A student’s life is full of multi-tasking, which can be overwhelming sometimes. You might start telling yourself that you can’t do some tasks or you can not achieve them because there’s no time! But we want to stop you there and take a deep breath. We know that you have the pressure of scoring good grades while keeping yourself healthy mentally and physically and staying conscious of what’s happening in the world, so you don’t feel left behind.
7 Ways To Increase Productivity As a Student
In this article, we will teach you some smart management techniques that will drastically upgrade your productivity so you can complete your do-to list easily and still have time for leisure activities. So, let’s begin,
1. Manage Your Time
From the topper of the class to the ones who are a little weak in their study, they all have one thing in common, they all get 24 hours a day and 30 days a month. The reason why some students exceedingly outperform others is that they are very good at time management and completing their tasks at the right time.
But this is where the game changes; unlike memory or analytical skills, time management skills are fairly easy to learn. Time management is more of a habitual thing that you need to discipline yourself into, but this is without a doubt a great skill to have in your arsenal as a student.
With correct time management, you can study for good grades in your school or college, but at the same time, you can maintain your social life and enjoy your hobbies. Suppose you love watching anime and honestly saying, who doesn’t? So Let’s consider that you want to watch your favourite anime in the evening and if you have school or college in the morning and some classes in the noon.
In this scenario, to manage your time effectively, what you should do is prepare a list of the tasks you need to finish, like finishing the school project, essay writing, football practice, dance practice, or just playing some games with your friends. Now, once you have prepared the list, what we recommend you to do is label the task based on the importance level like very important, important, normal, and least important. So, you have an idea of which task you need to finish first.
Now, try to finish the most important task in the morning first as we have the highest energy levels in the clamming morning environment. For example, if your highest priority task is to write an essay or report on any subject, then try to finish them first in the morning. You can also do smart work by using an essay assistant or writing assistant like Grammarly to help you finish the task easily and quickly.
If the task you picked for the morning is too big, then break it down into small parts and try to finish the small portion of it as per the schedule. Once that is done, you can move on to finish the other tasks. You can also set some goals like you will not watch an anime or tv until you finish a certain number of tasks, as this will motivate you to complete your tasks.
2. Set Deadlines
In a student’s life, deadlines are always a big thing, and you need to make a habit of constantly giving yourself deadlines. You can try a small deadline for your projects and work like I will finish this project by next Monday, or I will finish the assignment by Friday. Not only is this technique good for your preparation for any competitive exams, but this way, you will always make sure that you don’t have to do a last-minute hassle or you do not forget about tests.
Again, how should you set your deadlines? We recommend you to use your Google Calendar and mark all the important dates and also set reminders of one week before that important date so you don’t forget about it.
Maybe the date can be for a test or a project’s last date; just make sure to mark and set a reminder for at least one week before the end dates so that you can prepare beforehand. This habit will also help you in the future as many jobs focus on completing deadlines and dealing with the pressure that deadlines bring with them.
3. Plan Your Activities Ahead
Managing your time and deadlines does not mean you should not be planning activities ahead. A good student will always plan for at least a month ahead for any important work they have to do on a certain day.
Planning ahead will subconsciously program your brain into making time for that particular activity you want to do on a particular day. Maybe you want to go out to play, do your hobby, or even meet up with your friends. It is important that you have marked all your important events on the calendar so you can make a plan according to them.
Like, if you want to go out with friends to swim on weekends, then by using this technique, you can plan out your week in such a way that you can finish all your important tasks before Saturday. So, you can enjoy with your friends on weekends without worrying about anything.
4. Take Breaks Regularly
Many students believe studying for long hours at once will increase their productivity and focus. But it might be true for some students but not for all of us.
Many research and studies have shown us that taking a small break while doing a repetitive task is a good thing. Like, when you are studying, you can take a 5- or 10 minutes break after every 30 minutes or 1 hour. This helps you to freshen up your mind and re energies you to study again. But, it would be best to do activities that do not shift your focus during these breaks.
Like, if you have taken a 10-minute break after studying for 1 hour, then instead of using your phone to scroll through your social media feed, do the activities which will reduce your stress levels and freshness you up, like go out for a walk for 10 minutes, or listen to clamming music, or anything which relaxes you.
Now you might ask us, how much time should we allot to each break? Well, we don’t really have a clear answer for that, the reason being that every human being is unique, and so is their brain. Some students need 5 minutes to reset their brains, while others need more than half an hour. We recommend you to experiment with your timings and see which time space is the best for you and helps you keep up your speed when you are studying or doing any other activity.
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5. Sleep Well
We cannot emphasize enough how important is a good night’s sleep for a student and how much it can affect your overall productivity. According to the research, most teenagers need at least 8 hours of daily sleep for their brains to function properly.
From sleeping, we are not talking about just sleeping, but we are talking about REM sleep which is when your brain repeats all the things that it remembers from your day. REM sleep is responsible for developing long-term memory, muscle memory, and many other functions related to memory and processing. Try to sleep at least 8-9 hours a day and try to avoid fluids just before bed as REM sleep usually occurs at the last stage of your sleep cycle, and you don’t want to disturb it to go and take a break in the toilet.
6. Have A Healthy Diet
A healthy diet means a healthy body, and for a student, your body and mind should be your top priority. Taking care of your body is easier than you might think, and the place where you want to start from is a healthy diet.
Your brain needs an ample amount of different macro and micronutrients to work properly. So does your body; if you think that you can do great with just junk food or just drinking cold drinks, then you are sitting on a rollercoaster of lies, my friend. It would be best if you had a diet that has everything in the proper amount from fibres, protein, carbs, and vitamins to keep yourself healthy.
Don’t forget that every food plays a different role in your body’s growth. We recommend you have at least one banana or an apple with some dry fruits daily to get at least the basic vitamin requirements naturally.
7. Do Errands Smartly
Let’s be honest, and we don’t really want to do the Errands; they are big-time consumers, which can really mess up your schedule and your plans. The best way to deal with this would be to group them together in the smartest way so that you have to spend the least time on them.
If you have to go out to buy something from the store, just rethink once if you need to take out the trash, or maybe you need to bring something else. Just try to clump them together, so they cost you less of your time. You can save lots of time by managing things smartly.
I hope the tips and tricks we shared could help you increase your productivity as a student. That’s it for this article, and if you have questions regarding this article, feel free to comment using the comment section below!
A computer engineer by day, gamer by night. He grew up playing Mario and contra, and just like every other 90s kid, he got passionate about mobile gaming. He had done bachelors in computer science and played fps and MOBA games for years.
