If you're anything like me, you will understand the constant struggle of time management as a college student. It's not as if you're intentionally trying to procrastinate (okay, some days that's a lie) but for the most part, despite all your lists and well-thought out plans, you find yourself where I commonly find myself: 1 in the morning with a mountain of unfinished homework due for your 8a.m. class.

How does this happen???

Honestly, it's pretty simple. You start off procrastinating by doing short, little things which, unfortunately, lead to many short, little things that soon lead to you laying on the floor wondering where all the time went. The worst is when these "little procrastinators" are actually something that is technically productive. Even though they aren't the immediate tasks you should be getting to, it gives you a false sense of accomplishment and the idea that you're being productive, when in reality, you really aren't.

So, how do I get better at time management?

I'm glad you asked! Here are my Six Steps to Successful Time Management:

1. Make a list.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Writing down all the tasks we need to do in order of most urgent to least urgent helps us be able to visually see what we need to get done first. They're also very good motivators, simply because there is something extremely satisfying about scratching off the last task on a long to-do list.

2. Set time limits for yourself.

Studies have shown that taking breaks while studying for long periods can actually help you to stay more focused. With the right kind of breaks, when you sit back down to the stack of books you will have more motivation to finish the tasks you need to get done, not to mention the breaks will give you an incentive to grind it out for a few hours at a time.

3. Learn when to study alone.

I love studying with a fun group of friends as much as the next gal, but let's be real here. Certain people, as awesome as they may be, are not the best people to study with. As hard as it is to intentionally be unsocial for periods of time, you will be doing yourself and your friends a bigger favor by going to the silent zone of the library alone. Then, not only will you accomplish more, but you'll be more fun to hang around with due to you being less stressed about homework (it's a win-win)!

4. Find the right study music.

Fun fact: music affects our emotions, and therefore our actions, much more than we may think. Have you ever noticed that when you put your playlist on shuffle, your mood can go from super energetic at one song to really bummed out at another? When you listen to happy, energetic music while working out, you'll find yourself being able to perform better. Same goes for studying.

Personally, I prefer film scores while studying (something about dramatic music tricks me into thinking my homework is an important quest or something), but finding a genre of music that will be able to keep you focused while still being able to stay in the background can be very crucial to accomplishing homework. To the people who can work in complete silence without getting distracted: y'all amaze me.

5. Get rid of the extra distractions.

With literally everything we do now being accomplished with technology, it is getting harder and harder to create a space with little to no distractions. Online homework can quickly lead to you flipping back and forth from Netflix to WebAssign, and then you find yourself in class wondering why you feel like you aren't understanding anything.

Before you start studying, close all the excess tabs you don't need or open a new window, and put both you're computer (Mac users out there) and phones on "Do Not Disturb" or Airplane mode. I promise you aren't going to miss anything important- I truly understand FOMO, it's a curse- and, you'll be giving yourself the nice treat of a social media break while being very productive.

6. Stay on one task at a time.

I doubt I can say this better than Ron Swanson, but here's what I got. Multi-tasking is actually a really,really bad thing to do. It can make you more scattered-brain, leave you being able to focus less, and can even lower you IQ. Multi-tasking causes unnecessary stress to your life, especially when you have a lot to get done, so do yourself a favor, and only take the studying one subject at a time.

Everyone has different ways of studying and staying on task, and these tips are definitely not the only way to keep focused, but I do hope that my little "Steps to Success" will help you find how you best get work done.