12 Days of Time Management: Just One Thing
Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present. Please accept, as our present to you, another tip in our 12 Days of Time Management for Teens: Just One Thing In a rich and productive life, every day feels like a new adventure. Sometimes, though, even the road to adventure becomes a slog, where too much mundane work separates exciting times. When your to-do list becomes so long that it threatens to entangle you in inaction, cut through that constricted feeling by focusing on your MIT: your Most Important Task. No matter how much you have to do in a day, you should be able to sort through your demands and pull out the most important ones. Better yet, determine each day’s Most Important Tasks in advance. Start with just one small, necessary task that, when accomplished, will relieve some of…
12 Days of Time Management: Prioritize
During this (and every other) holiday season, it is important to take stock not just of what we want, but what we already have. Each one of us has as many seconds, minutes, and hours in a day as anyone else. How we allocate that time makes all the difference, which is why we’re sharing our 12 Days of Time Management for Teens: Prioritize Wisely While most modern high school students may not understand exactly what life as an adult holds, many are juggling just as many commitments. Even worse, each teacher seems to think that his or her subject is more important than the rest, while coaches and activity directors also demand unwavering commitment. What is a teen to do? Successful professionals in every field know the simple secret to massive productivity: prioritize wisely. Evaluate everything on your plate and determine which tasks or commitments outrank the rest. This…
Prep and Priorities
Meet Rory, a bright, motivated high school junior who can definitely see himself as a doctor (or lawyer or professor or CEO…) someday. Rory, a three-sport athlete and AP student, has made the most of his school experience so far in an effort to present as an outstanding applicant to any college. Aware of the considerable benefits of prepping for the SAT & ACT early in junior year, Rory and his family begin tutoring in September with an eye on the December exams… Junior year these days demands far more of teenagers than most adults realize. Ambitious students don’t just take on advanced classes but also juggle a slew of activities in which they must show commitment, leadership, and excellence. Extracurriculars can be particularly stressful during pressure points in a season, especially when coaches demand absolute acquiescence to uncertain practice schedules. While Rory was excited about preparing for the SAT…
Thinking About What Matters
As we enter the strangest holiday season in recent memory, we’re seeing many of our cherished traditions and travel plans fall away. But are sacrifices made in the spirit of helping others through responsible social distancing really something to regret? In a sense, a crisis like a national pandemic forces us to pay attention to what truly matters… Nobody can tell you what really matters to you, but setting clear, unassailable priorities is the path to both success and happiness on your terms. When it comes to test prep, coaching matters. In college admissions, what matters is mostly what you’d expect. But what matters most in your life? That’s up to you to decide…
Your Goals: Give Up or Go Up?
Face facts… you simply can’t do everything. You can do many many amazing things, especially of you’ve mastered the secrets of time management. But you can’t do everything. So if you want to fulfill your most meaningful goals, prioritize relentlessly. Once we take a hard look at our priorities, we can sort our goals so we devote enough time and commitment to achieving them. We can and should also enlist help, since success is usually a group effort. But does every type of goal benefit from social support? Consider two types of goals: Give-Up Goals define success through subtraction: e.g. less goofing off, weight loss, bad habit cessation Go-Up Goals define success through addition: e.g. better grades, muscle gain, good habit development Conventional wisdom suggests that we should always share our give-up goals, as others are usually very helpful in encouraging us to drop bad habits. But more aspirational goals…
What You Plan Gets Done
One important habit school teaches us–or is supposed to teach–is write down assignments and test dates. Your school may have even provided planners to foster this habit. Some of us revel in creating color-coded plans; others, well, not so much. Simple or artful, we learn to track our responsibilities and manage our time. When life becomes more complex with AP workloads, leadership roles, and after-school practices, a student should use a planner to make it all work. And once the “getting into college” tasks of test prep, college search, and essay drafts kicks in, the whole process can become overwhelming. At times like these, consider the old adage, “If you plan it, it gets done.” What should planning look like for busy high school and college students? Look critically at your current commitments and prioritize them. Define clear goals for your top priorities. Research shows that people who write down…