I like to keep busy. Doing so involves lots of running around campus, talking to people, prioritizing and missing the bus on a regular basis. Sometimes things overlap — actually many times things overlap — and deciding what you need to do first can be stressful.

In my case, having a job, belonging to a fraternity and being in two clubs on top of school can be difficult. With school work, clubs, relationships and sports, it can be next to impossible to have enough time for everything you need to do, let alone have time for yourself.

I often wish I could have just one more hour a day to get things done. But that’s not happening, so honing in on my time management skills has become a top priority — more so than any other skill I’ve had to improve upon since arriving at UND.

As you already know, time management skills are a valuable asset to surviving college, and essential for thriving once you’re out of college. And guess what one of the top things that employers look for in a potential applicant is? Nope, it’s not your grades. In fact, most of employers never even look at your transcript. It’s time management skills — right up there with interpersonal skills, showing hard work and responsibility.

Initially, I underestimated the sheer amount of time I had committed to my various involvements. So you can imagine the overload I felt when all of a sudden my schedule exploded. At first it was good to be participating in so many things I had really wanted to do. Then as time went on, I found it next to impossible to complete more than one thing in a day. Soon, not even the weeks were long enough for me to work on everything I wanted to. The sheer scope of everything I had become a part of was starting to take its toll. But I was not about to give up on my responsibilities.

So what did I do? I spent more time than ever trying to work things out between all of my places of involvement. School obviously comes first, then my fraternity and its duties. Third was the clubs I was involved in and any special events that were required of members. After spending too much time catching up on things that I should have been aware of before the due date, I decided enough was enough. It was time to hone in on my time management skills and start to get organized.

Often times, I recorded things to do on sticky notes and posted them all around my desk — anyone I had to meet with, any homework I had or places I had to be. These few simple notes I had written down got me on track to staying organized. Also, setting reminders on my phone was incredibly handy for keeping track of daily tasks that were easily overlooked. The calendar on my phone became my best friend.

There’s almost no feeling that’s as bad as the anxiousness that comes from being late for an important group meeting or running behind on that midnight paper that you shouldn’t have put off until 11 p.m. the night before.

I’ve never met anyone who’s immune to procrastination, and I’m pretty sure I won’t anytime soon. So for anyone who’s reading this: Keep track of your time management skills. The better you are at managing what you do with your time, the better you will be at developing yourself throughout life.

Dusk Crescenzo is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at dusk.crescenzo@my.und.edu.