Do you find yourself wishing that there were more hours in the day so that you could finish your studies and also get some time for yourself? If as a student, you are facing a sense of overwhelm, odds are that you need to work on your time management skills. Simply put, it means being in control of the time that you have and optimizing it for improved productivity as also balance & an overall sense of well-being. The many reasons that time management is important, include:
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Helps you accomplish your goals
With effective time management tips, you can ensure that you work towards achieving your goals. Effective time management helps you prioritize your work. In fact, with proper time management, you can cater to important tasks & not wait for them to become urgent.
Greater Focus
By dedicating a certain amount of time to a task, you are more likely to take to it with improved dedication & focus and therefore achieve high levels of productivity. Without a time plan, you may either get completely lost in a task or succumb to distractions. Besides, when you do not manage your time, you are more likely to procrastinate tasks & assignments, until you get to a stage where the consequences of not attending to the task become steep.
Reduces Stress Levels
Proper time management & paying attention to important tasks tends to reduce stress levels & take away the sense of overwhelm. In turn, your relaxed state of mind helps you achieve more.
Better Work-Life Balance
With efficient time management tips what you also get is more time to follow your interests and more time to spend with friends & family.
While the advantages of time management are well established, how can students manage their time effectively? Here are some handy tips:
Time Management Tips and Strategies
Ensure you have a daily schedule in place
A well-drawn-out schedule will help you manage your time well. To carve out a schedule, it will also be important for you to understand how you are currently spending your time & areas where you tend to lose time.
In making the daily schedule, ensure that you are realistic. You do not want to create an unrealistic schedule & at the end of the day, be overwhelmed to see how little you have achieved. You also definitely need to make sure that you have allotted the requisite time to study for that big test that is coming up or to do the necessary research that an assignment demands.
It is also important to know that we are what we do repeatedly. So if you spend time following a robust routine, paying attention to your studies every single day, you will achieve far better results as opposed to spurts of studying in the face of upcoming exams alone.
Create a Calendar
Having a calendar with a to-do list is also an important tool that helps you stay on track. By creating a calendar, what you are doing is that you are ensuring that you aren’t caught by surprise by an important exam, for example, that is just a day away. You could use a physical or a digital calendar that works for you and set important reminders.
Break Large Projects Into Actionable Tasks
One reason that we procrastinate is that the task overwhelms us. To take care of this aspect, it is best to break a project up into smaller, actionable tasks. That way, with the achievement of small milestones, we tend to stay motivated.
Also, prioritize the more extensive, complex tasks early on – at the beginning of the week or the day. This will fill you with a sense of satisfaction & you will be more relaxed as the week or the day progresses.
Remember to pay attention to your body clock
Each of us has different times of the day when we are more energetic & alert. It is important to recognize this and take advantage of it. If, for example, you tend to slow down in the afternoon hours, it is pointless to keep a physics lesson for revision at that time, which requires your full focus.
Take Breaks
The importance of taking breaks cannot be overemphasized. While you may want to fill every second of the day with assignments, projects & more, neither is it good for your well-being nor can you remain focused without taking necessary breaks. The Pomodoro technique recommends that you take a 5-minute break after 25 minutes of focused activity for improved productivity
It is also important to have a good night’s sleep to be able to be at your energetic best and give your studies a fair shot.
Remove Distractions
Calls from friends, social media pings, and more, there can be many distractions as you sit down to study. So while you may feel that you have spent the day studying, you may have achieved precious little. It is very important therefore that when you get down to serious work, you remove all distractions including putting your phone on “ focus mode”. Choosing a quiet corner of the home where you aren’t distracted by a lot of hustle & bustle is also key.
Avoid Multitasking
This may not sound like great advice especially since you have a jam-packed schedule & want to achieve a lot. However, the fact is that if you try to multitask, your efficiency goes down & each task may take longer. Contrast this with focusing on one task at a time & you can be more productive & achieve far more.
To Sum Up
With proper time management, you will be able to devote time to important tasks as opposed to performing a rush job under pressure. That it will improve the quality of your assignments and other work, is a given! Importantly, it will also free up time for self-care and activities such as sports, music, and more, that you are passionate about.
At Pragyanam, one of the best CBSE schools in Gurgaon, we have seen our students benefit from these time management skills and reap rich rewards. You, too can ensure that you do not let a hectic schedule get the better of you, with these handy tips.
