The most important thing you can do to manage your time is to get organized. Buy a planner to track your days; include all your appointments, errands and to-do list in this planner. Every time you think of something to do, put it in your planner. According to the Time Management Guide, you need to prioritize items on your to-do list. For example, you may need to determine what is more important, studying for the test next week or planning your friend's birthday party. Time management requires you to make some difficult choices.
When you study, the most effective use of your time ensures that you're not studying endlessly. It's about the quality of the time you spend studying, rather than the quantity or amount of time you spend studying. All your important dates such as tests, quizzes and papers need to go in your planner. Reference these dates regularly to plan your study schedule. It's even better if you schedule study time, as in write it in your calendar as if you're scheduling time with yourself. You will be less likely to blow it off if you do.
If you carry around your to-do list in your head, odds are many items on the list are not getting done. According author Vince Panella, writing your goals down is the first step in committing to them and fulfilling them. Writing them down also helps provide mental clarity. When you have a number of things to do and it's all in your head, odds are you are expending excessive mental energy thinking about those things--mental energy that you could be using to concentrate on other tasks. Writing things down gets them out of your head and frees up that mental energy.
Perfectionism is the enemy of time management. You want your report to be perfect, but perfect is not possible. If you check your report 10 times for errors, having found none after the first time, then you waste time. According to Academic Tips, perfectionism can lead to avoidance and procrastination. If you know that it will take you hours, even days, to complete a task because you want it to be perfect, you will delay starting it. Be realistic about what you want the end result to be and you will save a lot of time and energy.
Once you learn how to manage your time well and how to study effectively, you will find that you have more time left to pursue extracurricular activities. Not only will you have extra time, but you'll be stress free since you won't be worrying about all the things you have to do.