6 Helpful Time Management Tips for Students

“When, where, who, what, why…?”  Students these days have such busy schedules and often feel overwhelmed by everything they need to handle.  Homework, quizzes, projects, papers, tests, presentations, practice, games, concerts…the list is endless!  If you’re a student feeling this way, then read on for six great tips on how to help manage your time.

1. Keep a planner – Having a daily/weekly planner is one of the best ideas for students that are trying to manage their time. Keep track of all of your weekly assignments, tests, quizzes, projects, activities, and meetings in one place.  Every night before bed, make it a habit to look over your planner for the whole week and especially for the next day so that you’re prepared!

2. Create to-do lists – Procrastination is one of the biggest issues that many people battle with. It is super important to try to take care of this at a younger age so that you can better organize and manage your time.  You can easily create a to-do list in your planner, on a separate piece of paper, in your phone, or on your computer.  Having a to-do list in your phone is very convenient because it’s with you all of the time.  Anytime a task comes to your mind, write it down immediately!  For the longest time, I tried to keep track of everything in my head which ended up causing me a lot of worry and anxiety.  I now keep a to-do list on my computer and it feels so great to cross off a task after it’s completed!

3. Set aside study time – Students can have extremely busy schedules and many times get home late at night. When thinking about your week, take the time to block out specific study times in order to stay on top of all of your assignments and to help prepare for major quizzes and tests.  This will also help eliminate procrastination and will force you to get things done during that time period.  Recording your study times in your planner is a great way to manage your time and to hold yourself accountable.

4. Prioritize assignments – Always tackle assignments that are due the following day first to get them out of the way. If you know you have an important quiz or test at the end of the week, make time each night to look over your notes so that you’re not cramming the night before the test.  If you have a project or big paper due in a couple of weeks, make a timeline for yourself and set small, attainable goals to help you along the way.

5. Identify distractors – We are all guilty of spending countless hours doing things in which we waste our time. Sometimes it’s necessary to relax and have some down-time, but are the activities you’re doing wasting a lot of time during your week that you could be spending doing something more productive?  Take a week and track the number of hours you watch TV, surf the Internet, play video games, text, Facebook, etc.  It’s probably more than you realize!  If these distractors are eating up your time, then try to set aside a block amount of time to do them.  For example, if you realize that you’re watching 15 hours of TV during the school week, then try limiting it to 1 hour a day so that you have more time to be productive.

6. Plan down-time – It’s important to allow yourself down-time and relaxation.  Maybe you can plan one day during the school week to do something fun that doesn’t involve school or work of any kind.  The weekends are also a good time to relax but many students do have other activities and homework to do.  Each student is different so you need to find what works best for your schedule and lifestyle.

Time-management is something that takes a lot of practice.  The important thing is to try to be consistent.  Creating to-do lists, having planners, and blocking out your time can help relieve a lot of stress, anxiety and improve your quality of sleep.

Written by Sarah Kochan

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