Okay, so you finally made the decision to study for that career which has followed you from infancy through to puberty and now pseudo-adulthood. I use the term pseudo adulthood because University, to most students equates to how many pound a pint evenings you can withstand before you finally topple over. For many, the term university means freedom, breaking free from the restraints of home life and taking the world by the horns or in most cases, by the pint glass. Although, this playground of fun may entice even the less studious, the aim of the three year plus stint is to come away with those sought after qualifications needed to jump the queue when it comes to interview time.

Yes, it's a shame to have to put a dampener on things but university is the place where you pick a couple of specialist subjects, thrash the hell out of them and have a couple of letters to show for it at the end. Then, you are catapulted into the big bad world to pursue your chosen career path or if you are a real bad sucker for punishment, go on to yet further education. If you allowed the mist to clear away from those drunken hazes and were able to make the grades you needed, good for you for being able to juggle both a social life and academic studies. If you let the mist cloud the way, you need to learn how to work hard but play even harder, welcome to the world of time management.

Temptation is the hardest thing in the world and the choice between an evening with Beethoven or a barrel of beer could be a tough one, especially if your way of balancing the two is to go out on the town and make a vow to finish that 2000 word essay by getting up early in the morning. The statement burning the candle at both ends really does echo in this instance.

So how do you kick this time management thing into shape? Well, the first step is to start early so as you form positive habits which stay with you throughout your working life. Cut yourself some slack and do not put yourself under unnecessary pressure which can cause you to burn out and leave a lot of unfinished business in the wake. Let's face it, a tutor or manager will hardly ever expect you to complete a major project in less than eight hours, so don't thrust this pressure upon yourself.

A clever soul, created such a thing as a time management course which outlines detailed information as to how to stay one step ahead of the clock. It shows how you can effectively plan weeks or even months ahead if you want to. When you leave university life behind and start your professional career it will help you to breeze through any task with the minimum of effort. The minute that your next project is pending, you will instantly take it upon yourself to crack open Microsoft Word instead of rekindling your uni days and cracking open a can of Fosters. The aim will be to write at least one or two full paragraphs per day. A little per morning or evening can add up to quite a lot, then all you need to do is some subtle editing and the whole process will be as easy as opening a beer to celebrate. A couple of paragraphs per day means plenty of free time for a social life plus you get to keep your colleagues and management happy whilst freeing yourself plenty of time to deal with any unexpected problems and ad-hoc tasks as they arise.

It is also a good idea to build up a good relationship with your boss and co-workers. Opening the doorway to good communication means that asking for help with any forthcoming problems will not be so daunting. Employers love conscientious staff and asking for advice and guidance will provide a good indicator as to the success of the finished project.

Life paves the way for distractions. Your PC is literally a vortex which can suck you into an infinite world of procrastination. Make a firm commitment that you will not succumb to its advances and abstain from logging into Facebook until the working day is over and the tasks on your list are complete. Even a quick log in to check messages and wall posts could lead to several hours of distraction and swiftly follow on to checking emails which then lead into shopping sites and anything other than what you should be doing.

Buy yourself a big calendar with lots of space to write in bold red letters. Mark your tasks and plan your run up to their completion. Work out how much time you need to complete work comfortably after you have given yourself some lee-way for contingencies. If a conventional calendar seems too old-fashioned, try making use of the online calendar in Microsoft Outlook which is excellent for time management.

And finally, try not to burn the candle at both ends, be kind to yourself and allocate some 'me' time into your day, where you can just chill out and unwind. Not only will it recharge your mental batteries but it will keep you within the limits that you are mentally and physically capable of.