into these traps and then have to cram in late at night because of my procrastination. In high school, we had the standard 6-7 consecutive classes in a row then extracurriculars after school. It is not commonly preached that in college, you are going to need to find ways to fill your time and become productive. This took me about the whole Fall quarter of this year to discover that.
So what did I discover? Try to get involved! Although embarrassing to admit, it was very easy for me to lay in bed or watch TV for hours on end this year because of the amount of time available. This is your time to capitalize on, not waste! I got involved with the Bronco Entrepreneurs Advisory Clinic Hours (BEACH) program, which worked with graduate business and law students to consult local startups pro-bono. Also, I got involved in this - Leavey Ambassadors (the best organization on campus)!
Next, I found it very useful to make a routine for myself. Whether this was assigning mandatory time each night to study in the library or making sure I got lunch with friends every day, these habits made me much more productive. By forming daily schedules and planning routines, I developed my social and academic life to the best of my ability. Although sometimes exams come up or other events, it is good to have a proper foundation with these routines. Now I am not going to lie and say I would stick to a strict schedule every day, however, it was a great reference for me in order to maximize my time throughout the days.
College is no easy adjustment. What separates people is how they manage their time from social, academic, and leisure activities in a proper way. It is imperative to take time off to explore California or do things with friends, while also giving yourself time to study or take a nap!