Yellow alarm clocks with roman numerals floating in blue-walled room

4 Techniques to Improve Your Time Management

Time management is one of the most important skills you can develop in high school and refine in college. Here are four easy ways to improve yours.

As a student, it’s only natural for you to look for ways to maximize your time while spending the least amount of time possible on things you don’t enjoy. Enter time management, a skill that will only become more important as you travel through life. Below are several tips that helped me utilize my time more effectively during the past school year.

1. Determine your priorities

Ideally, you should be spending the most time on the things that matter most to you. Whether it’s acing that difficult AP class or making sure you visit your grandmother in the nursing home every week, everyone has something at the top of their list to accomplish. Take a few minutes to write down the main ways you want to spend your time; make sure to include homework, family time, sports, and hobbies along with sleep, exercise, and downtime. Now it’s time to incorporate these activities into your lifestyle.

2. Track your time

It’s amazing how eye-opening it can be to maintain a log of your time temporarily. Especially if you simply wonder where the time goes, keeping a log of what you do with your time will give you exact answers. Diana Niemann, a teacher at South Mecklenburg High School, has even created a time management activity for her students so they can keep better track of their commitments and “schedule appointments with their homework” instead of waiting until the last minute or not completing their assignments at all. The activity, created in conjunction with the CMS K-12 Talent Development Vertical Alignment Team, provides students with a gridded time sheet of a five-day week broken into 15-minute increments. The idea is that if students document how their time is being spent, they can utilize that information to plan and organize their lives more productively. Try logging your activities over a one-week period and watch how much more aware you are of where time is lost and how long things take. Once you determine these details for yourself, you can decide where there are pockets of time that are being underutilized along with areas in which you are spending too much time.

Related: Video: Organization and Time Management Skills

3. Plan it out

I really can’t say enough about this. The biggest key to becoming a time management guru is to have a basic timetable of what you plan to do in a block of time. The biggest trap here is thinking you can plan it all out in your head. Don’t fall for it. Either take out your phone and type it up in the notes app or, better yet, carry a small notebook or agenda where you can efficiently keep track of your tasks, plans, and responsibilities. Plus, writing by hand has been shown to lead to better memory of what you are writing down. Having a plan makes you powerful; you are in charge of what you accomplish.

4. Schedule downtime

Just because you’re a hard-working student doesn’t mean you should scrimp on time with family, your health, or your social life. All three are extremely important! It can be difficult to avoid overscheduling and overextending yourself in an attempt to use your time as successfully as possible, but remember to mark off some time for the basics. As a teenager, the recommended number of hours of sleep ranges from eight to 10 hours, and at least 60 minutes of physical activity is necessary each day. Fulfilling these benchmarks will only improve your immunity, concentration, and productivity, so don’t fool yourself into gaining time by cutting the time you devote to your health and body. Remember, good time management is all about prioritizing what you do with your time and recognizing the way you spend the free time you do have.

Related: 6 Simple Tips to Help Students Balance College Life

We all get 24 hours a day, but the way we use that time is the game changer. If you organize and manage your time better, you’ll be less stressed and more focused in school—usually resulting in better grades. Make this school year count and bring yourself increased free time by managing your time to the best of your abilities. 

Get all the organization advice you could possibly need right here on CollegeXpress with the  tag "time management."

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Laura Wallace

Laura Wallace

My favorite part of CollegeXpress is that it features student writers so I get an inside perspective from students slightly older and farther along than me. I realize that other college websites also utilize student writers; however, I relate the most to the college writers that I read articles from on CollegeXpress.

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.

Fort Lewis College

Durango, CO


Maurice Whan

Maurice Whan

$2,000 Spring Scholarship Contest Winner, 2021

This year has been tough for my family and myself, so receiving this scholarship has been a blessing in disguise! CollegeXpress has been an excellent resource in helping me prepare financially for college. Thank you again for this amazing opportunity!

Ariyane

Ariyane

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress really helped me by letting me know the colleges ratings and placements. They gave me accurate information on my colleges tuition rates and acceptance. They even let me know the ration between students and faculty and the diversity of the college. Overall they told me everything I needed and things I didnt even think I needed to know about my college and other colleges I applied for.

Joan Franklin

Joan Franklin

Counselor

I love this website and have been using it for years with my students. I originally bought products through Wintergreen Orchard House and appreciated having key facts at my fingertips when advising students. Your site is easy to access and offers a wide array of topics I need as a busy college counselor.

Victoria Fuss

Victoria Fuss

March Madness Scholarship Winner, Class of 2022

CollegeXpress has helped me dramatically. Moving on to the next level has been a dream of my mine since I was just a young kid, and the support and help CollegeXpress has given me will help me further my education. I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone at CollegeXpress!

Fernando Ponce

Fernando Ponce

High School Junior

College is a way of life that helps us find out who we are as a person, and CollegeXpress is a great way to stay connected with our future, even for students with little time on their hands due to the challenges of high school we face.