Student productivity program Austin Lack of productivity can be an issue among students of every age and stage. Students often struggle to maximize their productivity, especially as they attempt to maintain a healthy balance between their academics, extracurricular activities, social lives, and family relationships. Read on for three tips for becoming a more productive student.
#1 Schedule your days
It is important to have a clear schedule for each academic day. Scheduling your study time is essential, but so is planning for other important activities and events. To ensure that you have time for the tasks you are required to fulfill as well as your other activities, start by using a monthly and/or weekly calendar as your general overview; then make a to-do list in advance of each day. Use these tools to create a plan for each day, according to time–an hour-by-hour schedule is often the best way to do this. This tactic allows for building in periods of “buffer” time in case something takes longer than expected, as well as for scheduling intermittent breaks to keep you from being overwhelmed. Using a calendar and planner to schedule your time will help you from the outset, providing the structure you need to be productive.
#2 Deal with distractions
To be productive, it is crucial to limit or eliminate distractions that will ruin your concentration and focus. Mobile phones and social media are major distractions to avoid. Phones negatively impact your productivity because of the distracting vibrations, flashes, and sounds that accompany notifications. Social media is also problematic here, taking your attention away from your studies outside of scheduled breaks. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are big time-wasters, as are digital entertainment sources like video games and movie-watching platforms like Netflix. Not only do these things distract you when you could be studying, but their use also regularly causes sleep issues that make learning even more difficult. Identify your distractions and eliminate them, or only use them when your academic work is complete.
#3 Use your learning style to your advantage
Student productivity program Austin Every student has a learning style that best suits him or her: visual, kinesthetic, auditory, or verbal. Visual learners tend to focus on images/graphics to learn–graphs, charts, and tables, infographics and diagrams, and photos and drawings are examples of things that help visual learners retain information. Kinesthetic learners learn best through active experience; they use physical exploration of information to learn. Examples of things that help them include hands-on projects, physical experiments, practical tests, and movement-based activities. Auditory learners retain information best when they hear it aloud, such as during lectures, discussions, and presentations. They often associate music and/or other sounds with learning objectives. Verbal learners value the written word most. They retain information best by reading or writing it, making textbooks and class handouts, as well as personal notes, the most effective tools for them to learn. While many students learn via a combination of these styles, they usually have one that is predominant; knowing the learning style that serves you the best is key when it comes to being a productive student.
Tots ‘N Tutors is a professional mobile tutoring company based in Austin, Texas that offers in-person and remote support to students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and college, in all subject areas. The learning guides at Tots ‘N Tutors help students engage with academic material for a greater depth of understanding. They also help students build and strengthen study skills and time management skills that are fundamental to learning and being efficient, effective, and productive. Contact Tots ‘N Tutors today to talk about meeting individually or in small groups, in person or remotely, to reach your goals.