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How to Manage Time in High School Using Popular Techniques
May 28, 2025
Balancing classes, homework, part-time jobs, sports, and a social life can sometimes feel like you’re doing everything all at once. The good news is that mastering solid time-management techniques can make a big difference.
Below, we’ve shared ten simple strategies, each paired with real examples and handy tools, to help Grades 9–12 students in Ontario take charge of their schedules and stress less.
1. Time Blocking: Protect Your Focus Zones
Time blocking means assigning specific chunks of your day to single activities, there is no multitasking in this case. For example, you can reserve 4 pm – 5 pm strictly for math review, then 5:30 pm – 6 pm for a quick break, and 6 pm – 7 pm to work on your history essay.
Colour-coding these blocks in Google Calendar or Outlook (blue for homework, green for sports practice, yellow for rest) gives you a clear visual of how your day is scheduled. You will quickly spot if you’ve overcommitted and need to shift a block around, or if you’re about to accept more tasks than you can do.
PS, if you’re seeing this just before your exams, read this instead.
2. Priority Matrix (Eisenhower Matrix): Sort Tasks by Their Impact
Draw a simple four-box grid and label the corners:
- Important & Urgent (do it now)
- Important & Not Urgent (schedule it in)
- Urgent & Not Important (delegate or minimise it)
- Neither (drop it)
For example, if your chemistry quiz is tomorrow (important & urgent), your math assignment isn’t due for two weeks (important & not urgent), and you’ve got a mountain of social-media notifications (neither). Sorting tasks this way helps you focus energy where it counts and avoid scrambling at the last minute.
Tools such as Trello let you build and adjust this matrix digitally, dragging cards between the lists as your deadlines shift.
3. Backward Planning: Map Your Projects in Reverse
Start with your deadline and plan each step going backward. If your science project is due in four weeks, write down every task: research, experimentation, write-up, presentation practice, and assign each a completion date.
This approach stops big assignments from feeling overwhelming. Each morning, check your backward plan and tackle the next item on your list. Apps like Todoist or a simple Excel sheet work great for keeping your tasks in view.
4. The Two-Minute Rule: Clear Small Tasks Immediately
If a task takes two minutes or less, like filing away notes, replying to a quick email or jotting down a homework reminder, do it immediately.
By knocking out these tiny chores as they arise, you prevent a backlog of “little things” from piling up. Set a daily phone reminder or use Microsoft To Do so you don’t forget. Before you know it, your to-do list will look a lot less intimidating.
5. Batch Similar Tasks to Reduce Mental Overload
Batching means doing related activities all at once rather than constantly jumping between unrelated stuff. For instance, tackle all of your biology questions in one afternoon, then switch to your English essay in the evening.
You save the mental effort of “context switching” and move more swiftly through each batch. Label tasks in Todoist by subject or use Google Keep checklists to filter and knock them out in one go.
6. Energy-Based Scheduling: Work When You’re Energetic
Pay attention to when you feel most alert during the day. Maybe you’re sharp in the morning, sleepy after lunch, then perk up again around 8 pm.
7. Weekly and Daily Planning: The Bigger and Smaller Pictures
Every Sunday, sketch a quick weekly plan: list your classes, assignment due dates, practices and social events. Then each evening, jot down your top three priorities for the next day.
This two-tiered rhythm gives you both a bird’s-eye view (so nothing sneaks up on you) and a focused daily checklist. A bullet journal or digital planner like MyStudyLife works great for combining both views in one place.
8. Deadline Buffer Zones: Always Add Extra Time
Always add a 10–20 percent buffer to big deadlines. If your trigonometry homework needs 2 hours to finish, block 3 hours on your calendar. That way, unexpected hiccups, like skipping a few math steps or getting the wrong answers, won’t knock your whole schedule off course.
Use a colour or symbol (for example, a small “+” after the end time) in your calendar entries to remind yourself that this block includes a little wiggle room.
9. The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle): Focus on High-Value Tasks
The Pareto Principle suggests that 20 percent of your activities produce 80 percent of your results. Identify which tasks move that needle the most, maybe it’s practising past math exams or teaching others those high school math concepts. Once you’ve figured that out, give them priority.
When your study time is limited, let the 80/20 rule guide where you spend those precious minutes. A simple spreadsheet listing tasks and their likely grade impact can help you spot your top 20 percent.
P.S. If you’re struggling with high school math, here’s how you can easily fix that.
10. Task Breakdown: Chip Away at Big Projects
Large assignments can feel like a mountain. Break them into small hills: brainstorming, outlining, calculating or drafting each section, editing, proof-checking, etc., and treat each step as its own mini-task.
This makes progress feel more manageable and helps you celebrate small wins along the way. It also prevents you from feeling overwhelmed. You can track these subtasks on a whiteboard at your desk so each completed step gives you a little boost of motivation.
Putting It into Practice
Pick two techniques, like time blocking and the two-minute rule, and try them out for a week. See how they fit your routine, then add another pair the next week.
With tools like Google Calendar, Trello, Todoist and Clockify in your toolkit, you’ll find yourself struggling less with time and accomplishing more, maybe even leaving out extra time for the things you love.
Remember, consistency is key. Small, steady improvements lead to big wins over time. Your future self will thank you for this!
Good luck, and here’s to your most organised school year yet!
