If you’re anything like me, you probably find it difficult to get a good study/work routine going. It’s hard to sit down and focus on homework long enough to get it done. Time management is crucial in college with so many assignments and so many deadlines, so here are a few tips that have helped me get things done over the years.
- Have a Planner
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I’m sure you’ve heard it a thousand times, but that’s because it really is that important. The monthly spread helps you keep track of all of your major deadlines, while the weekly spread helps you plan out your days accordingly. Having everything down in writing will motivate you to get things done so you can check them off of your list and have the rest of the day to do whatever you’d like.
Planners can also be helpful if you have a busy personal life on top of a busy school life. The monthly spread will allow you to put down any appointments or plans that you already have so you can plan your schoolwork around it.
- Break Up the Big Assignments
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I’ve come to realize that the bigger the assignment, the longer I put it off. Knowing you have to sit down and focus for hours on end is never a motivating feeling. To avoid this problem, break up your big assignments! First, look over your assignment to see what all you have to do. Next, break up the assignment into more manageable parts. Once you’ve broken up your assignment, use your planner to choose which days you’ll do which parts of the assignment. Breaking up a big assignment into smaller assignments makes each day easier and the workload more manageable.
- Have Incentives
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The satisfaction of getting things done just isn’t enough motivation for some people. An easy fix for this is offering yourself extra incentives. You can have a large incentive, like a trip to the mall if you’ve finished all of your work for the week, or you can have smaller incentives, like getting candy for every portion of your assignment that you complete. Not everyone can visualize the long term rewards of getting things done, but it’s easy to want to get things done when you can see what you’ll get in return.
- Avoid Distractions
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This is also a common one, but the benefits are often overlooked. Sitting at a desk with your phone in another location will be more beneficial in getting things done than sitting on your bed in front of the TV with your phone at your side. Anything that can draw your attention away from your work will make the time that you spend working even longer. Being away from your phone isn’t fun, but if you let yourself focus just long enough to get the assignment done, you’ll have extra time to be on your phone without worrying about having to finish your work.
Schoolwork is usually never fun, but procrastinating can make it a whole lot worse. If you decide to try out any or all of these tips, I hope they can help you stop procrastinating as they did for me!