I attend a self directed high school, and yes it is exactly what it sounds like: I teach myself. Time management plays a big role in how I get to be successful at my school, and I know for a lot of people, planning your time wisely can be tough. Here’s three tips I learned at my school that I would love to pass down to you in order to manage your time in any area you please!
1. Don’t plan too precisely
If you have your whole year or even the whole month planned out hour by hour, it’s actually a lot harder to get things done and feel god about what you’ve accomplished. Although you want a rough outline of what you want to achieve in a certain timeline, you don’t want to have it planned out too much. If something unexpected might come up, you’ll have no room to make it fit around your plans. Not to mention, if you don’t complete everything you had planed, you will start to beat yourself for it and feel unaccomplished. Try making loose and reasonable goals. When I plan my week at school I try not to set super strict deadlines. Whether it is to complete one unit in math and three in English or to write a test by Tuesday afternoon, I know I can get it done and have space for some free time.
2. Write it down
Believe it or not, but your memory is probably the worst place to store information. Write down your plans by using an agenda or the calendar on your phone, that way when someone asks you about your plans, you can easily tell them right then and there. I personally like using a calendar to write down all of my plans and then only use my phone for really important things such as exams. If I have a class that is at the same time every week, I make sure to write it down on each date of my calendar, not just at the beginning. You’d be surprised to see how easy it is to forget about your weekly music lessons or play rehearsals and schedule something else in for that time!
3. Be realistic
You know there are going to be some days where you just don’t get anything done because you have no energy or motivation, and that’s okay! As long as you can work extra hard to make up what you’ve missed; you will be fine. It is also important to make realistic goals. If you know you are super busy on Tuesdays after school, don’t plan to do three hours of homework that night. You’ll end up stressing yourself out and won’t get anytime to just relax. Everyone works at their own pace, so if someone has accomplished more than you, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re behind. Plan to accomplish something in a time frame that makes sense and works for you and try your hardest to complete the activity that you wanted to do. If you are falling behind in your schedule, try cutting down a few things that you have planned instead of trying to hard to complete everything. We’re only human after all, we can’t do everything!
I hope these tips will be useful for you in all areas that you may need. Feel free to share your time management tips in the comments down below!