A common pitfall in academia is poor time management. Time management, like any other form of management, is a skill upon which SUCCESS is contingent, as it guarantees efficiency and productivity. How frequently do you procrastinate? You may spend hours doing other less important tasks to avoid having to do what's most important, which might require more of your time. "I'll do it tomorrow."- sounds familiar? When tomorrow comes, you put it off for the following day again. Before you know it the deadline has approached and the assignment is not complete. You're hoping that you're given an extension, but even IF given an extension you must devote time that could have been spent elsewhere and inflict unnecessary stress upon yourself to ensure the assignment is completed with accuracy.
Just think of how much more efficient you would be if you were to eliminate procrastination and use your spare time to be productive. It is so liberating to have additional time for your own leisure (freedom), but procrastination deprives you of that. Listed below are a few pointers for mastering the skill of time management:
1. Ask God (Jesus Christ) to grace you to hate the sins of stagnation (no progress) and fruitlessness, as they are abominable in his site. I did it, and it has since worked for me. Now, each time I am engrossed in an idle activity my head begins to ache - of course that may not be your reaction, but you will definitely have some sort of alarming response when you are idle. I am not saying that you must be busy at EVERY moment because you cannot hear the voice of God when you are occupied. Sometimes, you must be still and meditate.
2. Create a daily schedule for yourself. Within this schedule, assign yourself deadlines for each task you are responsible for completing and follow up with those deadlines to ensure they are met.
3. Be accountable to yourself. If you don't hold yourself accountable, you will not be successful at this. Initially, some of us may need to be accountable to someone else to increase the likelihood of following through.