So you have found a new passion for the ukulele? We can understand that so well.
Anyone can learn to play it at home if only they had the drive for it and the time. However, when you are a student. Finding the time to practice ukulele can be challenging.
Yet, everything is possible once you build better time management skills. So, here are some tips on how to find time to learn the ukulele when studying in college.
Avoid multitasking
Multitasking is a myth. People believe they are being more productive by doing several things at once. That’s not exactly how it works. One can’t stretch their attention through several tasks and be good at all of them.
What happens is you constantly switching your attention from one thing to another, just keeping a poor focus on all your activities. Such a strategy will not allow you to complete your tasks faster or better.
On the other hand, you will end up with more responsibilities on your hands once you are done. Hence, you’ll have to revise whatever you have accomplished, correct your errors, relearn whatever you’ve been revising, etc.
Neither your memory nor your attention span can work well under such conditions. So, make enough room for each activity to be more efficient with your time. Deal with your tasks one by one, and don’t disrupt your attention by mixing your activities.
Don’t procrastinate
Procrastination is the number one enemy of productivity. You can’t learn to be efficient with your time if you struggle to maintain a schedule or complete tasks in designated periods. Hence, to learn time management, you must know how to fight procrastination.
Many students can spend days procrastinating before finding themselves looking for a list nursing writing services reviews on scamfighter.net because you’ve way overstretched your essay preparations. That’s not the right way to go, and you know it.
So, it’s best to notice your most common procrastination tendencies. See where you lose most of your time and why.
Often, students simply fear the large task at hand, so they hide from it by delaying. Of course, writing assignments and other large projects can be tough.
Yet, they won’t go away by themselves while you are procrastinating. Instead, they become scarier and more urgent. Thus, you have stolen time from yourself that you could have spent studying and practicing.
Understand your priorities
To manage time well, one should always know where their priorities stand. Usually, time and importance can determine your main priorities for the day. Hence, you better start with things that are most urgent and valid.
Of course, personally, you may appreciate spending more time with a ukulele. Yet, your studies should not take the back seat while you’re practicing on an instrument. So, you better learn to acknowledge your main priorities and put your preferences as secondary tasks.
Now, such a strategy doesn’t mean you should always look at your hobbies this way. It teaches you to distribute the time wisely and to focus on crucial tasks first.
Once you are done with your first priorities, think of the next ones. Here, you can try to make room for practice, seeing friends, having a rest, or else. It’s already up to you to decide what activity you view as your next priority.
Establish routines
A routine can be your biggest helper in life. It can incorporate your most productive time, best periods for studying, other people’s schedules, your class timetable, etc.
Thus, you break down your days and weeks according to your activities and availability. There, students can write down their classes, time for homework, other events, free periods, etc. Once you have that, see how you can use this information to build efficient routines.
Perhaps, start with a morning and evening routine. Go to bed and wake up at the same hours each day. This alone will already benefit your productivity and schedule.
Next, create a specific time window for studying, practicing your ukulele, and other important activities. Strict to those routines till you develop a habit.
Use breaks wisely
Students don’t work or study all the time, even if they claim otherwise. You do have breaks between activities, assignments, and social events.
Think of how you use those breaks. Do you just scroll through a social media feed? Do you do anything productive or helpful to complete your next task?
Just think about this. Every five minutes on social media here and there can result in several hours of kindness scrolling a day.
That’s where your time goes. It doesn’t mean you have to quit your personal pages. Just be mindful about how you spend your breaks.
Perhaps a change of habits can result in more free time for your hobbies and, thus, ukulele practices.
Have days off
Sometimes, to stay more productive in your studies and hobbies, you should enjoy an occasional day off. It sounds almost counterintuitive, yet it’s true. When you put too much pressure on yourself, your brain wants to quit right away.
Students start to feel oppressed, more tired, and unhappy about their routines when they are too hard on themselves. Allowing yourself to rest will greatly help you return to your activities with more power and motivation the next day.
Thus, whenever you feel close to quitting or giving up, stop everything and have a break. Have a whole day to yourself. Do your favorite things, like long walks in a park, hanging out with friends, or just staying in bed and watching movies all day.
Don’t feel guilty about it. You need this day to restore your energy levels and recharge. You are doing yourself a favor.
Perhaps, you can practice your ukulele skills during such a day. However, don’t plan or schedule such a practice.
Instead, see how you would feel about it while you’re resting. It’s best not to turn your ukulele practice into a chore but something you truly enjoy doing in your free time.
Wrapping up
Time management is a crucial yet difficult skill to master. It often takes years to develop a healthy routine and learn to follow a schedule.
Before that, it’s best to keep on practicing these time management techniques to stay organized and in control. Hopefully, these tips will help you get better at planning your studies and ukulele practices.
Remember, you just need to follow the routine and keep your priorities in mind.
