This isn’t just advice for uni students, but for anybody, I’ve just decided to tackle us uni students in general, because our days are not as structured anymore and with our lectures here at 11AM on one day and at 3PM on the other, it’s very hard to keep each and every day the same. Generally, though, this can be used for anybody who’s looking for some structure in their life.
Because it gives you an idea of what you are spending your time on. With a solid and good schedule, there should be less time for procrastination. Besides that, a sense of control gives many people comfort, especially people who struggle mentally.
Write down your schedule. Work, weekly appointments, lectures, classes. All those things that are ‘set in stone’ and that you cannot control. This is going to be the base you build around. I suggest making a table, preferably on a piece of paper (you can transfer it into a digital version when you’re done and have everything figured out) with all days of the week and hours. I personally used 7AM – 11PM.
Set your wake up and bed times. The most important ones. You should make these all the same. Maybe give yourself an extra hour of a lie in on Saturday and Sunday, but you should try and not confuse your biological clock too much. Soon, it will become easier to get up early. Also make sure you are getting enough hours of sleep. As a young adult of around 20, you should be getting 6-9 hours of sleep. If you are younger, it should be more than that.
Write up your daily tasks that you would like to perform every day. Make sure you include all those things you keep forgetting, self-care items, daily reading, journal writing, studying, etc. Be realistic, however. Start out small with just a few things, don’t overwhelm yourself and later, you can start adding more items.
Then do the same for weekly tasks. These include doing readings for particular classes, clean ups, exercise, meet-ups, etc.
Don’t forget meals! Especially if you are busy, make sure there is room for food in your plan! Make sure that if you have an especially full day the next day, think of some time to prepare the food the night before. Planning out your meals may also make you think about what you eat more. (Also, I can write something about nutrition on request!)
Don’t forget free time either. Free time is important and a free day is something you could benefit from. Whether it is resting or catching up on your studies or time for arts and crafts.
Now play a nice game of Tetris and assign a time slot to each of those activities. Don’t forget to just leave some time off. Whether that’s for finishing a task, being lazy or just anything. Use your routine to give your life a structure, not govern it completely.
How to implement these and make sure they work?
There are for sure going to be some you struggle with. Set phone alarms. Set them for every five minutes. Set them until they annoy you. Until it’s so annoying it makes you do the task you don’t want to do.
I followed these steps to make my own routine for my new semester and I had something similar, but not as elaborate last semester. The one for this semester isn’t done yet since I still need one additional module and my fixed working times. But after that, I may post my routine on here and then some follow ups as well, just to see how well it’s going. Same goes for you, tag me (ravenclawhard) if you are going to use these tips. I’d love to know!
