High School Lessons: Time Management and Productivity - Part 2
Some life lessons that I learned from going through high school...
"High school is not easy, and neither is life." - Naydeline Mejia (and probably also said by some other great thinker, author, or historical person)
Lesson 2: Learning how to manage your time wisely and be productive.
If we're being honest here, I truly did not learn the meaning of being productive and how to manage my time accordingly until my junior year of high school. Freshman and sophomore year of high school might as well have been a breeze compared to junior year, and especially compared to senior year — there wasn't a day throughout my senior year that I didn't have a homework assignment to complete (LITERALLY, no fucking joke —thanks Mr. Marx) or a paper due or some other big project.
Literally me all throughout senior year of high school.
Also me. My anxiety was never as bad as it was throughout that last year.
Nevertheless, with college applications, financial aid applications, and homework every single night, it is safe to say that I was stressed AF during that first semester of my senior year. With so much on my plate that last year of high school, I really had to learn how to manage my time wisely and effectively to make sure I met deadlines on time (well most of them anyways) and still have time for myself to catch up on my favorite book or waste hours on YouTube (Joe Sugg is bae).
Though I doubt you'll have a crazy English teacher like mine or such a hectic schedule, here are some tips on how you can manage your time wisely and be a productive student or just a productive human being in general:
1. Keep a Planner
There is just something about actually writing down, with traditional pen and paper, what assignments are due and the tasks you must complete for the day that really sticks the information in your head and helps you memorize tasks and assignments. I personally find organizing my thoughts on a planner so helpful and after a while of writing in one you won't even have to look back on it to know exactly what tasks you have to complete for the day — it'll all just be ingrained in your head. Just having a planner in general (especially a cute minimalistic, aesthetic one) makes you feel productive and organized even if you aren't. (And if you are, it makes you feel and look like a #Girlboss who has their shit together. Yes hunt-y!)
2. Use a Time Management App
If you like to work on clockwork and perform best when you're working like you're on a factory assembly line, this organization tip is for you! I personally don't like to work on clockwork, I rather work at my own pace (without phone notifications bugging me to move onto the next task when I'm not even done with the first task yet), but some people do and for those people I suggest trying out apps like Sloth — Task Manager, which you set up with all the tasks you must complete for the day, allot a certain amount of time for yourself to complete each task, and the app alerts you when you should have completed the task at hand and should move onto your next task.
Photo of Sloth app from iTunes store
3. Don't Procrastinate.
Procrastination is your worst enemy! Don't start assignments at the very last minute rather, start them early. As soon as you're assigned a big paper or project for school or work, START IT! Even if the assignment isn't due until the next month, start it early and allot a small amount of time of your day to work on your project — do this everyday until the day that the assignment is due. Trust me, I did this all throughout high school and I never once had to endure an all-nighter to finish an assignment, and working to complete an assignment throughout 1-week compared to 1-day has always resulted in gre(A+)t grades!
Xo, Naydeline