How to Be More Productive in College

Whether you’re in college or even high school, many students suffer with the ability to be productive and make use of their time. Most know this is an issue but lack the ability or knowledge to change things. When you feel unproductive, that can create greater stress, anxiety, and guilt as a student. Maybe you feel like you are letting your parents or yourself down.

Being productive in school honestly feels great! So here we will go over some tips that you can utilize to be more productive in college. Let’s jump right in!

Know When Things Are Due

The first tip is to simply know when things are due. Either download an app where you can put each assignment for the next month and when it is due or write them down on a calendar. Do this once so it is done. If you are writing them down, you could write big assignments due this month, then this week, then today. And keep the daily/weekly assignments visible. 

Then, what you want to do is cross off assignments as you due them in the order that they are due. So finish what you have due today, then this week. And if you still have time, maybe put some work in on the larger project that is due at the end of the month. 

There is a sort of high that you get when you mark things off once completed. And you feel like you can actually relax because you aren’t trying to remember if there is something else you are forgetting since you already did the planning beforehand.

Keep a Daily Schedule

There are a number of reasons why keeping a schedule is important in college. For one, it can help you stay on top of your coursework. A schedule can help you keep track of when assignments are due and make sure you’re prepared for exams. 

It can also help you manage your time more effectively so you can balance your academic and social life. You can have planned study time and planned time with your friends so you know nothing is being ignored.

Additionally, a schedule can help reduce stress levels by providing a sense of structure and predictability. 

So make sure you have a relatively planned schedule including when you go to bed and wake up because a poor sleep schedule will wreak havoc on your productivity.

Plan Exercise Time

You should plan exercise time as well. For one, exercise can help improve your mental health and concentration. It can also help reduce stress levels, which can be especially useful during exams. Additionally, exercise can help boost your energy levels and metabolism, which can be helpful when trying to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, or for studying and learning.

You can learn more effectively because your brain and body are healthier.

Taking care of your body will teach discipline which will transfer over to your studies because it requires consistent effort over time.

It will also improve confidence which will help in your social life as well as every other aspect of your life.

So don’t neglect your physical fitness.

Work Part Time

Now this may sound counterproductive, but those who work during school are forced to be even more organized and disciplined with their schedules. Sometimes it isn’t good to have too much free time. There are many whose grades improve after they start working part time because they can no longer afford to waste any time.

So when they are off the job and have time to do their homework or study, they are focused and efficient with the time that they have. Not only does this help you be more productive, but it will also reduce your school debt and help you gain real world work experience which will serve you later in life.

Always Attend Class

This one may seem obvious, however many college students don’t have perfect attendance in their classes. Attending classes will reduce the amount of time outside of class that you will need to study and you will likely learn better in the class since you are more forced to focus.

If you skip class, it’s usually not to study the class material. It is because you wanted to sleep in or do something else. So that means you wasted the class time and will then have to catch up later with more studying or work. 

So do yourself a favor and go to your classes when you are scheduled to go. That is what you are paying for and it will make it more likely to achieve good grades and be productive with your time.

Do Some Work Every Day

Procrastination is a major hindrance for many if not all college students. We think this is making things easier for us but it is actually causing you stress even if you don’t notice it. You always have in the back of your head that there is some assignment you are not working on. This will eat away at you.

And then, when you finally decide to do it, it will take away from more current assignments and set you back with those. 

One way to combat this is to make sure you are working on something every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot every day. But a day shouldn’t pass where you don’t do any homework or studying. Doing this will make your assignments more manageable, reduce your stress, and help you get ahead in your classes.

Prioritize by Importance

It is very possible that you won’t be able to do every little thing that your professor would like you to do. Most teachers act like you only have their class to worry about so they give you mountains of textbooks and study material. Prioritize what is important. So this generally means completing all of the actual homework assignments and exams you have in your classes which will actually affect your grade, and if you still have time, studying the full chapters in your textbooks. 

You don’t want to do the reverse and find yourself spending all of your time reading one textbook in one class and neglecting the things that will affect your grades in your other classes. This also applies to which assignments have the greatest weight. So if you have to choose between preparing for an exam that’s 30% of your grade and doing a homework assignment that is 1% of your grade, you prepare for that exam.

You will realize that it is unlikely that you will be able to do every little thing that you or your professor would like you to do, so you will have to learn to prioritize by importance.

Reward Yourself

Another method that can help you to be more productive is to create rewards for yourself if you perform certain school tasks that you know you have to do. An easy way to do this is when you have the urge to watch T.V, go out, eat a treat, etc., tell yourself that you will do that after you study or finish a certain assignment. That way you are still scheduling time for both and you are motivated to finish what you need to do so that you can have your reward.

It is a way to train and discipline yourself to do what you need to do first and to enjoy the rewards later.

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These tips will certainly help you to be more productive in college. So try some or all of them so that you can get better grades, be less stressed, and achieve more in your college life.