Manage Time Better as a High School Student

Written by Harsha Chilakapati

Image courtesy of Pexels

Juggling work as a student

As a high school student, I need to constantly juggle work related to my job, school, volunteering, sports, and clubs. I believe that for someone to be successful, they need to manage their time well. But it wasn’t until something happened this spring that helped me understand that I was not as good at it as I thought I was.

When I started applying for internships in spring, I realized that I was late to apply and that most positions that interested me were already filled. Having missed a good opportunity that would have allowed me to make good use of my time during summer, I started contemplating what it was that prevented me from starting the application process sooner.

Managing my time

Upon contemplation, I realized that I spent too much time preparing for various college placement exams and lost track of working on internship applications earlier in spring.

Though I did score well in placement exams and did eventually land a great opportunity at the end of the summer with an Artificial Intelligence program, I missed out on some good opportunities and was motivated to figure out a mechanism that would prevent something like this from happening in the future by working to manage time.

Being motivated to manage time better, I first tried scheduling things on an online calendar but soon realized that it wasn’t working out as expected because the notifications were getting drowned amongst other notifications on my phone.

When I asked my friends how they were solving the same problem, some mentioned that they wrote things down in a planner. I decided to try this out, and have since been tracking tasks associated with various things I need to do.

The outcomes of planning

During the summer, I was working with a team of students across the country on detecting different objects on the street from the feed of a camera mounted on a car windshield. It was important for our team to focus on splitting the project into smaller tasks and for all team members to finish up their allocated development on time.

I was able to use the planner effectively by prioritizing the tasks that needed to be done first, rather than being distracted by the ones that were not due until later. Working to manage time helped our team successfully achieve the objectives of the project.

Another instance of this helping out immensely is with the college admissions process.

I created a checklist to keep track of application requirements and deadlines for various colleges I shortlisted. Between school and AP courses, it has been a constant struggle to stay on top of the admissions process, but persevering through the checklist has kept me on track. Though the verdict is not out yet on the admissions, I am fairly confident of being able to wrap up my applications successfully on time.

Being prepared for opportunities

Understanding the importance of being prepared to take up opportunities has been a turning point in my life.

I realized the importance of proactive planning and preparation to reach my goals rather than waiting until opportunities arise. As I grow older, the priorities in my life will keep changing, but the lessons I learned during the past few months will help me stay on top of them and help me become a successful person and manage time better.