Imagine this scenario; you had an entire day at home to complete a school assignment and you thought to yourself, “Well, I have a whole day to work on the assignment. So I’ll play now and work later.” You started playing, and the hours went by without you writing a single word of your assignment and before you knew it, the day was almost done. You somehow managed to scrape the assignment together after putting yourself under immense stress, but you still got penalized at school for the poor quality of your work.
Does this situation sound familiar? If it does, and if it keeps happening to you over and over again, it means that you lack time management skills. Managing your time well is the key to enjoying a productive life – one where work and play go hand in hand and leave you satisfied and content. Let Megamind Learning Centre take you through some of the most effective tips to improve your time management skills.
Create a timetable – The easiest thing you can do to take your first steps towards effective time management is to create a timetable. For each day of the week, make an elaborate plan by listing activities that you’ll do within designated periods. For example, if you’re creating a timetable for a Sunday, you could assign studying from 9 AM – 11 AM, followed by an hour or two of leisure activities. While creating a timetable and incorporating both work and play in it is relatively easy, the challenging part is to follow it. The best way to keep track of whether or not you’re following the timetable is to note down what you’re doing throughout the day and compare it with the timetable. If you’ve been able to stick to your plan, great! But if not, it only means that you’ll have to work harder to manage your time better.
Include breaks – Your brain is like a machine. Use it sparingly, and it becomes rusty. Use it frequently but in intervals, and it works efficiently. However, if you use it too much, it’ll get worn out before you know it. It’s essential that you include breaks in your timetable, and by breaks, we don’t mean leisure or recreational activities; we mean a period of doing absolutely nothing.
By incorporating breaks in your daily schedule, you will give your brain some much-needed time to rest and be rejuvenated. Hopping from one activity to the next will result in fatigue and if you keep it up for several consecutive days, you’ll end up hating your timetable. Don’t let it get to that point.
Restrict social media use – Social media has become a part of our modern-day lives, and while it certainly has its benefits, if you spend too much time on it, it can be counterproductive. The endless content that social media throws at you may tempt you to keep scrolling, but if you don’t put a stop to it, it will quite certainly put a stop to any chances you have of managing your time and being productive.
The trick to managing social media use is to treat it like a specific activity and schedule it just like you plan out when to study and when to play. For example, at the end of the day, you could keep a half-an-hour or one-hour slot for using your favorite social media platforms. During the rest of the day, resist the temptation of picking up your phone needlessly and accessing your social media accounts. Also, remember to turn off notifications when you’re not online.
Set realistic goals – Even if you study for an hour, you can still make it count if you set realistic goals. For example, if you’re studying physics, instead of attempting to rush through an entire chapter, why not set an achievable goal such as understanding a certain concept within that chapter clearly? Setting realistic goals and achieving them will give you more confidence regarding your timetable, which will only encourage you to keep following it.
Don’t procrastinate – Procrastination is extremely common among students, but it is one of the worst habits to have, as young procrastinators tend to grow up to be extremely unprofessional and unproductive in their later lives. If you’ve got a lot of work on hand and not much time to complete it, get started with it as early as possible.
Remember the situation we imagined at the beginning of this post? In that situation, you managed to finish your assignment, but under immense stress, which was completely self-inflicted. The key is to prioritize. If you have a handful of school assignments to complete, cut down on your playtime and put in as much effort as you can to finish your work as early as possible.
Learning how to manage your time well during your school years can help you develop time management skills that would be valuable for the rest of your life. So, start now, and you’ll be able to experience the benefits in a matter of days.
If you want to discuss more time management skills that may work for your child, please contact your nearest Megamind Learning Centre or don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
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