Make sure your time management skills are sharpened!

• Eliminate distractions. 

• Be focused on the task at hand. ...

• Use a calendar. ...

• Use a checklist. ...

• Find your productive time. (Are you a morning person or a night person? You'll be more efficient if you work when you're at your best.

• Get organized. ...

• Follow your plan

• Overcome procrastination

• Divide and conquer. (Break up larger projects, such as research papers, field studies, and cumulative finals, into manageable chunks. And spread the stages over a reasonable number of days. Always add some extra time above what you think you need because usually there's a major crunch or crisis toward the end)

• Don't take 10-day holidays. (Some students think it's their God-given right to take off a few days before Thanksgiving holidays and spring break—and a few days after. Instead, consider it your religious duty to tote your textbooks to Cancun and consult them while enjoying a drink.)

• Set priorities... (During periods of peak work—midterms, seminar presentations, and exam times, for instance—shed commitments that are not absolutely necessary. Tell your parents you can't worry about their Christmas plans; tell your frat head that you can't be bothered with his community service project; tell your boss you need a much-reduced work schedule; tell your minister that someone else needs to help with the reception after church. There are only 168 hours in a week, and you'll be managing your time a whole lot better if you devote yourself exclusively to schoolwork. At least a few weeks a semester.)

• Schedule rewards...

• Get a good night's sleep.