Time Management Tips for Students

Time management is a tricky balance for many students. Battling with procrastination or quick deadlines gets even trickier when you are balancing a job or if you’re a student-athlete. If you struggle with time management just know that it is a challenge for nearly everyone. One sophomore who participated in lacrosse shares her struggles “For me (time management) is really hard, after I did lacrosse my grades had gotten lower because I didn’t have as much time to do assignments and turn them in on time”. It can also affect stress levels “Balancing school and sports is really challenging especially because I didn’t have a lot of time”.

` Time management skills I learned from these athletes and employed students were creative and helpful. Here they are listed in no particular order.

• Build habits of when and where you study so you do not need to force yourself
  • This involves studying or doing homework at the same time and place each day so that you do not need to use willpower to start studying and it is already a habit. This takes about 2 weeks of consistent work to put in place but is one of the most rewarding time management skills.
• Remember your goals
  • Keep a simple, achievable goal for you to achieve in order to have motivation for you to do your work. This could be for example to reach honor roll or to have no missing assignments. It is important that this goal actually matters to you so take time in thinking about your priorities. If you don’t care much about school then your goal could just be to keep your parents from bothering you about your grades.
• Do your homework once you get home
  • No excuses, do your homework the second you place your backpack in your room. You can watch your TikTok after. Then you don’t have to worry about all of your missing and late assignments.
• Write a list of all your tasks
  • Since it can be tricky to remember all the work you have due, it might be helpful to write a to-do list of all your tasks for the night. You can either use an agenda or email or text yourself.
• Schedule your events at the beginning of the month
  • Have a large whiteboard or calendar and write all your doctor’s appointments, driving hours, exams, etc. That way you won’t forget when they happen.
•  Set alarms for everything
  • Set an alarm for waking up, leaving the house, starting homework… everything you can think of.
• Test out the Pomodoro method
  • The Pomodoro method uses a 25-minute working timer and a 5-minute break timer until you finish your work. This method has many advantages for focus and concentration.

Thank you to students Talar Markarian, Ava DiMatteo, and Zev Papernick for sharing their time management tips.