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Simple strategies to manage your time more effectively

Introduction

In an academic environment, effective time management is crucial for success. You might struggle to balance your workload with so many assignments, projects, and exams. By practising good time management, you can allocate your time efficiently to each task, avoid procrastination, and reduce stress. This can lead to improved academic performance, a better understanding of the material, and the ability to pursue additional extracurricular activities. Setting specific goals, creating a schedule, and prioritizing tasks are all essential components of effective time management in an academic setting.

What is time management?

To manage your time is simply to use your time effectively or in a productive way in order to achieve your goals.

Managing your time effectively might mean different things to different people. You might like to try different techniques depending on your commitments at a particular point in time.

Time management involves a cluster of inter-related skills:

  • Prioritising and re-prioritising tasks.
  • Organising your time effectively.
  • Planning how you will use this time effectively to complete the tasks.
  • Keeping track of your progress.
  • Understanding how and when you work best.
  • Maintaining your focus and motivation.

While you may be practicing some time management skills, it's important to remember the value of planning. When we're under pressure, we often skip this step. However, planning is a key element that can help you make the most of your time, track progress, and stay motivated.

Tip: As you read through this guide, consider what your main time management challenge might be. Identifying this can help you focus on the specific skills you need to improve. Keep reading to discover some simple tips and strategies to help you overcome these challenges.

Photo by Stas Knop from Pexels

Why is it important to manage your time?

Managing your time, deciding upon priorities and planning accordingly can be some of the most difficult skills to improve. You have constant demands on your time and attention, and it can often be difficult to identify your priorities, especially when there is so much to be done.

However, the benefits of improving your time management skills can make a massive difference to you by :

  • Reducing your stress levels.
  • Increasing your productivity.
  • Achieving a balance between study and life and social activities.
  • Increasing your feelings of control, motivation and confidence.

Like any other skill, time management can be learned and practised. In the rest of this post, we will explore some useful strategies you can use to take control of your time.

You may also want to take a look at this article, in which students outline their own time management challenges and how they addressed them.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Effective strategies for time management

1. Organise and prioritise 

Before you can start ticking off tasks and being effective with your time, you need to have a clear understanding of everything you need to achieve. The first step is to get organised and prioritise your tasks. Here are some simple strategies you can use to help you with this stage:

  • Write a to-do list: This may seem basic, but until you have a list of everything you need to do, how can you prioritise what needs doing first? If you prefer to use simple to do lists — try making them for each day to ensure they are up to date and you are writing down tasks which are achievable within the timescale you are working to. You may find it helpful to include personal tasks like doing your washing as this will help you estimate the amount of time it will take to complete everything more accurately.
  • Create an Urgent/Important matrix: An urgent important matrix can be very helpful if you find it difficult to prioritise or feel your list of tasks is becoming a bit overwhelming.

    Urgent/Important matrix

    Image by Rorybowman (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

     Find out more about how to create an Urgent/Important matrix.
     
  • Schedule time to do the things you usually avoid: This could be tasks in your daily routine like washing or ironing or managing your email. If you spend time dreading or avoiding these tasks, chances are you normally end up doing them at a time, which is not ideal and increases your overall stress. It is also worth considering how much time you spend on these tasks and whether it is possible to split them up into more manageable chunks. Breaking larger tasks down and doing small amounts on a more regular basis can help combat the urge to procrastinate, making you more efficient.

2. Plan your time

It can be tempting to skip the planning stage if you are feeling overwhelmed, but the danger of not planning is that you may spend hours editing your work near the deadline if you haven’t worked through things in a logical way. Here’s some simple strategies for planning your time:

  • Use a calendar or diary to block out your time: This might sound very simple as you probably use a calendar regularly already. However, you are probably not using it to its full potential. Block out time in your calendar to complete tasks and social activities. You can colour code each block of time to see quickly how much time you have allocated across your study and social activities.

Tip: Don’t forget to allow time for reading and making notes on what you have read.

  • Create an assignment/revision plan: Work backwards from your deadline to see how much time you have to complete each stage of the work. Give yourself smaller deadlines to complete each component e.g. searching, reading, writing, editing and proofreading. Try to be as detailed as possible so you don’t forget things like referencing.

Tip: If you decide at this stage to use a reference management tool to store records of your sources you will save lots of time not having to do this manually as the end.

  • Create a Kanban board: The board is a simple tracker and one that you can continually refer to as tasks arise. You can use it to move you through discrete tasks and give you a view of what you have achieved that supports your motivation.
    A Kanban board has the following three areas:
    • what you have to do,
    • what you are doing,
    • and had you have done.

You can include extra sections for those things ‘on hold’, such as a group assignment where you are waiting on someone else before you can't do your next dependant task. This strategy works best when you combine it with a task management tool like the free web app Trello. In Trello, you can create three or more separate lists of tasks. As you complete smaller items you can move them from the “what I have to do” list to the “what I have done” list.

Read more (book chapter: Kanban Boards by Karl Cox)

Tip: It is important to use tools you are already familiar with — learning a new tool will require time, so save this until you know about what works for you.

3. Maximise your ability to focus

Once you know what you need to do and have a plan for when you will achieve, it’s time to focus on getting your tasks done. To help you be even more productive during this time there are a couple more things you might want to consider having a strategy for, take a look at our examples below:

  • Plan for or remove distractions:
    You may have a plan that accounts for all your tasks, but have you considered whether each task is being completed in the right place or at the right time of day? It's really important to consider when noisy housemates might be home and have strategies like music or headphones to deal with that. Have a friend who calls you at a certain time of day? Try planning tasks for that time you can do while you're on the phone, such as washing or tidying up.
  • Include time for breaks and exercise:
    To be productive, you need to be well-rested and ready to focus. In your plans, make sure you include regular breaks and time for exercise, even if this is just a short 20-minute walk. This time is vital for organising your thoughts and will actually help you feel more in control and get more done.
  • Understand why you procrastinate:
    We all procrastinate in one way or another. However, if we want to learn how to manage our time more effectively, it is helpful to try to understand our procrastination behaviour and the reasons behind it. Rather than simple laziness, procrastination usually occurs when we experience unpleasant emotions when faced with a particular task. The next section explains some common reasons why we procrastinate and provides advice on combating our urge to procrastinate.
    Also, take a look at this resource by James Clear, Procrastination: A Scientific Guide on How to Stop Procrastinating, to understand more about procrastination and how you can overcome it.

Further reading & other resources

USEFUL WEBSITES

 

VIDEOS

Tools for Better Productivity & Time Management | Dr. Adam Grant & Dr. Andrew Huberman

A Short Guide to Managing Your Time (University of Oxford)

How to manage your time more effectively (according to machines) - Brian Christian

Stop procrastinating by using implementation intentions

Useful applications for time management

Credits

Modified from the original article written by MLE Manchester. Unless otherwise stated, this work is licenced under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

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