The problem for any student is a lack of time. They sacrifice their sleep for the sake of another incomplete essay or another chapter of a term paper. Over time, it seems that it is simply impossible to maintain a routine and combine it with studying.
But few students know that to achieve academic success in college and the solution to all the problems will be the proper organization of their time management.
Time-management techniques
Get a planner or diary
Get into the habit of planning every day, week, and month. To do this, get an electronic planner or a regular daily planner. For each period, highlight large key tasks and smaller ones. If you write by hand, use different colors of markers. For example, red for the most critical tasks, green for tasks of medium difficulty, and blue for minor issues.
Use the 1-3-5 rule
In simple words, in one day, you can do one big task, three medium and five small tasks. That is a total of nine tasks, no more and no less. This rule will help you spend the most reasonably limited resource of time. This way, you will gradually and without fatigue unclutter your business.
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Don’t set too many tasks for the day. Ideally, you should have one key task (write the first chapter of your term paper), 2-3 medium (write my essay, learn 20 new words in Japanese, close the workout in the gym), and 3-4 small (to go to the store for groceries, to pass the coat in the dry cleaner, pick up the hairdryer from the repair).
Alternate activities
If you’re doing the same thing for hours on end (like studying for an exam), your brain gets tired very quickly, and your productivity drops. So get into the habit of alternating formats and activities. For example, suppose you are preparing for an exam. Don’t cram 3 hours of notes by heart.
Spend 20 minutes reading the textbook, then watch a video lecture, read again, try to reproduce out loud what you have already memorized, make a cognitive map of the topic. Then distract yourself and take a break, do a little warm-up, drink a cup of herbal tea. This approach will make you less tired and keep your performance and concentration longer.
Follow a daily routine
If you’re used to going to bed in the morning and getting up as you have to, your body suffers. To be effective, you need to have a routine. It’s tedious but essential. At least during the session, make sure you get at least 7-8 hours of sleep and go to bed before midnight.
Start your morning with exercise and a protein breakfast. Then, drink plenty of fresh water and eat a nutritious diet. You should give up sodas, fast food, and dry sandwiches for the period of exam preparation. Otherwise, you will end up in the gastroenterologist’s office instead of the exam room.
Set deadlines and introduce a penalty system
You can plan your day, set many tasks, and with a feeling of accomplishment, watch ten episodes of your favorite TV series. Each task should have its deadline. Only this way you will learn to assess their capabilities objectively.
Without willpower, too, nothing works. To train it, introduce a system of penalties: do not have time to write an essay on time, lose social networks for 24 hours. You can involve your friends in training; they will ensure that all penalties are worked out honestly.
The Pomodoro system
Its author is Francesco Cirillo, who wanted to make it easier to prepare for exams. It is excellent for those who find it very difficult to concentrate and not get distracted. In addition, this way you can control your time.
The original method was this: you take a timer and set it for 25 minutes, then actively work on the task without distractions. When that time is up, you rest for 5 minutes and then repeat the four cycles. After that, you can take a break for half an hour.
These days, everything is times easier, since there are phones with mobile applications. For example, Clockwork Tomato is a timer app on Android that will help the brain intelligently switch and rest. The classic version is built according to the scheme of 25 minutes of work/5 minutes of rest. But this ratio can also be changed.
Eat a frog
This method was invented by motivational speaker and self-development author Brian Tracy. “Frogs” with him are unpleasant tasks that must be done, even despite a strong reluctance. So Brian suggests that you “eat a frog” first thing in the morning to shed that weight early and thus ensure that you are in a good mood.
Fresh or Fried
A method from blogger Stephanie Lee. It means that your brain is fresh at the beginning of the day, but by the end of the day, it is already fried. So you need to identify your peak activity, during which you should have time to do all the important things.
At the end of the day, when your brain is already “fried,” you need to take 15 minutes to form a to-do list for tomorrow. At the beginning of the day, take the most critical tasks and the so-called “frogs,” which we talked about above, to the “Fresh” group. Put less urgent tasks in the second part of the day, as they will be less of a burden on your brain. Repeat this every day.
Remember that anyone can fail to cope with the workload. The important thing is to find a method in time that makes your life easier. Don’t forget to get enough sleep and keep a routine, so your day will go better, and your brain won’t be so “fried” in the morning. In any case, you can seek help from the best essay service. Such a company will free up some of your time. Experts will help you write personal statements for nursing school, as well as successful speech in several steps.