Time management is a skill that everyone can learn, but it does need to be taught. It is especially important for students to learn to manage their schedules independently.

Any time management skills learned in school will continue to have value well into adulthood. Surprisingly, an estimated 82 percent of people don’t use a time management system at all. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the average worker spends much of their work time on low-value tasks or, worse, on tasks of no value at all. 

We live much of our lives on autopilot, unaware of where the time goes or how we allocate it. That’s why it’s important for instructors to show students how to observe and reflect on their own use of time to manage it better. 

When managing time, there are several factors at play, including:

• Time perception
• Planning tasks
• Routines and habits
• Coordinating time and energy
• Managing distractions

We often over-develop our skills in one of these areas of time management to the detriment of the others. Let’s discuss specific activities to help students develop time management skills in each of these categories.

Understanding the Perception of Time

Humans are not born with an innate sense of objective time. The idea of a fixed, clock-based period is relatively recent in human history. 

By nature, we live in a kind of subjective time, where we sense how much time has elapsed based on our own perceptions. Developing a more objective sense of time helps with planning and executing tasks on schedule.

Much of this happens unconsciously. For example, you might find you wake up at the same time every day, often enough that you no longer need an alarm. 

One activity that helps develop time perception is a time estimation exercise. In this activity, the instructor asks the student first to estimate how long a certain task will take. This could be reading a chapter, writing an essay, or solving a set of math problems. 

The instructor then asks the student to time the actual activity and compare their predictions to reality. Over time, students will gain a more accurate sense of the time spent on each task.

Another tool you can use is a visual time tracker. Visual time trackers come in many forms, such as sand timers, online countdown clocks, or apps that employ the Pomodoro Technique. 

Using a visual representation of time can be quite effective for students in our highly visual modern culture. It can also help break tasks into more manageable chunks.

Planning Tasks

Coordinating and scheduling tasks within realistic timeframes requires careful planning, a skill students must build through practice. There are many ways to do this.

One way for students to manage their time better is for them to design a planner.

Start with a basic planner template, but ask students to customize it according to their needs. Encourage them to add sections for goals, deadlines, breaks, and extracurricular activities. This will teach them to think critically about how they manage their time. 

You can also conduct weekly planning sessions, where students can review and plan their upcoming tasks. This will foster forethought and aid students in preparing for busy periods.

Conversely, hold regular reflection and adjustment sessions weekly or monthly. Let students reflect on what went well and what didn’t, but be careful not to be judgmental. Instead, discuss strategies for improving time management based on your students’ feedback.

Routines and Habits

Routines and habits are important for managing time, especially since we spend so much of our lives oblivious to it. “We are what we repeatedly do,” writer Will Durant wisely observed.

Humans tend to be completely unaware of their habits, especially the unproductive ones. Thus, students need sustained effort and continued practice to develop productive habits and routines.

Help your student establish consistent morning and evening routines. These are anchor points for our day, and because they’re in tune with our biology, they tend to be when we’re most alert and productive. As part of the exercise for developing routines and habits, suggest your student set specific times for:

• Waking up
• Starting schoolwork
• Taking breaks
• Brushing teeth

Introduce habit tracking to gain greater self-awareness. Have your student pick one or two positive habits, such as starting schoolwork, and then track their consistency using charts or apps.

Next, teach students to understand procrastination without sending harsh, judgmental messages. Procrastination occurs for many reasons, including:

• Fear of failure
• Perfectionism
• Lack of motivation
• Unclear goals

Discuss strategies for overcoming these obstacles to help students turn their procrastination into productivity.

Coordinating Time and Energy

Time is only as valuable as the energy we give to it. 

To that end, teach your students to become aware of how their energy fluctuates throughout the day. Energy is typically highest after waking up and after sundown and lowest in the afternoon and before bed. Students can construct schedules and routines around their peak energy times by noticing these patterns.

Also, teach your students to examine how other factors, such as diet, sleep, and exercise, affect energy. Have them keep an energy journal where they rank their energy levels on a scale of 10 at the start of each hour.

Managing Time Wasters and Distractions

Sometimes, the best way to make improvements is through subtraction, and one of the most effective tactics for improving time management is removing distractions and other time wasters.

The first step in this process is to identify distractions. This could be anything from TV to computers to music to other siblings or students. 

Not everything is truly a distraction; what constitutes a distraction will vary from person to person. Some people can focus better in a crowded coffee shop, while others prefer a quiet library.

After they identify their distractions, ask your students to look for ways to remove them from their environment. This is more effective than relying on willpower alone. For example, moving study time to a room without a computer or television might make sense if these devices are likely to cause disruptions.

Like any kind of behavior change, this practice may result in resistance from your children, especially if they are considerably attached to the distraction taking away their focus. 

At the same time, it’s important to be non-judgmental. Help them understand that the point of the exercise is not to get rid of these distractions permanently—just to dismiss them for a period of time while they finish their work.

Focus on Staying Focused

Time management is a lifelong, multi-faceted skill that takes various types of awareness to stay productive.

The good news is people tend to get better at time management as they grow older, thanks to more experience and a gradually developing neocortex. But time management for academics is absolutely a skill that can be developed well at a young age. 

To learn more, check out this episode of The Demme Learning Show, where host Gretchen Roe sits down with homeschool mom and evaluator Jody Scott and second-generation homeschooler Amanda Capps, who is passing on the habit to her own eight children.