As school starts (has started for some), we need to learn how to manage our time because our time is precious, and mismanaging it leads to stress and sleepless nights. Most students’ daily routines on school days consist of attending school, doing homework, studying, practicing extracurricular activities, and maybe even attending classes (tutoring), with that being said, many don’t catch enough sleep. My favorite thing to help me stay alert and manage my time is alarms. I start off by making a TO-DO list where I rank my tasks from “important”, “can wait” and “later today”. I’m quite old-fashioned, I prefer doing things on pen and paper rather than on devices, but you do you, whatever you think works best (try avoiding your phone though because that may lead to further distractions).
Once the TO-DO list is ready, it’s time to vaguely set durations for each task and giving yourself a maximum. Simply give yourself a maximum of four hours for example to work on a certain assignment and no more than that. Remember, Rome wasnt built in a day so you may commit a few mistakes in the beginning but you’ll get the hang of it and give yourself more accurate timings. Afterward, set an alarm for an hour and focus on your task fully and completely, when the hour is over, TAKE A BREAK (breaks shouldn’t last more than 15 minutes) then go back to work for another hour, etc… In addition to that, set an alarm, for the same time, every day of the week, and spend no more than 15 minutes reviewing the notes you took that day. Nevertheless, do not study your notes! Reviewing your notes after you’ve written them helps your brain refresh and store the information clearly which will help a lot before studying for a test.
As important as having a social life is, studying should not ruin it, it’s ok to say “no” at times, especially when you haven’t completed a task you’ve written. Do not confuse your social life with your responsibility to help others. Sometimes, a student has to be selfish, finish what he has to do, and then spend hours helping others, if the student is free of course, helping others should not be affecting your resting time. As per sleepfoundation.org, a student requires between 8 to 10 hours of sleep to function properly and productively throughout the day. As important is our duty of being a student, that should not affect our well-being, AT ALL.
If you manage your time wisely, give your friends some advice, help them, they need you.
Take care and spend your time wisely, xoxo
— Natalie, @daily.natts