By Robert Lavery/reporter

Students should make the best use of their time and build productive habits, the South Campus counseling director told students Feb. 2.

In Time Management, Clifton Dobbins, a former psychology professor, told students time is a precious resource which they must safeguard.

“Imagine you have a bank account into which $86,400 is deposited every morning and which is emptied to zero at the end of every day,” he said.

Dobbins said everyone has about 86,400 useful seconds in each day and wasting them is equivalent to losing money. He said time management can make students better and richer people since most people waste two to four hours every day.

Dobbins said that most students’ greatest challenge is “How do I get this stuff done?” Life is a series of adjustments, from rewriting important papers to tracing a route to one’s car after class, he said.

He gave examples of some adjustments most people can make to help manage their time more carefully.

Dobbins said students should break tasks into manageable chunks as when trying to read chapters of a textbook.

“Divide the number of pages in the chapter by the number of days in the week, and read that many pages every day,” he said.

To improve students’ concentration, Dobbins suggested reading in a library or at a desk.

When he was in college, Dobbins said at first, his grades were abysmal, in part because he could not afford textbooks. He said he improved his grades from D’s to straight A’s by studying with a successful math major.

“She helped me so much. I rewarded her by marrying her a few years later,” he said.

Dobbins said building and adjusting good habits is a lifelong process, and it is easier for a person to maintain focus if he or she has a clear purpose or goal in life. Dobbins advised students to take an aptitude test at the career center to determine what sort of goals might be best suited to them.

Dobbins said attitude is more important than skill, education and money.

CaSoundra Brown, a student on South Campus, called the seminar “awesome” and called Dobbins’ message “profound.”

Brown said before attending the seminars, she had not planned to pursue a four-year degree. Because of her experiences at the seminars, in particular Dobbins’ suggestion that most people have more than enough time in each day to accomplish their goals, she now wants “to do better by my time … I am going to get a degree.”

Students who wish to receive testing can contact or visit the career center on any campus. To learn more about the College Student Success Seminars program, visit www.tccd.edu.