Agendas are a life-saver. An agenda can help you to remember when you need to be places, when things are due, and how to balance out your workload. It helps me balance out my study periods, and plan out how much time I want to focus on homework daily, so that I can still do all my activities. If you’ve got a busy schedule, an agenda will help you plan out when, and how much time to invest in work. To be truthful, I almost forgot about homework once during middle school, and if it weren’t for my agenda, I would’ve completely forgotten! Agendas will keep you on track, and can help guide you to remembering due dates, important information, and events.

“Schedule, prioritize school work, balance out activities and cancel non-needed activities for schoolwork” - Grade 9 Raven Rim Najib.

It’s tempting to procrastinate when teachers throw lots of homework at you. I’ve learned the hard way that procrastination will only make things worse. Coming from someone who’s procrastinated in the past, I recommend you try your best not to. It may seem like you’ll have more time, but in the end, it hangs over you like a dark cloud and can take your well-deserved evenings away. Getting your work done early means you don’t have to stress and worry about it late at night and you can enjoy your afternoons and evenings more.

Also, when you and your friends are supposed to hang out, if you get work out of the way, you won’t have to worry about doing it after hanging out! I had to learn it the hard way during middle school, and when I started high school, I knew I couldn’t do it anymore, it was a bad habit for me. I eventually stopped, and it has changed my life for the better!

“Basically, I try and do the majority of my homework right when I get home, so I have time to do other things after, since most of my homework is done.”- Grade 9 Raven Charlotte Kinnear

If you’re trying to stay balanced throughout middle or high school, you should consider this. Say you do homework for a certain period of time, it helps if you take a break to go outside and enjoy yourself! Going outside can really reset your mind, and when you come back in you’ll feel more reset and fresh. Going outside, getting fresh air, and using your energy can help you stay focused.

Any sort of activity works for going outside, there are countless ideas. A walk, a jog, a skate, or sledding down the hill are all good options. I personally like to go to places I may have never seen—not too far of course–but you get the point. Going outside is always a great idea for mental health, and it can help you stay balanced .

“ Schedule for work, leave time for myself to do activities, make sure to not over-work for more than 2 hours” - Grade 9 Raven student Zach.

As we all know, social media has its pros and cons, just like everything else. In this generation, it’s something we have to be careful not to over-consume. Checking messages, using Snapchat, Instagram, and Tiktok is normal, but using it to an extent where it impacts your social life, school life, and mental health is crossing the line. My biggest tip is to try and set time limits, so that you STILL can use it to text and engage with friends, but with balance.

If you balance out your social media with your life, it will help you be more balanced, and stay less distracted. Social media can impact schoolwork, so I recommend putting it on "do not disturb" or "airplane mode". You can even move your device to a different room to minimize distractions. Being distracted by social media can impact and drag you down, and it can take you away from motivation.

Research shows that social media can have a negative impact on mental health and self-esteem. Make sure to put limits on social media and to always take breaks to do the things you enjoy in the real world!

“Never procrastinate, give myself breaks, and do the classwork after school” -Grade 9 Raven Tamima Rashid.

You may think, “If I multitask, I can achieve more”, but that isn’t always entirely correct. Multitasking can distract you from your task and get you sidetracked. By only doing one thing at a time, you can check it off your list. Trying to do 3 things at once might mean you don’t get any of them done. Multitasking sounds like a great idea, “maybe to save time”, but it doesn’t always work out well. Say you're in a rush, it’ll slow you down, and you’ll end up more stressed out.

“Have ‘hours maximum’ to do school work, like no more than 2 hours. I balance my time out to do stuff I enjoy”, Grade 9 Raven, David Yom.