Although our parents may beg to differ, being a high schooler is a lot of work. Sometimes balancing school, jobs, extracurricular activities, family, and friends can seem like an impossible feat. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by commitments, you may want to spend some time working on your time management skills. If you're not sure how to improve, here are a few tips to help you get it done.
1. Prioritize
In an ideal world, we would all be able to do everything we wanted. However, in the real world, prioritizing our commitments is the most essential part of time management. Create a hierarchy of your obligations and stick to it. When your commitments conflict, be sure to choose the most important one, even when the alternative is more fun.
2. Look Ahead
The desire to procrastinate is a beast that many teens struggle to tame. I mean, who hasn't left a project until the last night? However, if you really want to control your schedule, avoid procrastination at all costs. You never know when something will come up last minute!
3. Don't Overload
As much as you may want to join every club that your school offers, overloading your schedule is a recipe for disaster. Try to aim for quality over quantity when choosing which clubs to join. If you are over-committed, you won't be an active member of any of them!
4. Stay on Schedule
Writing out a schedule is a great way to keep track of your commitments and assignments. Whether you're using Google calendars or a planner, ensuring you have a plan each week is essential to success.
5. Give Yourself Breaks
Although you may be writing yourself a schedule, you shouldn't be filling every minute of your day with work or activities. By giving yourself breaks during the day, you will be able to make the time spent doing other activities more productive.
6. Turn off your phone
I feel like my mother for saying this, but turning off your phone when you need to get things done is an excellent way to make sure that you stay on track. Getting distracted for two minutes every time your phone buzzes is a great way to make a twenty-minute homework assignment take hours! Build in time to spend on your phone but work on developing the discipline to turn it off when necessary.
