How Can Students Become Better at Time Management?

Have you ever felt your conscience talk to you?

It may not be a clear voice or an immediate sign, but just the sign of anxiousness or guilt one feels when doing something he or she shouldn’t be doing.

It seems as though your conscience talks to you, warning you it is a bad idea.

Students face this feeling regularly when committing the “great crime” of procrastination.

We know wasting our time on social media is a bad idea, and putting off work until the last minute will only create further problems, yet we still choose to do it.

However, several students have spoken of their tips for time management, and how to avoid all-nighters and an addiction to caffeine.

Even though procrastination may seem like a good idea at the time, “think about how great it’ll be once you’re done with everything and then you can just do nothing,” said junior Darcy Jones.

Jones said she finishes all the homework assigned over the weekend on Friday so she doesn’t need to study later in the weekend.

Other students agreed with Jones, saying they also try to get ahead to prevent themselves from procrastinating.

Senior Andrew Longo said he has been personally affected by procrastination, but creates calendars and reminders on his phone to try and get better at not doing work right before it’s due.

“If I have a big project coming up, I will tell myself to do a little bit of it each night instead of doing it all the night before. It takes away a lot of stress and also gets me better grades,” said Longo.

Setting up schedules or reminders help students keep track of their time and manage it effectively. Another strategy is using a planner to organize and one’s work.

“I definitely have an agenda at home. You need an agenda if you want to be organized. My agenda is based off of what is most important,” said sophomore Andie Noble.

Some students advised setting up a schedule or agenda following most importance and time relevance to get everything done.

Junior Rachel Kang said she sets up an agenda according to what is most relevant and time-consuming, setting aside the work that takes the longest time for last so she can finish brief work first and get it out of the way.

According to an article on tips for procrastination by college advice site college express, creating a schedule is one of the top 10 ways to prevent students from procrastinating.

The article also recommends giving yourself deadlines, getting organized and other methods.

“Getting organized already takes a load of stress off of my shoulders when I’m trying to complete things,” said Longo.

Some other students agreed that becoming organized is one of the first steps they take when trying to accomplish big goals or assignments.

Another article from lifestyle website life hacks suggested that telling others about your goals makes you more likely to achieve them.

The article agreed with college express, as both say breaking down your work into little steps and eliminating distractions are very helpful when attempting to defeat procrastination.

Some tips for defeating procrastination include:

• Have a positive and motivated mindset towards completing your work
• Set up an agenda in regards to prominence and time
• Stay organized and plan effectively how to to accomplish projects and papers
• Do not cram the night before or the day of, but lay out a schedule for studying, days before the exam
• Set reminders and tell others of your goals to stay on top of all work