It is very important to manage your time well during college applications as you have to balance all the applications, school work, jobs, and extra-curricular activities at once. This can cause more stress if not managed right and could possibly lead to a reduction in quality of your college applications if the right amount of time was not set aside.
The most important part of managing your time and becoming the most efficient is establishing a routine. Routines have the potential to help motivate yourself to do work and set yourself to a continuous rhythm of working by blocking out distractions. An example, when I am ready to start working I shut my phone off or put it across the room when listening to music and then work at my desk for a set time.
It is important when creating a routine that you can identify where you spend too much time or waste your time, for example I spent too much time doing work on my bed instead of at my desk and was easily distracted by my phone. Initially it can be difficult to find a rhythm of a routine, to help ease yourself in try tricks like using Pomodoro timers or snack encouragement (every time you complete a problem take another chip or bite).
Additionally, planners can be very helpful to organize yourself and help with building a routine. I personally like using a physical planner because there is a mental reward when physically crossing out a task on your to-do list. I personally tend to make one for my whole week based on my classes and what I know I have as assignments due, I make it usually Sunday night or Monday morning. Then I make a separate bubble area on the side for later to do tasks that aren’t necessary or pressing in this given week but if I have extra time I could do or to just keep in the back of my mind.
There was a platform that helped me tremendously when studying or writing my obscene amount of college essays, this platform was lifeat.io, a platform that I still use. It is helpful to set it to a calm and relaxing space with comfortable white noise for yourself, it helps your mind focus and calm when working. Also this platform allows you to play music alongside the white noise and background scene, so you can listen to your calm classical or upbeat motivational music while working. This platform also has Pomodoro timers you can set, and a digital to-do list you can make as well. I truly found this platform to be one of my biggest helpers when I would spend a whole day doing my applications or writing essays.
