Productivity is what we all want, isn’t it? To wake up everyday with a clear head and fresh mind, and do everything you possibly need to do. Finally, you can peacefully sleep at night, knowing you had a successful day. But let’s be honest. That’s not the reality. In fact, it’s probably far from it. You wake up groggily everyday, hurriedly getting yourself ready before you even know you are. You sit down in front of your computer, telling yourself you’ll finish all your work. You just end up glued to the 15th reality show you’ve watched this week, and hardly touching that math homework. It’s impossible to see how to be a productive student sometimes, when everything seems to be getting in the way.
I’m no stranger to all of this. I’ve been through this as well as the rest of you. I couldn’t count on my fingers and toes how many times I’ve done absolutely nothing all day. I’ve even procrastinated the very article you’re reading right now. But don’t you worry, I have some tips for you. Even with some minor procrastination, I can say I’ve been a lot more productive of a student and person all around. Here, I’ll be sharing the 3 best tips, and sub-tips in between, for you to use if you want to know how to be a productive student.
#1 : Set a Schedule…and Stick to It!
This is the first thing you’ll ever hear about productivity, and that’s because it’s the most important. You need to know what you’re doing for the day to be able to be productive, especially as a student. When you spend 8 hours of your day in school and have to continue finishing work for it at home, you need to plan things out to be able to get everything done and more.
More than just a schedule…
But a schedule isn’t just a to-do list of all that needs to get done. It’s making sure you have a routine for every single day. It’s making sure you get up the same time everyday, and sleep the same time everyday. It’s making sure your homework takes the same time intervals between taking care of your dog.
But why is this daily routine important? Well, this study on work schedules says a lot about it. It has found that when workers are on a predictable work schedule, that is routinely repeated for those 5 days of the week, they tend to engage in healthier habits and have a healthier lifestyle overall.
Your body has a clock, of sorts. Everyday, it wants to wake up at the same time, it wants to eat at the same time, and it wants to sleep at the same time. It likes routine, and being able to predict these basic parts of your daily life, because that allows it to properly regain and spend energy. When you go to sleep at 8:00 PM one day and 2:00 AM the next, your body does not have the time to recover from the way you’ve thrown it off, and it hasn’t fueled itself properly for this new day. You are actively making yourself more unhealthy by not keeping a routine schedule for yourself.
Keeping up a schedule
So how do you keep a schedule? Well, the easiest thing is to use the applications you have right in front of you. There are numerous apps to download on your phone that help you plan out your day, like Structured, for one. I like to use this one because it is very appealing to look at, easy to navigate, and not too controlling. I’m a free-flowing person, and too much rigidness in a schedule doesn;t work for me. So, a little contrary to its name, I find Structured to be not too structured that it’s overwhelming, but not so free-flowing that I’m hardly keeping a schedule at all.
However, I think your best bet if you don’t want to try anything new is Google Calendar. It’s actually very customizable and easy to use and navigate, making it a perfect tool for scheduling your day. There’s nothing really new about it, just that you’re using it in a different way.
#2: Put Distractions Aside
This is popular for knowing how to be a productive student, and you know it. But that’s because it is a real tip. The electronics we have around us make it so hard to concentrate, especially when there haven’t been previous generations to struggle with this at our age to find ways to prevent it. The chemistry homework never seems too underwhelming and the phone never seems to be too far away. By the time you catch yourself, you’re already 3 hours into doom-scrolling on TikTok. Too late now, right?
Wrong. This is something you seriously have to fix. As much as you roll your eyes at your parents for saying how phones are “rotting your minds”, they aren’t half wrong. The dopamine rush you get from every scroll, and every video you like glues you onto your phone, regardless of the work at hand. It’s up to you to take the initiative and stop yourself from falling down the same dark hole over and over again.
How to Keep Them Away
It’s really not that hard, in all honesty. You need to keep your phones, tablets, or any other distractions away from your reach. And this isn’t just putting it in another room. It’s putting it on the top drawer of another room and closing the door on your way out.
Personally, I do consider myself a bit of a lazier person. Once I’m sitting on my chair at my desk, I really don’t feel like getting up. I can tell you multiple occasions in which I didn’t even go to the bathroom until 10:00 at night because I really didn’t want to get up (well, I probably had to study for 3 tests for the day after each time, but that’s beside the point.)
This strategy really did work for me, because I never felt the urgency to go get my phone. When it’s right next to me, I can just pick it up and start doing whatever I want on it without even shifting feet. But when it’s all the way in another room, that’s too much work for me. Too much effort for me to care, and I can trust that many of you might be the same.
It’s not cold turkey
Not at all. You’re not eliminating a phone from your life, just your study time. And like anyone would say, the best way to study is in intervals. Don’t sit down and cram all that information into your head in 2 hours. The second you close your eyes, it’ll all disappear. You need to get off your butt every now and then when studying to refresh your body and mind. Then, you can take out your phone and entertain yourself, but only for a while. You still have that schedule, remember, and it’s going to make sure you’re spending no more than 10 minutes on your cellular device.
#3 : Know What You Really Need to Do
This is something I think is way more important than people give credit for, especially when trying to understand how to be a productive student. You need to have a purpose behind every step you take in your life, and every tiny thing has to have some true value. Otherwise, there’s really no point in doing any of it.
Here is how you can think about it. You can do 100 things in one day. But if those 100 things don’t help you or someone else in your tomorrow, or the day after, or even just an hour after you do them, were they really worth it? What’s the point in doing 100 meaningless things that contribute nothing to any future, when you can do 10 meaningful things that build a staircase to your success?
Your reality as a student
As students, we have to think about what is truly important. I know some high-achieving kids may be reading this article, and I know what your life is like. You probably have a couple club meetings after school everyday, and are driving to a 3 hour sports practice after war, just to come home and study for the 4 AP tests you have the next day.
But ask yourself, was any of it worth it? You know, you can be in Student Council, NHS (National Honors Society), and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), but if you could care less about either of them, what is that going to do for you? Trust me when I say, no college is going to care if you don’t. It doesn’t matter how many clubs and sports and extracurriculars you were in throughout high school, if you don’t have passion for them, every university will look the other way.
If you are one of these students, this isn’t the only struggle you have. Academic validation is an issue that is extremely common among this group of high schoolers. If you want to learn more, check out this article, which gives you a full outline of academic validation.
But this advice doesn’t only apply to Ivy League seekers. As a regular student, think about what you do in your life. Do you watch YouTube videos while studying because it’s “multi-tasking”? Do you do other homework in one class, just to do that one’s classwork in the next? The thing is, none of that is doing anything for you. You’re not gaining anything out of these actions, except the illusion of productivity. It’s unnecessary, and needs to be cut out, but how do you do that?
How I found what is important and what isn’t
Everyday, I tried to cut out the fluff I added to my life. I think about what I am doing, why I’m doing it, and why I should do it. For example, I am watching an APUSH chapter recap because I don’t understand the Cold War very well, and I need to know this information for the test I have next class. Anything that can’t successfully answer these questions, I just stop doing it.
It also helped me understand how productive some things were, that I didn’t give credit for. I didn’t beat myself up for spending 45 minutes washing my hair in the shower. It’s productive, because I’m cleaning my very important scalp. And there’s no time wasted in sleeping an hour longer than 7. I am giving your body the rest that it needs, so that it can be fueled and energetic for the coming day.
It also helps you know what to do when. For example, if your Spanish homework is a simple fill-in-the-blank vocab sheet, get it done in your homeroom or study hall at school, rather than piling it onto the work you have left for home. The amount of importance you give something is directly correlated with the amount of time you want to spend on it. Block your time out based on what is necessary, and what is important.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. The 3 best tips if you want to know how to be a productive student. It’s worked for me, quite well, and I’m beyond sure that it will work for you. But just remember, it’s a journey. Nothing’s going to happen overnight, even if you do every single thing perfectly. You might be extremely productive the first few days you start, but everything will go downhill once you let yourself rest for a few days more. You have to keep up the stamina for years onward.
Don’t worry too much, though. The main part about productivity is making sure you can do everything you’re asking of yourself. It’s what makes tip #3 so important. You need to understand what is important for you, and what you can truly do. Understand your limits, and embrace them. Once you do that, you will know how to be a productive student, and will finally find your life so much more fulfilling, and happy.
