Many of us are in a seemingly constant combat against time, and it is safe to say that the majority of us are sick of the never-ending cycle with everyone's best friend and worst enemy, the clock. Your alarm clock is most likely the first thing you see in the morning, and in the last glimpse you take before bed. Time is the ultimate killer but is the uttermost priceless component that every being revolves around.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, students spend an average of 8.7 hours asleep, 5.7 hours in educational or work-related activities, and at least an hour eating/drinking per day.

Now, that's a rough estimate of a total of 15.4 hours gone from your, may I point out, already limited 24 hour day. With only 8.6 hours left in your diurnal course, consider the average 0.8 hours you spend on personal hygiene and grooming, as well as the 1.4 hours spent traveling from place to place. This leaves you with a disheartening 6.4 hours to become a better person, change the world, save the homeless animals, and you get what I'm saying.

Since we do not yet possess the power to stop time, here is one way to increase your productivity and make the most of extremely apologetic 6.4 hours.

Sleep is critical. Our bodies rely on sleep to increase your brain's plasticity or its capacity for change. Sleep holds numerous restorative functions for our bodies and is also vital in much of your cognitive ability, such as in memory or critical thinking. So, a quick fix to becoming more productive is just to become a morning person.

OK, I know, I know, becoming a morning person is easier said than done, but it's time for a change.

We are all too familiar with hitting that snooze button over and over again. But it's finally time for a change. An easy fix to being more constructive with your time is to simply wake up and sleep when you're supposed to. Now, I know that this may not be an easy adjustment and that most students in general struggle to sleep before midnight. However, there is a technique by Steve Pavlina that may help all of you night owls slumber at a more reasonable hour.

Before bed, set five to eight mini alarms, two to three minutes apart from each other.

For instance, if you were to head to bed right at this moment, and your clock shows that it is currently 9:05 P.M., you would set mini alarms at 9:08 P.M, 9:11 P.M., 9:14 P.M., 9:17 P.M., etc. as well as your real, morning alarm.

Now, the technique aspect of this process begins when you crawl into bed, and after each alarm, you will proceed to run through a shortened version of your morning routine.

An example of a typical morning routine of mine would be to get up out of bed, turn off my alarm, stretch, and head towards the bathroom. Every time one of the mini alarms go off, you would repeat this process. Get out of bed, turn off your mini alarm, proceed towards your shortened routine, and crawl back into bed.

Your brain should become progressively more sleepy and annoyed as you continue through the mini alarms, and soon you should be fast asleep, dreaming of cute animals and delicious food.

If not, I sincerely apologize, but at least you got a reasonable amount of exercise.

Best of luck on your journey and remember to treasure those 6.4 hours!