As the average age of the hardcore gamer increases, the percentage of this group which is enrolled in college also increases. Going away to college is often the first time in which students are able to fully control their time. Living away from the parental units which in the past were able to have the final say on what you did and when you did it is a very liberating experience. Mix this sudden surge in personal control with a very addictive activity such as gaming, and you are left with a big chance for failure.

Before you can effectively manage your time, you need to set aside specific goals for yourself within a certain time period. Along with setting goals, you need to evaluate your priorities. Let us say for example that you need to maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to retain a scholarship. You would have to list that as your top priority unless you could not care less about school, and you are only going because you are being forced by your parents.

Once you have the biggest priority set up, you can start to list other activities that you feel are priorities in your life. Some of the more fortunate readers will not have to add a job into the balance, but if you find yourself like most college students, a part time job may occupy much of your extrascholactic time. Things such as social life, sports, working out, and gaming should also be included in the list. Pretty much anything that takes up more than an hour of your time per day should be listed, and organized to how important to the overall achievement of your goals each is. After compiling this list, you may even decide that some activities are not contributing to your overall success and happiness, and you may decide to dedicate less or none of your time to them.

Once you have listed all of the activities and priorities you have, you can start to become more organized. The best advice I have for you in this area is to get a calendar, and use it! There are plenty of free online calendars available, I use the one provided by Google. If you do not spend a ton of time on the computer, and do not have a PDA, then you should get a paper calendar or daily planner in addition to your digital one.

Now that you are on your own, you need to realize that the only person keeping you from failure is yourself. Before, your parents were around to make sure you weren't up gaming until the crack of dawn. Now you have to serve as your own parent. You know how much time you can afford to dedicate to playing your game. You also know how much sleep you need to be able to wake up for class. Be strict with yourself. When you see that your self assigned bed time is approaching, remind yourself that this is going to be your last scrim for the night. If you feel like going over your time, try to remember just how miserable it is going to be waking up for your morning classes.

If you do happen to lose sight of your ultimate goals, and find yourself deviating more and more from your set schedule, do not give up. It is easy to get back a failing quiz or report and just give up. I have seen students on my dormitory floor allow things in their life to take over (in most cases alcohol) and instead of fixing them before they slip completely out of control, resort to failing classes and even dropping them. Believe me, failing a class is a miserable experience. Not only are you forced to retake the class, if your major is highly dependant on prerequisite courses, failing one class can set you back an entire year from graduating.

So how can you get back on track? It is cliche to say "admitting there is a problem is the first step to fixing it," but it really is. Knowing truly is half the battle. Getting a low failing grade on an assignment may do the trick. Once you know you are screwing up, you need to think back to when you first established your ultimate life goals. If the goal is to get a great job and become successful, you need to remember which activities contribute to that goal, and which retract.

Hopefully at this point you're accustomed a new lifestyle in which you can still game yet keep track of your priorities in the real world so to speak in a more managable fashion.

Tags & Keywords : gaming, school, time, management, procrastination