Time management is something that can make or break your career as a student. It is also something that we rarely put a lot of thought into. We all feel that there isn’t enough time in the day. But, if someone asked you to keep track of your day and all the wasted time, would you be surprised at what you found?

I looked up a lot of studies and surveys that have been taken by not only college students, but also employees based on their work performance. I could throw out to you a lot of statistics that show people waste on average this many hours per day checking Facebook, taking cigarette breaks, responding to a text message or answering a call. But you know what? None of that is going to matter to your situation.

Not surprisingly, the amount of time that is wasted with distractions and the time that it takes to re-focus is downright shocking. If you take the time to pay attention to your own situation from an honest and critical eye, I think you would be surprised as well, even if you think you are quite “on the ball.”

We are aware there is much more time in the day to utilize than what we snatch little by little. The real question here is how to take back that time in a way that doesn’t make us sacrifice what is important to us.

Let’s first examine our cell phones. Is yours out next to you right now? Perhaps on vibrate instead of ring though? A lot of us do that. However, every time we get a text many of us immediately reply or at least check it. That adds up over the period of an hour, and boy does it reduce efficiency for the focus that is lost in the process.

One suggestion would be to designate a time to check and return important text messages. What I’ve been trying to do is check mine the last five minutes of every hour. An hour generally is not too long to wait, even if it is important. During that last five minutes I reply to the ones that are important. And as for notifications, well to be honest my phone is still out next to me, but it’s on silent, and it’s facing down so I don’t see anything come up. Later I can quickly and efficiently check, reply to the vital ones, and return to what’s important.

Facebook! Oh boy, this is a big one for many students. Not only is it a way to keep in touch socially, but sometimes we use it for work or school related communication as well. It’s unrealistic to say we can always refrain from checking it. I like to think of it as email. I don’t need to check my email all day long, and just like with the Facebook news feed, it will be there later when I have time.

If you are busy on a project, is it realistic to set a goal for yourself that you check it at lunch, after homework or before bed? Setting specific times for your self may help to keep the constant peeks down. The biggest help may be removing the phone notifications. How can you really be expected to focus on anything if your pocket keeps telling you what your friends are doing?

Smoking breaks are something that is a real thing for many people, like it or not. Oftentimes it seems that people tend to go in groups. However, if time management is something that you need to work on because of wasted hours in the day, perhaps this little “me” break needs a little tweaking. Setting times once again is what experts suggest. That last five minutes of your hour, well, could you respond to texts during that break perhaps? Just knowing that it isn’t as easy as a suggested “hey, come on,” may help you to stay on track without losing focus.

Even five minutes can be utilized if you stay focused. Like this article for example, it only took me ten minutes to write it. Taking five minutes to plan ahead makes you more prepared to follow through with time management goals. That phone that’s right next to you, at the end of the next hour, why don’t you pick it up and write yourself a note with what you’d like to do for small improvements?