Time Management For High School Students

It's Sunday. We know what we need to do. You all do too. You probably have school work or other work. Yup. We do. High school is so different from college. We've both managed to make it through high school (a few more months for C!) With pretty decent grades (not to toot our own horns!) But the skill of time management is crucial, and takes practice.

1. Make a daily to do list. This can help about everyone if you're not in the habit of doing so already. Maybe you have a notebook or use your planner. Write it every morning (part of a routine) or every night before bed for the next day. You can always add and check off stuff during the day!

2. Keep a "weekly layout". I do it on my laptop and in a notebook. Use this for things in advance, like to plan your work outs of the week or a babysitting gig. This is best done on Sundays for me, that way I force myself to look through my planner (no excuse for oops, I forgot that Lit Analysis was due THIS Wednesday!) This goes for things you know way in advance, and then add on (in a different color) things that come up.

3. Force yourself to go to bed earlier. Y'all wonder: how can you go to bed early when you have XYZ due tomorrow? Our answer: don't do XYZ at 10:00 the night before its due. Not procrastinating is key, especially when it's a project you know a month in advance. Teachers don't give projects out so far ahead because they need to plan out things, they do it because it takes you that much time to work adequately.

4. Find what your priorities are, in order. School comes first. Probably what your parents say (ours do too.) For example, School Work--> Work Work--> Sports/Extra Curriculars --> TV/Blogging/Anything that is seen as "fun". When we miss blogging, it is because we have other things that are more important. A blog post for Tuesday never comes before a calc test on Tuesday.

5. Space out your studying. How many of us have crammed? All of us. It works, until you realize how much better things are when you spread them out! Try to allow 20 minutes per subject (or so) a night, even if you have "no homework." Reviewing those notes night by night will make chapter tests a lot easier and save you more time than the usual cramming for 2+ hours the night before. 

What did we miss?

xoxo,

A+C

Day Six: Time Management and Organization

The sole reasons for our  sanity and well being is organization and time management. We literally do not know what we would do without our planners (touch them and you're dead). In our crazy and hectic lives, we need some order to keep us sane. In 2012, work towards a more orderly and organized life!

• Buy a planner! Make it fun by buying a cute and colorful one! If you can't get your hands on a colorful one, decorate the cover of a plain one with pictures of your favorite things or even inspirational words or quotes. I (A) write anything and everything school related in my planner (i.e appointments with teachers, extra help sessions, exams, classwork, events, projects, ect.) to keep make sure I'm always on top of my game and never forget anything. A great way to incorporate lists into your planner is by keeping post-its handy to write on. Whenever you make a new list, just stick it right into your planner and you can easily remove it when you're finished with it. 

How adorable are these Sarah Pinto planners?!

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• Keep a calendar in your room. I have a large calendar that I put on the desk in my room. The size is great because the daily boxes are huge and there is plenty of room for writing! I designate this calendar for non school related things such as appointments, charity events, birthdays, parties, and I even keep track of my community service hours on it as well. If you have any non school related to-do lists to add, use the post-its on the calendar as well!

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• If you're more technologically inclined, make use of the calendar you have on your phone or i(insert apple product here) to keep track of things. The great thing about the aforementioned technology is that you can program an alarm to go off as a reminder for you. Some schools even have programs where you can sync the school's online character onto your phone. How cool is that? Although I'm more traditional and prefer to write things down, I (A) always add my social schedule to the calendar on my phone. My blackberry is literally attached to my hip and I never go anywhere without it, so if I'm out and happen to forget my to glance at the calendar on my desk, I will always be able to check the calendar for any to-do's or events just in case. 

Um...why can't a trip to Paris be on our calendars?!

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• With regard to binders and for your classes, we highly recommend picking a color to assign to each respective class. Color coding makes your pile of school supplies much easier to organize. Did we mention that everything is better when its colorful? Also, dividers are great to use in binders to separate information from different chapters or units. 

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• Time management is key. Wherever you chose to write your assignments down, choose a certain time to start the assignment as well as a certain amount of time that you'd like to designate for the assignment to be worked on our completed. This technique keeps you on track and helps to avoid procrastination. Scheduling really helps to keep you from falling behind in your work. We know its hard...but do not fall victim to procrastination!

Don't let this be you on your bestie's birthday!

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Managing your time and staying organized will lead you down the road to success! But seriously, your life will be so much more orderly. More lists equal less forgetfulness. Less forgetfulness equals more organization. More organization equals less stress. Less stress equals a happier and more fabulous you! 

Love, 

A+C