We are officially seven weeks into first semester! With classes in full swing, some may find it difficult to keep up, and the phrase “I don’t have enough time,” or “There aren’t enough hours in the day;” begin to come up. I have found that students DO have enough hours in the day, they just aren’t using them efficiently. Let me help you out with these productivity tips…

1. Don’t try to multitask. Though the thought of multitasking may seem like a good idea, if you are trying to remember information, texting, reading your textbook, and watching Halloween movies will not work. Instead focus on one task at a time and follow them through to completion.
2. Put your phone down! You will get nothing done with your phone in your hand. With notifications popping up from social media, texts, and apps, you are sure to pick your phone up and get lost in its contents.
3. Write down your daily tasks. Writing in an agenda or a post-it note and putting it up on your wall will help you to complete your daily tasks. Not only will you have a clear outline of what you need to do, but you will be more likely to complete the tasks.
4. Don’t attempt to watch TV, YouTube, or Netflix while doing your homework. Watching TV will surely lead to you getting drawn into looking at the characters on screen, distracting you from the work in front of you. Instead–try listening to music! This tip will be even more useful if you choose music without lyrics, like classical or electric dance music.
5. Do the most difficult tasks first. This tip will be one of the harder tasks to get done. I know that we have all had a late night of homework, and you get to the point where you start to feel drowsy,and you abandon the homework and go to bed. Instead of having a difficult assignment to finish the next day during lunch, leave trivial things like making corrections for the next day. You will be less stressed and more likely to finish all of your work.
6. Try to do the majority of your work with paper and pencil. Just like how your phone can be a distraction, your laptop can be one too. The act of writing things by hand, say for instance flashcards, can help you to remember the information better than typing them on a laptop. Use blue pen when you are writing your flashcards–supposedly it will help you remember the information better.
7. Stay organized. Searching for papers in a messy bookbag, having a cluttered desk, and being surrounded by too many things are not going to contribute to a conducive work environment. Try to keep your study space as clean as possible. This may help to lower your stress levels and eliminate distractions.
8. Get enough sleep. This tip will likely follow suit after you begin to implement the rest of these tips. Getting enough sleep is likely something we all wish we could get. Getting enough sleep will help you in memorization, making better decisions, and with your focus.

Why do you need seven hours of sleep?

            9. Set timers for working time and breaks. My recommendation would be to work for forty-five minutes followed              by a five minute break. This split will be just enough time to dive in to the work you are doing without draining                you of your energy.

I saved the hardest tip for last.

10. The most useful tip I could give you on how to be more productive is to simply start doing your work. This is honestly the hardest part. Once you stop giving yourself excuses on why you can’t start, you can get the work that you need to done, and feel less stressed or guilty when you are putting off your work.

I hope that these tips will be able to help you all. Once I began to implement some of these suggestions to my daily routine, my procrastination and stress levels were dramatically reduced. We should all try to be more productive with our time. With all the free time you have after finishing your work early, you will be able to do the things you really love, to catch up on your favorite TV show, or spend time with friends.