Devote a certain number of minutes each day to homework assignments, to studying, to chores, and to extracurriculars. Writing down how you’ll spend your time at the start of each week will help you adjust to unanticipated circumstances without impacting all of your other responsibilities.  When planning your weekly activities, start with your homework, studying and household chores. Plan extracurricular and recreational activities around your core responsibilities. When you are approaching test time, increase your study time enough to do well on your tests. Restrict the time spent in front of the television or browsing on your smartphone to no more than two hours per night to leave room for your homework, studying, and extracurricular activities. Television and social media can be very entertaining – and very distracting, so keep it to a minimum. It may be helpful to designate specific times to watch television or surf the web in your planner. Visualizing this limited block of time may help keep you focused. This way, you have more time to hang out with friends and participate in extracurricular activities on the weekend. You’ll also enjoy yourself way more if you don’t have assignments hanging over your head. Your high school years shouldn’t just be about your schoolwork. If you’re stressing about schoolwork, you’re not enjoying yourself. So get your work out of the way early, then go have fun! Unless Dad says so, there’s no hard and fast rule that your math homework has to be done between 4:00pm and 4:30pm. Ask your friends when they have free time and schedule your free time to coincide with theirs. Make sure you leave enough time to study though! Your friends are probably going through a similar scheduling process. Lock in some time for you all to hang out so you don’t miss out! Join 1 to 3 extracurricular activities that will help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals and that you find most enjoyable. Don’t join every single club or team that catches your interest, or you’ll have little time to do other things.  Keep your goals in mind when choosing between possible extracurricular activities. High school can be very stressful at times, but keeping your goals in mind can help keep you motivated. Doing so can also help you see what you should be spending your time on – and what things you should stop doing. Add a block of time in your planner to veg out in front of the TV, take a long bath, or engage in other calming activities. While extracurriculars can be enjoyable, they also usually involve hard work. Everyone needs some downtime to relax and recharge. Neglecting that time may lead to boredom, frustration, and anxiety – all of which may make it harder to focus on your work. Try drawing, coloring, or journaling to relax. Meditation is another time-tested technique that can help relieve you of stress.

Summary:
Get a daily planner and use it to schedule your time each week. Limit your screen time. Finish as much schoolwork as you can during the weekdays. Coordinate your schedule with your friends’ schedules. Avoid joining too many extracurricular activities. Schedule time to unwind.