Time Management For Student Athletes With An Eye On The NCAA
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For today’s student athletes, challenges will be a common thing. After all, you’re not only challenging yourself on the field or track, but also working to complete studies, make connections, get recruited, and more.
One of the absolute biggest challenges for students hoping to enter the NCAA or who are already part of the NCAA is time management. This is a big challenge for plenty of others, too, and learning how to balance your time properly is something that many have to master in order to progress themselves further in their lives – academically and athletically.
Luckily, a few basic tips exist that can help you start mastering time management more effectively to make your transition to the NCAA easier and ensure that you’re able to achieve everything you need to – in sports and in the classroom.
• Start by prioritizing things. You know, for example, when you have a deadline for an assignment and when your practice will take place each day. These things that can’t be skipped or postponed always have to be considered first.
• With the priorities in line, build a schedule around them. For example, if you know that practice runs from 4 to 6 each day, you’ll have to schedule everything else in your life based on that. We thrive in a habit-based scenario, and having a clear schedule with defined points throughout it is important.
• If you can get a clear idea of how long different projects will take to complete, you’ll have even more success here – you could know that you need to set aside 3 hours for schoolwork, an hour for dinner, etc. If you can break up your activities in this way, you’ll have much better luck at balancing your time.
• Always give yourself some time to relax, even if it’s just a half hour a day. This is often overlooked, but without some rest time to rewire your brain, you’ll end up having trouble focusing when you start other activities. Some downtime is vital for time management, as strange as that sounds.
The simple fact is that for student athletes in or striving for the NCAA, time management is something that will be a big challenge. You’ll likely have to practice and develop better skills at it, but eventually you will be able to master this art and get the kind of time management skills that will take you through your life.