There’s a secret to share. Want to know what it is? Listen up. It’s how to manage your time.

One of the keys to being a successful college student is to become an expert in time management. It goes without saying that college students are pretty much always on the go.

Students taking 12-15 hours, holding down a job and maintaining other personal responsibilities have no choice. They must be dedicated.

Where do they find the time to eat and sleep? How do they manage everything on their plate and still get decent grades?

Believe it or not, it is possible to have numerous responsibilities and be stress free. Alumnus Emily Spurgin offers her advice on how she handled her busy schedule while attending UTSA.

“Take everything one step at a time. If you think about each task as a singular event, rather than a list of many things to do, you are more likely to get each done, as well as do them more quickly,” suggests Spurgin.

Junior Air Force ROTC Cadet, Logan DiBiasio, agrees. He says it’s important not to mix everything you have going on. There should be a time slot for school, work, family, etc.

A planner is a useful tool for many students. You don’t have to write down every minute of your day, but by writing down substantial tasks such as working out and studying you are more likely to do them than if you were to just make a mental note.

Junior communication major Bernadette Butra admits that her calendar is a must-have for surviving college.

“I write down everything I need to get done. I’ll color-coordinate if I have to depending on the urgency of the task; red for high priority like studying for a test,” Butra said. “I also set my calendar alerts on my Blackberry and have little post-it notes for extra reminders (this is handy for meetings).”

Spurgin says keeping yourself busy is important.

“When you have more things to do, you are more likely to get everything done because you realize the value of time,” said Spurgin.

She also claims that it’s no coincidence that the most successful people in the world are also the busiest.

DiBiasio agrees that as long as you get your tasks done at the times your schedule says, you’ll be less stressed.

This time management stuff seems pretty easy, so why do students add stress to their life by procrastinating?

DiBiasio says that procrastination puts more emphasis on the task because you have to get it done as soon as possible. Maybe students do it because they work better under pressure.

Butra admits to procrastinating on work that she apathetic about.

“It’s really just about doing the work when it needs to get done, even if it means losing sleep,” Butra said.

All students have experienced “all-nighters.” Whether it’s cramming for finals or writing that 10-page paper that you’ve known about since the first day of class, “all-nighters” happen, but are extremely unnecessary.

If you study a little everyday, then pulling an “all-nighter” won’t be needed and you can get that much needed sleep.

Now that the secret is out, it’s time to get to work.

So take your planner and do it.