Every student wants good grades, but without the right organization and time management methods, it’s really easy to let yourself give up on that goal. Here are 5 tips that will make getting things done go a lot smoother and seem a little less stressful.
1. Don’t Do Homework in Your Dorm
Unless, for you personally, doing homework in your dorm results in way more productivity, make an effort to go to the library. When you are in your dorm, it is much easier to get distracted. You are free to get up and walk around and make as much noise as you want, and you can constantly take food breaks because your fridge is right next to you. When you’re at the library, there isn’t as much to get distracted by, and you have to be quiet to be considerate of others. Being in the library when you do homework will also help you feel more productive because your brain recognizes your room as a place to relax, and the library as a place to work.
2. Last Minute Assignment? At Least Spell Check
When we put off assignments until the last minute, it usually doesn’t result in that assignment being done very well. We may listen to the professor’s description of the assignment in class and think it will be quick and easy to complete, but realize that it will take us much more time than we thought it would once we start it. Avoid giving yourself more stress by knowing exactly what you will have to do and how long it will take long before the assignment is due.
3. Stay Organized by Using a Planner and Splitting Up Your Tasks
When you write down everything that you have to do, it becomes a little less overwhelming. You can see it clearly in front of you instead of having it all jumbled in your head. Start out by writing a list of everything you need to do in your week, and think about what days you need to get each thing done on. Check off each task/assignment on the list as you write it down on its designated day in your planner. When you do this, it makes everything seem more doable because you don’t have to try and finish as many of your tasks as you possibly can in one day. Checking each task off in your planner as you complete it is fun, too. It’s a nice feeling when you see that you have gotten it done and don’t have to worry about it anymore. You can even add easy things to your daily check list, like “eat lunch”, so that you can feel good about checking more things off.
4. Don’t Brush Off Assignments for an Easy Class
I have made the mistake of doing this before. If you always push your assignments for that certain class to the bottom of your list of priorities, you’ll end up having to put little effort into them due to lack of time to finish them. This will land you a worse grade than you were hoping to make.
5. Limit Procrastination by Putting Your Phone Away
One of the biggest issues all students struggle with is procrastination, and cell phones make this issue even worse. It is so tempting to put our pencils down and pick up our phones when they are sitting right in front of us. And even if you only pick up your phone to answer one text message, it’s easy to get sucked into all of our other apps like Instagram and Twitter for hours.
A solution for this is to turn your phone off and put it away. I can agree that it’s hard to go without looking at your phone for a long time; you always want to know what new notifications you are getting. However, those notifications will still be waiting for you when you turn your phone back on.
You can even turn this into a sort of game by giving yourself say 30 minutes of free time on your phone after completing a certain amount of assignments. If you really stay disciplined with this work-then-reward game, you will feel motivated to get your work done faster so you can get to the reward.
No one likes to do homework or study, but it’s just something that has to get done. It’s easy to get discouraged when it seems like the work never ends, but you need to keep reminding yourself why you started in the first place and what goal you are striving to reach. If you keep working hard, you will feel so proud of all of the work you’ve done when you finally reach graduation. Don’t give up.