Time Management Strategies for Students
Do you want your students to be organized, goal-oriented, and resilient? Set the stage for lifetime success with these time management strategies for students.
Why Students Need Time Management Strategies
Time management is not about scheduling students to the maximum.
When a student learns to manage their time well, they reap benefits.
Walk the Road to Independence
Time management skills lay the foundation for life success.
They can set goals and work the steps to achieve them.
They master organization and self-discipline.
All of these are foundational for independence.
Lower Stress
Without time management skills, students will either cram to meet a deadline or miss it entirely.
Procrastination breeds stress; effective time management allows you to prepare calmly.
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11 Time Management Strategies Students Need
These proven strategies will help your students learn the necessary time management skills.
Keep a Calendar for a Bird’s Eye View
Today’s students are busy and often present-focused.
Between school and extra-curricular activities and time with family and friends, their days are full.
Keeping a calendar can help students see their schedule from a bird’s eye view. What is coming up in the next week or the next month?
By grasping the big picture, they can better determine how to spend their time each day.
They can break up large projects into smaller chunks, eliminating procrastination.
Students can use an online calendar, but beware of the phone calendar.
Little dots on each day of the month do not provide enough information to plan ahead effectively.
Keep a Planner for Daily Tasks
Some online calendars can pull double duty as planners.
A physical calendar needs a planner supplement (or a planner that has a calendar component).
A planner tells the student not just their daily to-dos, but when to accomplish these tasks.
By assigning a time to each task, the task is more likely to get done.
A note to the overscheduled: Students may optimistically assume they will be more productive than they have ever been.
People aren’t robots; they need breaks. Allot some buffer time between tasks to keep the schedule achievable.
Take Breaks
How does taking a break help you to manage your time? Believe it or not, regular breaks help you maintain focus and efficiency.
In the long run, you are more productive if you take breaks. What kinds of breaks? So glad you asked! Try these Brain Breaks.
Even adults benefit from this approach. The Pomodoro Technique teaches that adults should take a 5-minute break every 25 minutes.
After four of these sections, take a longer break.
While teens may be able to maintain a 25-5 work-to-break ratio, younger students will need a closer ratio (like 10-5 or 15-5).
Students with ADHD or students who suffer from fatigue (for example, from working in the evening after a long day of schoolwork and activities) may need a closer ratio as well.
Try Time Management Apps
Students can take advantage of time management apps to help them be more productive.
Although many of these apps work for team projects and collaboration, you can use them as an individual as well.
Trello
Trello allows students to make task cards to move from one section to another.
They can customize these cards with links, text, and labels galore.
They can share their Trello Board with a parent so both of them have access to their to-do list.
Todoist
If your student likes to check off lists, Todoist is the app for them.
Your student can easily create checklists for tasks.
These checklists can integrate with a calendar to track your progress and see what is ahead.
Evernote
Evernote is a notetaking app that doubles as a planning tool. You can create lists and notes and sync them with a calendar.
Try the Sticky Note Visual System
Apps aren’t for everyone. For that matter, neither are planners.
Some students need something more tactile to help with time management.
Enter the “Sticky Note System.”
Using a large whiteboard, make a weekly calendar. Divide the calendar into two halves so each day has a top and a bottom section.
On the top of each calendar day, adhere sticky notes with one task per note.
You can color code the notes by category if you wish (see the Eisenhower system below).
Say the notes on the top half of Monday read:
- Write outline for book report
- Feed the dog
- Practice piano
- Empty dishwasher
- Read 20 pages of book.
As the student completes each task, they can move that sticky note to the bottom section of the day. That is the “done category.”
Alternatively, they can crumple up and throw the note away. That always feels good!
If the student does not complete a task, it is placed in the next day’s column.
“Eat the Frog”
A quote often attributed to Mark Twain is this: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
What’s the message? Do the hard stuff (or the least appealing task) first. This keeps you from procrastinating on the unwanted tasks.
If your math homework takes the most out of you, do that first.
If you have a list of chores to do, do the least appealing one first.
Use the Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower matrix is another way to sort tasks on your to-do list.
President Eisenhower said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
Sort your to-do list from urgent to important.
Urgent tasks require your immediate attention and must be completed that hour or that day.
Important tasks are typically long-term goals.
What are tasks that are not urgent and not important? These are distractions! Don’t do them (unless they are fun and you do them during your downtime.)
Maintain Consistent Sleep-Wake Cycle
You can manage your time well without a plan. That’s pure and simple.
You make a plan unless you know when you’ll be awake and alert.
Get enough sleep at night for maximum productivity. Go to bed and wake up at approximately the same time of day.
Try to stick to a routine as much as possible. Have a consistent time of day for study or homework.
Set SMART Goals
Effective time management can help you achieve your goals.
You are far more likely to reach your goals if they are SMART.
SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
Eliminate Distractions
If you have time allocated to complete a task, make the most of that time.
For tasks that require concentration, like study and homework, minimize distractions.
Even if a student is not neat, they will benefit from a tidy work area.
Clear the desk or table of visual distractions, such as piles of paper, books, or yesterday’s plate and cup.
If they need their phone or computer, set it to “Do Not Disturb.”
Music can be a study aid or a distraction. Use your judgment to decide whether music (or certain music) is helping or hurting.
Don’t Overload
Today’s students are often overcommitted.
Even with all the time management skills in the world, there are still only 24 hours in a day.
Don’t set up an impossible schedule for the student. If they are making their own schedule, consider eliminating some activities from their life.
A good question to ask is, “Does this activity align with my long-term goals? Does it reflect or reinforce my values?”
Time Management for Students
Should a student implement all eleven time management strategies on this list? No.
Just because a time management strategy seems like a good idea does not mean it with work with each and every student.
Teach your student to try a strategy for 1 to 3 months. If, after consistent application, it is not helping, try something else instead.
By learning which time management strategies work for you, you can set yourself up for short and long-term success.
