Getting Organized: Students, Learn to Manage your Time Effectively

As you move to a new grade in high school or college, the amount of work you need to do every year increases exponentially. If you find yourself constantly scrambling at the last minute to study, complete assignments or slap together an overdue project, you may need to work on learning how to manage your time more effectively.

Good time management impacts your grades and performance as well as your anxiety and stress levels. Learning good time management skills will mean that you have ample time to do assignments and study for tests and exams. Learning time management skills will help you use your time more effectively;  you will see your grades soar while your stress level drops.

Work avoidance behavior

We all have them; things we do to distract ourselves and put off doing tasks we don’t want to do. If you are finding it hard to motivate yourself to start your homework, you may choose to speak to a friend, surf the net, get lost on social media sites, play games or even make elaborate sandwiches! Time spent doing these activities is time that is wasted when you have school work and studying that needs to be done. You can’t fully enjoy the time because you know you should be doing your homework - you are just delaying the inevitable.

Here are a few ideas: start monitoring the time you spend doing every task you have to do and you will start to clearly see where all your spare time goes. If you feel comfortable using your phone calendar, or a planner, it helps to actually allot dedicated blocks of time for checking your email and social networking. It’s important to stick to your schedule. You don’t need to check your phone/tablet/email every five minutes. Planning your time strategically even for the smallest task reduces work avoidance behavior.  When you catch yourself doing something else to delay homework, try to refocus and get back to work. Yes, sometimes its easier said than done, but it you stick to your own plan and calendar, allow yourself email time, social media time, game playing time but prioritize your homework and study time,  you will be less stressed and on top of your game.

Work in bite-sized chunks

When faced with tasks you really dislike, break up these tasks into manageable blocks of time. Do ten minutes of reading, read a section of your History chapter, do half an hour of working on an assignment, and 20 minutes of math homework, for example. Work intensely for a period of time and then allow yourself a short time to go do something fun. When you break up your school work into these short, intense work periods, the work load is more manageable and progress is made without procrastinating or cramming. 

Be realistic

Create a study schedule that is realistic. Don’t think you can cram an entire marking period’s worth of work into an evening’s learning. Time how long it takes to read each page of the work you have to learn for exams so that you can leave yourself enough time to study properly. Start early and do a little each day rather than trying cramming it all in at the last minute.

Time management is an important life skill for all students to learn. It will help to lessen your stress and ultimately help you become a more successful professional and/or parent!  Whatever your goal and dream in life, managing your time will make your life easier and more fun. You will be amazed at how your grades will improve too!  Ask your parents, tutors and teachers for help with your time management strategy.