You go into your AP class thinking it will be a free day. You sit in your seat and your teacher asks you for the homework packet. Oh no! You were too busy doing other class homework and you forgot. 

Don’t worry, you are most likely not the only one as almost everyone has been in this situation because they have trouble managing their time.

Time is precious; it is something that cannot be bought no matter how much money you have. Time management is an art of organizing your work. As you manage time, you minimize the feeling you are forgetting something. 

These moments of panic and stress reflect the challenge that many students face with managing their time. As time keeps going, it is important  to know how to use it effectively to avoid last-minute rushing. 

Here are some problems I faced and how I overcame them.

Forgetting important dates

When I started school I was quite excited because all of my classes looked easy. However, by the second week of school, I began getting work from almost all my classes. 

I had trouble remembering assignments from eight classes and their due dates. So, I started to keep up with a planner to make managing my work easier. 

To make my planner, I used a composition notebook and drew a table with five columns and eight rows. In every row, I wrote down a subject and color-coded each one. In each column, I wrote down each weekday.

This system helped me keep track of my various assignment deadlines.

Distractions

I love using my phone. I often go on Instagram and scroll through reels or play my favorite game, Call of Duty, rather than focusing on my assignment at hand. This happens whenever I keep my phone next to me. 

The way I prevent technology distraction is simple. All I do is turn off all notifications and put my phone somewhere it cannot be seen, like a different room. It was hard for the first few days, but once I developed the mindset of prioritizing focus over immediate gratification, I became less distracted.

Beyond technology, students face mental distractions, such as overthinking and worrying about their deadlines, making the task they are working on even more challenging. 

This happens to me each time I finish a test. I constantly think about the grade I might receive. Even though I rechecked some questions I remembered from the test afterward, I am still anxious. To help with this, I began to take deep breaths to relieve stress.

This method not only relieves my school stress, it also helps me be more aware of my surroundings. Without these distractions, I can focus on the surrounding ongoing activities like interacting with people, doing chores and many more activities. 

Procrastinating

Talking about distractions, many students including me are tempted to wait until the last day to complete an assignment. This last-minute work creates more pressure. 

Rather than doing everything at once, I break up the assignment into smaller chunks to make it easier. This method helped maintain my focus as I made some progress with my assignments. I do this whenever I am working on a project or any other assignments that take more than a day.