The following strategies are ways to find the time to achieve your educational goals and yes, find more time to be with your family and friends.  They may be very difficult at first, however, the reward is worth it.

1. Cut the cable. Television is an incredible waste of time with little emotional return.  Cut your cable and stop watching television.
2. Perhaps worse than cable, social media is one of the biggest wastes of time in modern society. For far too many, it is an extremely bad addiction. Ask yourself, “What do I get as a result of using social media?”  I personally like connecting to friends and I use it to promote my businesses.  So while I don’t cut it, I certainly have greatly limited my time on various platforms.
3. Own your mornings! Getting up early is a way to add hours to your day. However, if you get up and spend 2 hours on Facebook, it defeats the purpose.  If you get up, spend 30 minutes with coffee and the news, then work out or get ready, that’s a healthy way to start your day.
4. Work out in the morning! Let’s be honest, this can really suck! However, after about 2 weeks, you will actually look forward to your morning workouts.  After 4 consecutive weeks of  working out in the morning, it will become a very healthy habit!
5. Limit your alcohol. How can this save you time? Easy, it will provide you with a better night sleep.
6. Use a calendar to plan your professional and personal life.  If you use a paper calendar, switch it for a calendar you can access on your phone. This way, you can set alarms and notifications as well as set appointments in real time.  For example, instead of taking a card at the doctors and then putting your appointment in later, you just put it in. Saves you a few minutes but those minutes adds up!
7. Clean your house/apartment before you go to bed.  Saves you time in the morning.
8. Stop shopping! It takes time to look, purchase items, open packages, get rid of packages, stow away new items, and get rid of other items.  Of course you will need to shop from time to time, but always ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”
9. Buy paper products and other household items in bulk.  It cuts down on your time shopping, unpackaging, and stowing things away.
10. Use “to do” lists.  Check them off and keep them reasonable.  They do a great job of keeping you on task.

Bottom line, there are a lot of ways to save time and even add hours to your day. When I cut cable and started working out in the morning, I added about 6 hours to my day.  How? I didn’t watch TV in the morning and evening (~3 hours) and by working out in the morning, I cut my showers per day to one, I spent less time at the gym with less competition for equipment, and I was ready for my day before most people woke up.  It was a bear to do both but after about a month, it was second nature.  Give some or all of these a try and you will find the time to ace your classes and do more fun stuff with family and friends!

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D.

CEO, My Campus Max (MyCollegeMax.com) LLC