Everyone is aware of the high school to college coursework transition being challenging. With finals and projects accumulating in college, the best way to handle this situation is to incorporate the same habits we develop in high school. But without having these habits, how does one persevere? Currently, a lot of students have different opinions about whether the iSchool fosters healthy time management habits. 

Daniela Zamora, a junior at the iSchool, says,  “I think they don’t help create healthy habits. You could turn things in at the very end of the quarter and you’ll be fine, students get used to procrastinating because of this.” It is known that the iSchool has a different and unique form of teaching and grading students. But many agree that because of the passive grading system and classes, iSchool students don’t try to foster healthy time management habits. 

Time management 

Developing healthy time management habits during your high school years is something that is very overlooked. Creating these habits from the start can help you increase your learning engagement and help you feel better organized. Part of learning how to create healthy time management habits we also have to cooperate and find ways to concentrate on schoolwork. 

According to Adam Grant’s New York Times article “Productivity Isn’t about time management. It’s about Attention management,” time management isn’t just about creating habits and being productive, it’s about engaging in your work and planning. 

Grant states,  “Paying attention to time management also means thinking differently about how you plan your work.” Creating a calendar and having a precise time where you can study or get work done throughout the day can help you stop procrastinating and help you stay on track with these habits. 

Calendars and checklists 

You should highly consider the following steps in order to start creating healthy time management habits: 

One of the many ways to help create this constant habit of getting work done and being productive is using the resources we have at school. One of them being Independent Work. This is a free period for most but it is important to not take it for granted. During these independent work periods, you could use it as a time to get things done such as: homework, applications, programs, and plenty of other productive schoolwork assignments. 

Other things we could do to create these habits are creating a calendar. By using a calendar, we can organize assignments and prioritize what you need to get done first. In an experiment at a university, first-year psychology students enrolled in a problem based course, took tests and questionnaires. Studies show that students who plan their time ahead  were more efficient and were more appropriately equipped for tests and other classwork (Van den Hurk, 2006). 

Prioritizing Mental Health 

Another important step we should consider while fostering these habits is taking care of your mental health. When  creating healthy habits, it’s important to take time for yourself and not burn out. Taking a break is okay and necessary in order to keep pushing through. Whenever you feel stressed about a certain school work, take a short break, do some breathing exercises, go on a walk, or even have a snack. It’s the small things like these that can help you create a healthy environment to be successful. There are plenty of teachers and peers at the iSchool  who can help you start creating these healthy time management habits, and it’s important to start taking action now in order to help yourself in the future.