Welcome back everyone!
Time- we all wish we had more of it. I know I’ve spent countless hours searching through videos and articles to find the secret recipe of productivity and saving more time. If you’re having trouble checking off everything on your to-do list, or getting all your homework done before you get to the point of exhaustion, this one’s for you!
- Just get started – It’s scientifically proven that it’s easier for you to tackle and finish tasks when you’ve already gotten started and completed part of it- it seems less daunting that way. Take 5 minutes and start your most intimidating tasks; once you do, it will be so much easier to keep going.
- Work in short chunks of productive time – Set a timer for 50 minutes of work and then take a 10 minute break. If you have trouble staying disciplined with this, there are lots of productivity timer apps you can use. It’s important to work smarter, not harder. Stay focused during these periods of work.
- Break down your to-do list by categories – I think it’s helpful to have a running to-do list (possibly a Google doc even) so that you don’t have to keep making new ones, but besides that, it’s also helpful to separate items by categories! For example, separate homework from household chores, and have a separate category for sports/extracurriculars. This way your outline is more clear and you can tackle things category by category instead of being all over the place.
- Have a cut-off time for work – Set a time where you have to stop working (not exactly a bedtime, but close to the time you’ll want to be heading to bed). By doing this, you ensure that you’ll get a semi-good sleep, and you’ll usually increase your motivation to finish all your work before this time. I find that setting mini-deadlines like this puts enough pressure on me to pull through and finish the work, but it’s very low stakes so I won’t crumble.
- Prioritize and don’t pile on too much – Don’t expect to finish a week’s worth of work in a day. You’ll just feel frazzled and frustrated. Set time-frames for each task and know what’s absolutely necessary to finish that day. Get all of those necessary tasks done, and then start to work ahead on things that have longer time frames set.
These tips have really helped me increase my productivity recently. I know things can be crazy when schoolwork piles up on top of everything else in our busy teenage lives, but it doesn’t mean you have to be slaving away every second of the day. As I said earlier, the goal is to work smarter, not harder; hopefully we can all get everything we need to done today!
-Brooke
adventures of a typical high school student 