It’s September, which means back to school, back to homework, and back to 1 am bedtimes.  But why do I find many of my fellow classmates complaining each morning, caffeine in hand, that they were up “soooo late last night”? Of course there is homework, extra-curriculars, and life that needs to happen. But the question is, could we do it more efficiently? To be honest, are we really that busy, or do we just lack the organizational skills to get stuff done? What I’m talking about here is time management.

I’m sure many of you have made attempts to manage your time. Perhaps the first-week-of-school-hype got you all jazzed up about getting organized, but by Monday of week two, the novelty of time management has already worn off and you desperately need help. Before you make the trip to Barnes and Noble to shell out twenty dollars for some overpriced time management book, take a look at Breezes’ top key success factors for getting all your homework done, getting to hockey practice on time, and still being able to watch the Glee season premiere—all on the same night.

1. Purchase a calendar

Getting a standard desk size calendar only starts you on the road to a more organized life. It’s what you write on it that is key. Color-coding your classes is a great way to balance your assignments. Write down deadlines of essays, tests, and projects, then add in your extra-curriculars. The electronic calendars on your phone or iPod are useful too, as they can alert you when a due date is approaching. Planning out a couple weeks, or even a month in advance will help you avoid completing the assignment last minute and achieve our next tip.

2. Prioritize

You’ve got a Spanish test tomorrow worth 70 summative points, but you’ve also got a test in Chemistry worth only 30 formative points. Which should you spend more time on? Spanish, of course. Once you’ve nailed those subjunctive conjugations, then move onto balancing equations. Prioritizing your assignments will help you see which are more important on a big picture basis, and allow you to achieve the grades you want. Planning out your activities will also allow you to see when you have some free time to relax, so you don’t have to stay up all night writing that essay just because you wanted to go to the football game.

3. Turn it off

When you check your assignments on Schoology, do you also have tabs open for Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter? It is easy to get distracted on websites like these while doing your homework; you go to watch one video or just update your status, and a five-minute break turns into thirty minutes of your evening wasted. You should take breaks from your homework, and the best way to do this is to set a timer. This will help you to avoid getting distracted and get the most out of your time. Turn off your phone, too. Getting your homework completed properly and promptly is not going to happen if you are  texting every other minute. Make your first text you send the one saying  “homework done” not “homework sucks.”

We might think of ourselves as multi-taskers, but we truly function better if we focus on things one at a time. So, use a calendar, understand each assignment and activity’s importance, and limit distractions. Even the most frazzled student will be able to gain some control over his life.