How To Manage Your Time When You Don't Have Time

Do you ever feel like you don't have any free time? Have you ever felt stressed or overwhelmed by the mountain of homework that awaits you when you get home?

Well, that's perfectly normal. In fact, if you answered 'yes' to any of the above questions, this post is for you.

I think it's safe to say that a central worry of many students is managing time wisely. Even I struggled with time management for many years before I found a strategy that worked for me. In this post, I will share the 7 tips that helped me to work more efficiently and manage my time better!

Tip #1: Keep a Planner

I definitely overlooked this tip during my freshman year of high school. In my defense, my course load was less stressful then, but I still think using my planner more wisely could have helped immensely with my organization.

Plan on keeping a planner, agenda book, or journal to jot down assignments, homework, projects, and tests. If you prefer to store your notes on an electronic device, like your phone or laptop, I would recommend using Google Calendar or Google Sheets/Excel to keep track of your assignments.

By writing down the work you need to do for the day, you ensure that when you get home, you can refer back to an organized list of 'action items' to work through. I also recommend marking off each assignment as you finish it. This way, you can keep track of your progress and the time it takes to do each assignment.

Tip #2: Plan Ahead

Okay, we all procrastinated at some point in our lives. We're all guilty of it. So, how do you kick this habit?

Well, one way to curb procrastination is to plan ahead. As simple as this tip sounds, it requires a bit of intrinsic motivation to actually work. In other words, you need to motivate yourself to work through assignments in chunks well before they are due in order to avoid scrambling to finish them the night before. (We've all been in the situation, and it isn't fun!)

I recommend planning at least a week ahead. So, in your planner, you should try to note the due dates of all assignments and projects, as well as test dates. This way, you can spread your work our over the week, and split up your studying into chunks. By the time your assignment/project is due or when your test rolls around, you'll be feeling more confident in your work or studying, which will make you feel more prepared.

But, what if you 'work well under pressure'? Okay. Yes, there are people who work better under a time pressure. Well, let's bring in some psychology. I recommend reading this article about the psychology of stress-driven tasks. Below, I'll briefly summarize the main points of the article.

The Yerkes-Dodson Theory of Arousal states that there is an ideal level of arousal for performing a given task. If the task if difficult or complex, a medium level of arousal is better than a high or low level. In fact, we typically prefer completing tasks that are interesting (not too simple) but not too hard (we don't want anxiety). Does this mean a large amount of pressure will yield better results?

Well, we can't conclude anything about pressure from this theory because we don't know the context of that pressure! And even if we've determined the context, we need to evaluate what type of task you're doing. Are you working on a short-term or long-term task? Most studies that test the correlation between stress and productivity evaluated short-term tasks only. Besides, raising your stress levels before completing each of your tasks may cause you to accumulate stress, which could have negative consequences on your health!

Next, consider why you are putting so much pressure on yourself. Are you trying to achieve success or avoid failure? Chances are, if you're stressing yourself out to prepare for a competition you have the next day, you are avoiding failure. This motive is much less likely to produce a constructive outcome over time.

Finally, think about yourself. What type of person are you? Are you naturally more stoic or 'tough'? Well, if you answered 'yes', maybe you will have an easier time dealing the stress you inflict on yourself.

All in all, inflicting a large amount of pressure on yourself right before a major exam or competition (a.k.a the night before) may work for a couple instances. But, in the long run? You shouldn't rely on stress to produce constructive outcomes.

Tip #3: Figure Out Where Your Wasted Time Goes

If you want to reduce the amount of time you are wasting, first, you need to figure out where all of that time is going. One thing you can do is check your screen time on your phone. See which apps take up most of your time. Maybe you'll find that you spent six hours browsing Reddit every day. Or maybe you spent four hours a day watching cat videos on YouTube.

Once you figure out which leisure activities take up your time, you can practice efforts to cut down the time you spend on them. Tip #4 might help with that.

Tip #4: Put A Time Limit On Your Work

Be more structured when studying for exams, completing assignments, or working on research for internships. In your planner or calendar, set aside specific amounts of time for each activity.

For example, on Tuesday, you could set aside one hour for your chemistry lab, five hours for your internship, and two hours for studying for your Calculus test.

This way, you can keep track of your time. You will be able to make sure you complete your work before browsing your phone or watching TV.

Tip #5: Take Advantage Of Your Down Time

What do I mean by down time? Well, I mean the time you spend waiting before an event or waiting for your parents to pick you up. It's basically any time where you are not doing something productive.

You could try to take advantage of this time in a couple ways. If you have a vocabulary test in two days, you could pull up Quizlet on your phone and work through a set of terms. Or, if you have a book to read by the end of the week, you can read a chapter or two while you're waiting.

Tip #6: Block Out Distractions

This tip goes hand in hand with the tips above. Block out your distractions while you're working or studying. Set your phone in a separate room while you're poring over your physics textbook. Set aside some time to study, and sit in a quiet room where others can't distract you.

As simple as this tip sounds, it is one of the hardest to follow. If you're having trouble following this tip, you need to make a conscious effort to block out your distractions. Just the presence of your phone on your desk or your friends in your room could hinder you from using your time effectively.

Tip #7: Manage Your Priorities

Do you feel like you have too many activities on your plate, and you just don't have time to relax? It's possible that you could be overworking yourself.

There's nothing wrong with being busy. Many students have to balance several clubs, sports, music, internships, jobs, house chores, etc. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the number of commitments you have, then take a step back.

List out every commitment you have and the amount of time you devote to each one. Consider activities in which you spend the least amounts of time.

Ask yourself the following questions: How important is this activity to me? What value does this activity provide to me? How am I contributing to this activity?

Determine whether that activity is a priority for you. If it is not very important to you, or you spent too much time on something that you haven't made much progress in (e.g. any activity you are doing 'just for the sake of it'), perhaps you should take it out of your schedule to free up time for more important activities.

Managing time is incredibly important in high school, and it will be even more crucial in college. Once you learn how to use your time wisely, you will feel more organized and less overwhelmed.

Hopefully, my time management tips prove useful for you!