Time Management Tips for These Virtual Times

Hello everyone!

This week’s blog post is about time management tips, which I’m sure are especially useful now, during the pandemic. It’s a very quick post, so read on to learn more about how you can efficiently manage your time.

I’m not sure about you, but I certainly have had trouble managing my time all throughout high school. It’s something I’m sure almost all high schoolers struggle with since we usually have to juggle multiple classes on top of all of our extracurriculars. Nowadays, we find ourselves staying at home for the most part. What’s interesting to note is how even though we find ourselves with more time on our hands, we still aren’t as efficient as we would hope to be.

Of course, everyone aspires to be a productive person, but it just isn’t possible. And I completely agree with this! School is hard, and reality doesn’t consist of us spending each minute of our entire lives working on school and other activities. However, a couple of minute changes to your day-to-day routine are bound to improve your efficiency in getting tasks done.

I’ve listed a couple of different steps you can take to make your days in virtual high school at least a bit more productive.

Plan out your week

This is one step I take on a regular basis, since it definitely helps me stay on top of my assignments and classes. I tend to take a couple of minutes during the weekend to sit down and plan out my week ahead. I note down my classes, major tests, and assignments that I’ll have to complete.

This can be as simple as writing everything down on a simple sheet of paper! I personally use a google document since most of my work is on the computer, but you can choose to do whatever means of planning you wish to! If planning out your week in a decorative hard-copy planner makes you feel more productive, then go for it!

You don’t have to follow what others are doing – do what makes you feel good. Trust me, this one step can certainly help you manage your time, and help you feel like you’re on top of all your work.

Wake up early and go to sleep early

Now this is a pretty self-explanatory tip, but it’s super hard to execute. Personally, I find myself going to bed late at night (due to my constant build-up of homework), and waking up very late in the morning, feeling even worse. It’s not healthy, especially since a lack of sleep can lead to numerous health problems.

That being said, I do understand how difficult it is to go to bed early as a high schooler. It seems impossible, doesn’t it? But trust me, if you are able to shut everything down and go to sleep early in the night, you’ll wake up feeling much better and ready to get your day started. Use the tip I previously stated (plan out your week) to ensure you don’t have any last-minute assignments, and start sleeping early! I hope you find this simple tip helpful!

Set mini-goals (that are healthy, of course)

This is something that’s commonly taught in health classes, to motivate someone to work out and eat healthier - but that doesn’t mean we can’t use it in the realm of time management! When I say, “set mini-goals,” I mean that you should treat yourself to certain rewards if you properly manage all of your tasks over a period of time.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should do one homework assignment, and then immediately proceed to watching a movie or eating ice cream. Make sure you set reasonable and realistic goals. A good example of a mini-goal would be: if you properly managed your time and completed all of your assignments by the deadline over a two-week period, then you can treat yourself to a relaxing day at the beach. It’s important to note that your goals need to be healthy, so you’re treating yourself properly.

My final advice for you is to not take this tip to the extreme, and only use it towards the beginning of your period of change, because after that, proper time management will come naturally to you.

Prioritize your assignments and tasks

This is another tip that’ll help you in the long run. If you find yourself struggling to properly plan out your week, or find yourself with numerous tasks to do in a short period of time, then try using this tip.

Prioritize your tasks in terms of importance, and get the most important ones done first. If it’s mounds of homework, and it’s all due by the next day, then work on the one with the most weight on your grade.

Likewise, manage your tasks in order of importance, so even if you have a little bit of time, you’ll still get the most important work done. I use this tip all the time, especially during the weekends when I want to relax and have little work to do.

Take breaks when needed

And now, the final tip: take breaks. It’s something we all need to hear once in a while. A lot of the times I find myself feeling guilty for taking breaks, since I know that I can be doing something productive.

Don’t let this eat you up. It’s okay to take breaks once in a while. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can’t be constantly taking breaks and procrastinating your work. It’s important to be efficient while you take breaks.

Get some work done, feel productive, and then take a quick, refreshing break.

I hope you all found these tips to be very helpful! It's always nice to be productive and on top of all your assignments, so I hope these tips help make your time in high school at least a bit easier. Feel free to contact me with any questions!

Until next time, bye!

P.S. Time management is a struggle, and inevitable in high school, so know that I understand what you’re going through! :)