A common thread connecting students everywhere is being busy. Whether it’s textbook readings or a week of rigorous practices, students can often feel like they have no free time. While this is true in many situations, this feeling often comes from a lack of time management. It may feel difficult to organize the best ways to spend time, so I’ve included ways to arrange time that limits stress and time wasted.

1. Create a schedule. Before a stressful week, one of the most helpful things to do is plan it out. Writing out prior commitments, days homework is due and even days when you know you can relax is extremely helpful. Having a guiding framework for the week is invaluable to time management. For me, utilizing a calendar has allowed me to better visualize my plans in the week and guides me to an organized week.
2. Utilize healthy habits. Taking care of yourself is always important, but when juggling twenty different things at once, sleeping well and drinking water may feel insignificant. Truthfully when busy, those habits that seem trivial help to balance a busy time.
3. Eliminate distractions. When finally having time to sit down and complete one activity, having something completely different on your mind is not helpful. Multitasking can be helpful in a pinch but allotting time to concentrate on one thing at a time makes work go by faster. Ways to do this are putting away phones and screens that you aren’t currently using, listening to music that won’t be distracting, or silencing notifications on devices.
4. Set clear goals. Having clear checkpoints and objectives makes managing time much easier. Knowing what tasks are important and pressing makes work go by much faster. Personally, I find at the beginning of months, setting goals for specific activities or classes and writing them down somewhere easily visible helps me keep up on it.
5. Take breaks. This may seem counterproductive, but it’s hard to stay afloat when burnt out. Keeping busy is great, but remembering to make time for yourself is just as important. It’s very easy to just keep working once you’ve begun, but it can be difficult to make actual progress if you’re feeling bored or tired.