High school students often face a common dilemma on whether to procrastinate on an assignment or complete it right away. As the school year progresses, many high school students are drowned by the work they are given, oftentimes sacrificing their extracurricular commitments as a result. This directly leads to stress–which has a negative impact on students’–which arises due to a student’s after-school schedule and approaches to tackling schoolwork. However, with simple but effective changes in their routine, students can find the key to being successful in all of their classes.

Throughout last year, I oftentimes found myself struggling to balance maintaining a social life while staying on top of my academics. It was difficult to complete assignments for multiple classes and study for tests and quizzes while staying involved in extracurricular activities. After returning from school, it would be difficult for me to concentrate on any specific task as I would have no starting point to begin from and no clear goal in mind.

An amazing fix: Get a planner.

Organizing the list of goals by specific amounts of time to help me know where to start. By simply ranking the priority of my tasks and their urgency, I was able to completely eliminate the unnecessary time spent on deciding what assignment to complete and when to start it. 

Planners are flexible and constantly change on a day-to-day basis depending on commitments. Adding tasks and editing them based on changes that occur in real time is simple and accessible. Students can also add upcoming tasks and edit them based on any changes that happen in real time. 

An overlooked aspect in many students’ after-school lives is the distractions that exist around them. Many students feel that their inability to work well after school is due to their schedule, but it can often be accredited to the plethora of distractions in their lives. 

A splendid solution: Check your screen time. 

If it’s an unreasonable amount of time that could rather be spent on working efficiently, then you know that requires a change. By setting screen time reminders and limits on their phones, students can help limit the time they waste on scrolling and procrastinating.

Another piece of advice for students is to have an established work environment, preferably a designated space for them to complete work and study for any upcoming tests. This will help create a setting where a student can focus and minimize distractions to work. Ideally, the workspace should be clean and isolated to allow for minimal interruptions.

The need for sacrifices exists as a student, and oftentimes students will have to make important decisions that decide the amount of work they are able to complete. By prioritizing academics through the aforementioned advice, students can not only succeed in school, but also balance having a social life by managing their time efficiently.