As a college-going student who is all swept under the pile of assignments, fretting the semester exams hanging like a sword over the head, and the desire to live a little bit of life amidst everything, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage time effectively and strike the needed balance. Especially when Social Media acts as a potent force of distraction, you will find your bank of limited hours in a day depleting like anything.
Well, this article is not about how to stop wasting your time, instead, it is about how to start using your time effectively to realize the most productive self you can ever be. So buckle up, as I share five proven underrated ways to do so!
- First Know Your Best Hours
Our energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. Some people are night owls and find the solitude of the night the best time to study, while some are early birds who are most energetic in the morning.
Find your best hours and get on to finishing the most important task, the most difficult subject during those golden hours.
- Clean Your Study Desk
Studies reveal that clean and organized surroundings mean an organized mind. Everything on your desk should have a home it can go back to. The pen should go back to the pen stand, the books should go back to the bookshelf, and you will see how easily your life gets streamlined as you practice this habit more often.
Once you are sorted with your thoughts and the study equipment, you are good to go for the next step!
- Deprioritize
As contradictory as it may sound to the cliche advice of prioritizing your work you might have got, it is the need of the hour to deprioritize tasks as we live in an era of abundant information, and abundant to-do lists.
The famous Pareto’s Principle is a well-researched rule that suggests that 80% of your success is determined by the 20% effort you put in. This 80-20 rule holds for any given scenario. There is only so much you can do in a day. Knowing what doesn’t deserve your peak energy and time, helps in understanding what truly does.
Pick up the pen or the digital planner, make a list of all the tasks in a day, and outline the ones you can miss without impacting the overall results. This is the recipe for being able to prioritize the top 20% of tasks you need to do.
- Be Clear- Find Your Why, How and What
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”- Seneca
No amount of hard work is going to be useful if you don’t know where you are heading. As a student, you need to be clear with the objectives you have with what you are studying, why you are studying, and how you are going to make the most of it.
Opportunity finds those who show clear signs of wanting it!
- Say No More Often
It is hard, I know, but say it!
Your friend calls you to have a quick chat that usually is not that quick? Say no!
The notifications are constantly bombarding on your phone demanding your attention, say no and mute them during your golden hours.
In fact, you need to say no to yourself every time you lose your motivation to finish the work at hand and feel tempted to retrace to your bed.
Know that you will have plenty of time for all the things you are currently saying no to. You are not missing out on the fun. You are simply delaying the gratification and prepping yourself for something even more fulfilling, you are prepping for life!
By – Harsha Lohani
Content Writer
IT Department, SVSU
