Time management is one of the most necessary skills in school and even life in general. There are 86,440 seconds, 1,440 minutes or just 24 hours in a day. While we all wish for more time in a day, we must learn to manage those hours efficiently in order to stay on top of things and to avoid that feeling of being overwhelmed. Dealing with 3 AP classes and one relatively difficult class this semester (since my school operates on a block schedule) and having to attend swimming practices at 4:00 am, has certainly forced me to take control of my time. Throughout my school career, I have found several ways to manage my time wisely.

The first step is overcoming procrastination. Let’s face it; most of us, including me, are guilty at one point in our lives of procrastinating on a paper, project, or homework. We wait until the last day or hour to finish everything—and in most cases this strategy does not end well. The most common reason is that there are simply more fun things that we can do instead of completing a 10-page research paper. Although our teachers give us several days or weeks to complete an assignment, most of us just do it on the last day.

The result of delaying assignments is usually a poorer quality paper or a rushed project and a bad grade. Your grade reflects how much effort you put into your assignment. Once I started to notice that procrastination is definitely not the path to choose, I decided to change my habits. As soon as a paper or project is assigned, I start on it right away, because starting is the hardest part. Even if it is just one paragraph or a little research, after starting I always feel less overwhelmed. I begin to plan how I will allot my time in advance, rather than waiting until the last day and panicking. After starting you may find that the dreaded research paper might not even be that difficult. The rewards produced by not procrastinating usually include better quality work and higher grades.
I also find that dividing my workload into manageable intervals can make an assignment much easier. For example, I will write a paragraph of my research paper or acquire materials and research each day. Before long, my projects are complete—sometimes days before the due date—and I don’t have to worry. These little assignments eventually accumulate. When I have a lot of homework on the weekdays, I try to accomplish a little homework on one subject and switch to another. This way, homework is not as tedious and I do not tend to lose focus. I find this is more efficient because I can accomplish my work much faster. If you focus well, distractions will not pull you away from your work.

My last bit of advice would be to set goals and take advantage of free time. Setting goals will motivate you to accomplish them. Without goals you will not have a concretely defined purpose. I find that setting goals helps me know what to do and when. I will set definite goals so I know if I am falling behind or staying on top of my assignments. For example, I will tell myself to finish a certain project by a certain day. If I meet this goal, I will be free of worry. If I do not, I will have to finish that assignment as soon as I can—while being burdened from work that I failed to complete the day before. So in most cases, I try not to fall behind on my goals. Additionally, I try to take advantage of the little time I have. In most cases, I spend a great deal of time doing homework on the weekends. I know most people use their weekends as a break from school, but if you have a heavy course load like me, the weekend is the best time to get ahead. If you use even just a little bit of your time on weekends, you will find more time on the weekdays to accomplish other goals.

I hope these tips will work for you and help you manage your time wisely. Set high goals for yourself and don’t fall behind. As W. Clement Stone said, “Aim for the moon. That way, even if you miss you’ll still be amongst the stars.”