Making Time Work: 4 Steps to Help Online Students Prioritize Tasks

Balancing online classes, work, and personal life can be a challenge. With so many responsibilities competing for your attention, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or fall behind. Prioritizing tasks efficiently is one of the most powerful skills you can develop to stay on track, reduce stress, and succeed as an online student.

Step 1: Define Each Task Clearly

Before organizing or ranking tasks, take a few minutes to break down every item on your list:

• What exactly does the task involve?
• How long will it probably take you?
• Does it depend on other tasks?
• When is it due?
• What resources do you need?

Getting clear on each task can help you decide where to focus first and prevents wasted effort later.

Step 2: Rank Tasks by Urgency and Importance

Once your tasks are defined, group them based on two dimensions: urgency and importance.

• Urgent & Important: Must be done soon and matters deeply.
• Important but Not Urgent: Long-term or high-value tasks you can plan for.
• Urgent but Not Important: Smaller or less meaningful tasks you might minimize or delegate.
• Neither Urgent nor Important: Tasks you could delay.

A structured prioritization framework can help students with study engagement resulting in more effective learning workflows.

Step 3: Set Realistic Deadlines (With Buffer Time)

After ranking your tasks, assign each a deadline — but build in buffer time to accommodate unexpected delays.

• Estimate how long each task really takes
• Add extra minutes or hours for potential roadblocks
• Avoid over packing your schedule

Because many people underestimate task durations, adding a buffer can help protect you from falling behind when life intervenes.

Step 4: Stay Flexible and Use Proven Focus Techniques

Even the best plan needs adaptability. Online learners often encounter surprises: technical issues, shifting priorities, or sudden obligations. When things go off track:

1. Reassess your task list. What can you reorder or postpone?
2. Use productivity strategies to stay focused:
• Time blocking — dedicate fixed intervals for specific tasks.
• Pomodoro-style work — work for a set time, then take a break.
• Start with the biggest or most difficult task when your energy is strongest.
• Reflect once a week to see what’s working and adjust.

These techniques — combined with flexibility — can help you maintain steady progress without burning out.

Why These Four Steps Matter

Research supports that improving time-management behaviors like prioritization can significantly enhance academic engagement and performance in online and traditional settings.¹ These are not just productivity tricks — they are strategies grounded in evidence, helping you learn more effectively, manage stress, and make meaningful progress toward your educational goals.

¹ Fu, Y. et al. Unlocking Academic Success: The Impact of Time Management on College Students’ Study Engagement. BMC Psychology, 13, 323. https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-025-02619-x (visited 11/17/2025).

REQ2177677 12/2025