The end of the first quarter and start of the second is when a lot of teachers assign proficiencies. This means big projects are going to be assigned with deadlines that may be lost as you are caught up with the day to day homework assignments. If these deadlines are forgotten, you may find yourself cramming at the last moment to complete a proficiency or project. The sad part is a lot of the time the work isn’t hard — it is just busy work. Busy work can be easily dissipated through task management. Here are a few quick tips to managing your work throughout the second quarter.

1. Set due dates early and often. Micromanage yourself; someone has to. When a teacher assigns a project, he or she will normally outline the major aspects of the project that need to be completed. Take note of each aspect and set due dates for each of those to be done. If the aspects are well spread out throughout a month or so, the big project now isn’t a big project but a set of four or five small assignments that are easy to complete. By breaking down big projects into little assignments, the projects seem less daunting and hence more welcoming for you to complete rather than procrastinate.
2. Hold yourself accountable with your mini due dates. This can be a hard thing for people who habitually procrastinate to do. No one will be holding you accountable to finish the little due dates you set for yourself. The whole nature of the little assignments is that they may seem so little that forgoing a deadline may seem to not matter. It does, though, as the missed deadlines add up until it is the day before the project is due and there is little to nothing done. You will thank yourself near the due date if you already have almost all of your project done and only need to spend thirty minutes wrapping everything up.
3. Balance your work between classes. One of the black horses to demoralize yourself while doing assignments is having to do a lot of a certain subject in one or two nights. Think of it this way: doing two hours of math can seem much harder than one hour of math and one hour of science. When you break down your assignments, the small assignments allow you to mix up your workload. You can do a small assignment for English and then do a small assignment for science. This is a lot easier than doing four hours of english the day before it is is due.

The tips I talked about here are not difficult to accomplish. All you need is an assignment organizer and the will power to force yourself to adhere to deadlines. Cramming projects in on the last day is not fun. Trust me; I’ve done it many times. I used to hate being assigned projects as I thought about how much work I would have to do to get it done. As soon as I broke down the projects into smaller tasks, the big projects didn’t seem as big anymore. In the end, the tips I have will give you more time to do other things you want and make you less stressed.