This paper suggests the tools of time management for students. It explains why planning is crucial for their performance and provides evidence-based research. The paper presents several strategies that can improve academic results and illustrates the reasons for their efficiency. The study proves that time management, including prioritizing, creating a schedule, and developing goals, can make a significant contribution to students’ performance.
The Strategies of Time Management
Time management is crucial for students’ academic performance. According to Gütl, Rizzardini, Chang, and Morales (2014), if individuals want to complete university courses, they should be prone to discipline and focus and have time-management and planning skills. Sometimes planning is more important than learning abilities because it is necessary for students to complete their projects on time. However, people tend to underestimate the amount of time required for a project and are unable to prioritize tasks (Oettingen, Kappes, Guttenberg, & Gollwitzer, 2015). Procrastination is also one of the outcomes of ineffective time-management and planning. Many students are unable to maintain a balance between their studies and leisure time, which results in academic failures (Panek, 2014). There are several strategies and tools that students can use to schedule their life and improve their academic performance.
First, as it was mentioned above, it is crucial to prioritize. Students can write down all of the projects they need to complete and the deadlines for those. It can help them understand which task they should start to work on earlier, and what preparation they might need to do to complete all of the projects on time. The second step is creating a timetable including all of the tasks. Students can use calendars, mobile apps, or paper planners. It is necessary to include sleep and other essential activities in the schedule as well to reduce the risk of stress and burnout. However, it is crucial to concentrate on the projects that need to be completed. Thirdly, it is necessary to eliminate distractions while working on the tasks. For example, students can put their phones away while they are studying or use the Pomodoro technique that involves twenty-five minutes of work and five to ten-minute-long breaks.
Being motivated is not always helpful as it is vital to staying organized and determined to do the best job. However, finding motivation is crucial, as it can be a driving force of the good academic performance. To do so, students should reward themselves for adhering to the schedule and completing their tasks on time. It is also necessary to review one’s goals and remember the reason for the desire to study well.
It is also crucial for individuals to study at what time of the day they can be the most productive. For some people, it can be early morning, while others prefer working late at night. Scheduling the tasks at that time can significantly improve productivity. It is necessary to remember that time-management is not a restricting but a liberating practice as it allows students to be confident in their performance and have more time for personal tasks.
Conclusion
Time management is an essential part of the studying process. Without planning, it is impossible to ensure excellent academic performance since there are many tasks that have to be scheduled. Students can adopt time management strategies to improve their academic results and to do so, they can start with creating a list of tasks and a timetable, as well as learning to prioritize and focus. Such a simple step can make a significant impact on the learning process and academic performance.
References
Gütl, C., Rizzardini, R. H., Chang, V., & Morales, M. (2014). Attrition in MOOC: Lessons learned from drop-out students. In L. Uden, Y. Tao, H. Yang, & I. Ting (Eds.), International workshop on learning technology for education in cloud (pp. 37-48). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Oettingen, G., Kappes, H. B., Guttenberg, K. B., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2015). Self‐regulation of time management: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(2), 218-229.
Panek, E. (2014). Left to their own devices: College students’ “guilty pleasure” media use and time management. Communication Research, 41(4), 561-577.