Time Management as a Fashion Student
Heading back to Auburn for another year is coming up quickly. To prepare for this, I have been getting all my belongings organized, buying things for my new house, making last minute doctors appointments, and spending time with people at home. I have also been mentally preparing by setting goals for this school year. The main goal that I have for this year is to better manage my time.
My freshman year I had heard the older design students sharing how much work they had to do and how little sleep they were getting. While I believed them to some extent, I had no idea how difficult it was going to be until the second semester of my sophomore year when I was pulling all-nighters multiple nights in a row, waking up at 3 am to get to the sewing lab, and constantly feeling like there was not enough time in the day. As an apparel design student, not only is the workload heavy, but the need to have all of your projects and assignments be your most thoughtful, creative, and technically perfect product leads to endless hours of work. The lack of sleep and social activities that occurred last semester has prompted me to find a better way to approach my classes this time around. With that being said, I am going to share my plans for how to manage time as a fashion student.
1. Create a Schedule
Setting up a calendar to keep due dates and plans clear can help ensure that you don’t miss anything. To take it a step further, create a schedule on your calendar that maps out a certain amount of time each day and week for a specific project or assignment. This can help to balance your time and prevent a load-up of work right before a due date.
2. Break Down Projects
For big projects, the thought of getting started or working on it can seem so overwhelming that you put it aside completely. To prevent this from happening, breaking the project apart into smaller steps can make it seem more achievable. Try to keep it to things that you know you can get done in one day.
3. Make Plans to Work with Friends
It can be hard to hold yourself accountable to work when you are not up to it or have other things going on. Making set plans to work with friends can keep you on track. Working with friends can also make the process more enjoyable and appealing.
4. Plan for Things to Take Longer than Expected
As a designer, you are bound to spend more time than you should on a project whether you are perfecting your work, or redoing it completely. You should always account for revisions or mistakes and plan accordingly.
5. Prioritize
When a deadline is approaching, get done what is most important and leave out the small details if necessary. Focus on what has to be done and circle back to what is less important if there is extra time.
6. Organize your Workspace
Having your workspace organized can help you to visualize what you need to get done in your mind. You won’t be leaving pieces of your work out or accidentally forgetting that you have more to do.
I hope that I have provided you with some ideas that will be useful and easy to implement this coming school year.Here’s to us all having a great semester, and year!
