The best time to work is the worst
A while ago I wrote an article called The Straight A Students Time Management Secret. The answer seemed simple: get your work done during your school day. High achievers do report having this habit. When they’re working, they just work. They don’t spend much time inefficiently --half-doing work and half-socialising at the same time. The benefits are pretty obvious. More completely-free time in the evenings, they can get more sleep and they can socialise guilt-free and stress-free. But, actually implementing this advice can seem hard. At work/school, all of our friends are there. It’s distracting. And then suddenly the entire day has passed and we’ve made no progress. Here are a few techniques that work:
- Block out some set-times every week just for working by yourself. Maybe Thursdays at lunch you go to your secret, private spot in the library and work on Math questions. Stick to your own schedule.
- Get massive headphones and wear them when you’re working. Obviously, you don’t even need to have music playing. I sometimes listen to waves.
- Put your phone on silent and shut Facebook, etc. Social media isn’t your friend right now.
- Write down three tasks at the beginning of every day that you want to get done that day and don’t leave school/work until they’re done.
Please do me a favour and share this post on Facebook or Twitter!
But then get back to work. :)
Recent Posts
"This course has been excellent and of so much help to me.” - Kanika V. (India)
"This saved my life. 10/10
-Harold L (Hong Kong)
"Thanks a ton! I have used this article to guide me for my last 2 IA's and when I was assigned my 3rd and final Econ IA, the first thing I did once I got my Econ article, was open this page. Much appreciation from Pearson College UWC!
-Keegen Payne (Victoria, British Columbia)
"I actually just wanted to let you know that you have been a very big help for me in TOK and Economics. With your effort to publish all this information and advice to IB students, you're really making a difference!"
-Anne-Sophie T. @ UWC Maastricht (The Netherlands)
"I want to thank you for the resources that have been provided. As a result, I got an A for EE in business after following the steps written in this website, including the help from my supervisor of course. I would recommend the current IB students to read the resources in your web, in order to obtain more insights. Thank you once again, sir!"
-Cynthia @ Universitas Kristen Petra (Surabaya, Indonesia)
"I'm an IB student who has been lost until I found this website! This has the best advice on the web and I'm definitely recommending it to all my fellow IBers back at school. Definitely wish you were my economics teacher! Thank you so much for taking time to write these guides. You have truly saved my IB life!"
-Cat (UK)
"WOW! Thank you already for helping me. So many great posts about IB and how to be effective. So awesome. I will defiantly spend more time here and hopefully learn a lot. I just wanted to let you know how great and helpful your website is :)"
-Nea @ HF-kursus og IB World School (Denmark)
"Thank you so much Mr Woods. The Economics exam will start in 4 hours and I think I am ready for it!"
-Thao @ Auckland International College (New Zealand)
"Your website is amazing! I got two level 7's in my last IAs with the help of your site. Thank you, all the way from UWCSA"
-Nicolette Sauramba @ Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (Swaziland)
"@adnamaweit Every self-motivated IB student knows @timwoods..."
-Amanda Tiew @ Campaka Schools (Malaysia)
"Just want to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for this website and all the effort you've channelled into helping others with your knowledge and skills. I've found it extremely helpful and I cannot thank you enough!"
-Hachi @ Anglo-Chinese School (International) School (Singapore)
"Just wanted to send you a note of appreciation for the great and selfless contribution you have made. You must have already made a difference to so many lives and achieved the real purpose of our lives. "
-Hina Nihal @ Jeddah Knowledge International School (Saudi Arabia)
"Thank you so much Mr. Woods. I find it absolutely incredible that you take the time to answer students and write your posts. Just today I was talking with another friend of mine who, I just found out, also happens to be following your blog."
-Alyson @ EF Academy (New York)
"I just wanted to say that I got a 6 on my SL economics exam last year, and I strongly believe that was because of all the help I got from this website on commentaries. A big thank you from Dallas, TX."-Tashi
"Dear Mr. Woods, thank you so much for your structure for TOK essays. It's really helped me develop a clear idea of what to do when I was absolutely clueless before! Definitely recommending to all my peers."
-Justine @ Tunas Muda International School (Jakarta)
"This page is awesome. Thank you very much for your help in my IA. You saved my life. Argentina wishes the best for you. Gracias!"
-Carlos (Argentina)
"Thank you for this piece of gold! I was about to give up on my TOK when I saw this page! Now I know I can deal with the IB and TOK in particular! Greetings from PERU!"
-Mateo (Peru)
"Thank you so much for all of this voluntary support. I'm taking an online economics HL course and it becomes quite difficult at times to find assistance. You're a life saver!."
-Theone (Bangkok, Thailand),
"Hello, I just wanted to say thank you for writing these guides. They have been extremely helpful for me, I was just about to panic and give up on my IA and now I am actually really proud of it."
-Sofie Lind
"Dear Mr. Woods, your initiative is highly appreciated and needless to say, the resources on this website are helping thousands of students tremendously. As for me, I thank you sincerely for your notes on IB Economics, the Extended Essay and for Theory of Knowledge. Hats off! Nothing better than spreading wisdom! Congratulations!"
-Anonymous
"Everyone at my school in Mexico uses your Structure for TOK essays. I've used it on all of mine and I've never gotten lower than an A-. I just wanted to thank you for being a lifesaver."
-Maria @ Greengates School (Mexico City)
"How to structure an Economics Internal Assessment is amazing. Absolutely great. It is such a great help to have word counts of different sections and a detailed description on how to score high marks. Thank you so much."
-"Desperate Student"
"Just wanted to say, as a fellow Economics & Business teacher of IB, I love your site. So plain, simple but so effective. My students in Barcelona love it too and it makes my job easier. Keep up the good work, and thank you once again. Really good and inspirational information on your site!"
-Faraz Mirza @ International School of Amsterdam
"Thank you! This is tremendously helpful. I am writing three IAs tonight. Unsure as to what I would do without these posts these posts as a guide. Thanks again."
-"Procrastinator"
"I am an IB student from India and I am very very thankful to you for these sites. My extended essay, TOK essay and business IA are the result of your articles and ideas. Your site gave my extended essay a plan on how to go about it and made the journey simpler. The article how to score full marks in the business IA was really helpful as it gave me a plan and coming into TOK I was able to build my ideas in structured pattern.
-Srikanth Reddy @ Sreenidhi International School (Hyderabad, India)
"I was looking about to get some support material for my son’s TOK and EE today and your pages have been great. They are easy to follow and digest. My son was very grateful. Your blog has been a fabulous resource! Keep up the great work!"
-Karen (Doha, Qatar)
"Just wanted to write you a quick thank you note for putting up such a great revision website! It is honestly one of the best I have encountered online for IB Economics revision. If I was at OFS it would be a pleasure to have you as my Econs teacher!"
-Avi @ United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), Singapore
"Your Economics IA slideshow really helped me understand what assessors were looking for, and how I could easily avoid loosing marks (word count etc). I really appreciate the time that you have spent to help students like me."
-Anonymous Student @ IBS of Provence (France)
“I teach ToK in Midvale, UT and LOVE your site. The students have really struggled with the essay writing process and your site structures it better than anything else I've ever received. Thanks”
-S. Allen (Utah, USA)
“i am an IB student here in India, and i was demotivated with regards to the workload this course has dished out to us every week. but i went through this website, and all of a sudden there's been a change of heart. thank you for posting such beautiful stuff that i can relate to.”
-Adi C.
“Your site is amazing!! Thank you so much! I am a senior in IB economics and thanks to you did very well in my IA! Just thought I had to let you know.”
-Pamela A.
"woooooooooooooow How to Write Successful College Application Essays has opened my eyes like so wide. thanx tim woods i sure will apply all these tips"
-Julie H.