Stabbing pain shoots through your brain flooding your mind. The clock reads two a.m. You set an alarm for six, and add two more five minutes apart. You stare at your paper and decide it is useless, mentally creating a plan for how to finish a few more assignments between classes and during lunch. Sound familiar? Every day, teens fall deeper into the stress of homework, sports, clubs, jobs, and maintaining a social life.

“School is the most stressful thing, and I’m busy all the time,” Emilie Dudgeon, sophomore, said.

With many activities to juggle, teens often find there are too few hours in the day to finish everything. However, there are many ways to work more efficiently and free up a schedule. For some people, that may mean putting away phones and other distractions. Many teens spend too much time scrolling through social media, checking texts, and basically wasting time.

“One out of every two teens feels addicted to his or her device, and the majority of parents (59 percent) feel that their kids are addicted,” according to commonsensemedia.org. Read more here.

Another way to stay on task is to take efficient notes, so it is quick and easy to find information later. This will save time when students need to quickly find answers.

“Sometimes, I feel like I take too much time in perfecting my notes or work, but then I remember that when I go back and look at those notes or that work, it will be more beneficial due to the detail I put into it,” Sebastian Piatt, senior, said.

It is important to turn in good work, but sometimes overachieving can lead to a lack of sleep and not enough time to finish other work and assignments. Many students spend too much time perfecting their work.

“I do consider myself a perfectionist since I believe that there’s always room for improvement,” Ivy McKinney, freshman, said.

Making a daily “to do” list will help. Write down an estimated time to finish each item on the list, and try to stick to that time. This way, it is easy to plan the order of what needs to be done. One way to do this is to invest in a planner. Planners typically have a section for each month and week for easy planning.

“I manage my time by making priorities and making sure I do the important things first; then do the fun things that I like to do,” Walt Centers, sophomore, said.

There is competition to take AP classes and participate in extracurricular activities. Keep in mind that it is not possible to do everything, and it is okay to ease off on the workload. However, this is not the case for everyone.

“I balance my work perfectly,” Caleb Patterson, senior, said.

Although there are only 24 hours in each day, it is possible to maintain a healthy and well-balanced life with effective study plans and work ethic.