We all have only 24 hours in a day, but how is it that some students can score excellent grades and have a social life as well, while others struggle to even pass?
Can’t think of an answer?
Well, the answer is proper time management.
In this article, I’ll be sharing some secrets and giving some tips on how the best students manage their time and make the most of their days.
Why you should manage your time
Before I move on to how you can manage your time, I want you to really understand the importance of time management.
Good time management skills allow you to prioritise your assignments and tasks accordingly so you can complete them on time.
You’ll be more confident since you know you’re able to complete your tasks and still have time for leisure activities.
This can help you learn and study more effectively since you don’t have to procrastinate and contemplate on your actions.
With proper time management you can succeed and put aside time to do what you want!
Now, let’s move on to the tips on how to manage your time effectively.
The Importance of Daily Schedule
Scheduling your time can make a whole world of difference.
It allows you to organise and put all your activities in control.
Once you organise all your daily tasks and activities, you can see where you can put in some time to do what you like, for example gaming, watching Netflix, or catching up with your friends.
This gives you motivation and eliminates the chances of you procrastinating!
How to Create a Good Daily Schedule
Before you create a schedule, you need to understand how you’re spending your time without one and see where and what activities are causing you to lose precious time.
This helps you gain a clear understanding of your time available.
Now that you know the benefits of creating a daily schedule, I’m going to give you tips on how to create a good one.
1) Start the Day Right
Many successful people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg all start their day with meaningful activities like reading and meditating.
You should put in an hour of reading after you wake up.
Reading is not a strenuous activity, it can help freshen up your mind and motivate you to succeed in life.
2) Set Daily Goals
We all know the feeling of satisfaction after achieving your goals.
In your schedule, you should write down what you want to achieve daily, it doesn’t have to be huge goals.
Make sure it’s realistic and achievable within a day.
This way, you’ll have a source of motivation and be able to wake up feeling inspired.
3) Set Aside More Time for Important Tasks
You should schedule your time according to how busy you are.
If you have a lot of chapters to study for an upcoming exam, make sure you set aside plenty of time for revision.
Don’t overestimate yourself and think you can cramp a ton of chapters within a few hours.
When you realise that you didn’t set aside enough time to study and it clashes with other plans you have for the day, it can cause unnecessary panic.
No one likes that.
4) Be Realistic
When creating your schedule, you have to be realistic.
Not everybody can spend their entire day purely on studying.
We have to put aside time for non-study related activities such as rest, eat, and play.
Research has shown that 40 minutes of studying is most optimal for productivity.
Put blocks of 15 minutes rest time in your schedules after 40 minutes of studying each time.
You can use that time to do leisure activities such as using your phone, going for toilet breaks, or exercising to wake yourself up if you’re feeling sleepy.
Remember to set an alarm so you don’t exceed the 15 minutes break and disrupt your schedule.
Making Full Use of Travel Time
Most students usually have to travel to school via buses or MRTs and travelling time can be long.
I know it’s very tempting to use the long travelling time to play phone games or watch shows.
But if you use the time to read up on concepts you don’t understand or study, don’t you think it’s more productive?
Once you cultivate this habit of using your travel time productively, you’ll definitely see an improvement in your grades.
It helps in the long run to becoming a successful student!
Increasing your productivity by eliminating distractions
Honestly, nobody likes to be unproductive, we’ll often feel sluggish and regret it at the end of the day.
However, there are many factors in your daily life that can hinder your productivity such as distractions from social media or friends, being tired due to a lack of sleep, or simply being unmotivated.
But fret not!
Here are some steps you can take to eliminate distractions.
1) Turn Off Phone Notifications
Phone notifications can be very annoying and distracting.
If it’s necessary for your phone to be placed beside you so you don’t miss any important calls, make sure you turn off your phone notifications.
This way you can avoid being distracted and end up wasting time using your phone needlessly.
2) Mute Group Chats
I’m pretty sure all of us are in at least 1 group chat and you know how fast the texts can pile up.
The notifications can just come crashing all at once, which is very distracting and annoying.
Most of the time, the discussions in group chats are not important and irrelevant to studying.
So just mute them!
3) Delete All Social Media Apps
You must be thinking that deleting your social media apps is pointless since they’re still easily accessible via internet browsers.
You’re right, but I find this method effective because it’s rather inconvenient to access social media using internet browsers.
After deleting my social media apps, I found out that I’m less likely to spend time on it due to the inconvenience.
4) Set Long Passwords
Unlocking your phone has never been easier with functions like TouchID and Facial Recognition.
With just a tap of your finger or a glance of your face, your smartphones will automatically unlock.
In order to make it harder to unlock your phone, you can set long passwords instead of utilising the TouchID and Facial Recognition functions.
Setting a long password makes it harder and more inconvenient to unlock your phone.
Before long, you’ll notice the frequency of you unlocking your phone needlessly last time.
Conclusion
I know time management sounds easy but trust me, it’s not easy.
There are so many forms of distractions surrounding us these days, which has sadly made it more difficult for students to manage their time well.
However, with my tips on how to create a good and effective schedule, along with my distraction busting ones, I’m pretty sure you’ll be a master of organising your tasks and activities.
Time to make the best of your days!
Here are some related articles you might want to read:
How to Burn Midnight Oil Effectively to Study for Your Exams
An Easy Guide to Studying Effectively – SmileTutor
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