Struggling to manage your time? Are you often procrastinating and leaving everything to the last minute? This is something that virtually every student struggles with. Many students think that they have made progress with their assignments just because it took them two hours to create a ‘Google Doc’. But honestly think about it… most of your stress has to do with how you manage your time, not to do with the volume of tasks that you have. All you have to do is tweak a few things and you’ll be on your way to being a lot more productive.
“You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” – Charles Buxton
Often it is said that if you want a task to be completed, give it to someone who is busy. But shouldn’t be the other way around?
Not necessarily. You see people who are more busy have learned to master their time and learn how to integrate multiple tasks into their day. Just like the quote above, they make time. Whereas those who do have not much to do often fall victim to laziness. If you want to improve your time management, here are a few things I recommend to boost your productivity.
1. Time Block
Time blocking is the simple process of identifying what task you have to do and allocating a fixed amount of time to complete it. If you want to make notes for chemistry, then before you start identify what NSW HSC syllabus dot points you want to address and give yourself 2 hrs (for example) to complete it. This way you never let your task filter beyond that time period and you make sure you’re not constantly flicking through your phone.
Did the task take longer than you think? No worries move on. This is why the next tip will come in handy.
2. Start with the Shortest Tasks First
The best way to maximise your day is to create a checklist at the beginning of the day and knock off the tasks that are short and easy first. That way you generate momentum and a sense of accomplishment early on in the day. Don’t get bogged down in a large task while your small tasks are building up. Leave the larger tasks to the end of the day that way if that task takes longer than expected you still would have completed a wide range of work for that day.
Here’s a great example of a checklist below listed in order of completion:
- Answer and check emails from teachers (10 min)
- Complete multiple choice from economics paper (30 min)
- Write a practice PEEL paragraph for English (40 min)
- Complete math past paper (1 hr)
- Work on Legal Studies assignment (3 hrs)
See how the tasks escalate in difficulty and size. That if you started studying at 9 am, by midday you would have finished 4/5 tasks, leaving only Legal Studies to work on. This simple method helps promote a strong sense of accomplishment and a self-fulling cycle of productivity as your day goes on.
3. Dividing your Tasks based on Importance and Urgency
But how do you know what to put on your checklist at the beginning of the day? In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey suggested a strategy that has always worked for me. That is, dividing your tasks based on urgency and importance.
Something that is important and urgent? Check it as a priority at the beginning of the day to complete it. Got an assignment due in 6 weeks worth 30% of your grade? Maybe it is important but it sure isn’t urgent. Perhaps you can leave working on it until a little later and focus on the English PEEL paragraph due tomorrow.
On the right is a perfect example of a structure that you can create for your tasks. It doesn’t have to be a physical table, but rather more like a mental note in your mind for your tasks. That is what I do and it’s helped me make sure I’m never past midnight working on an assignment due tomorrow.
You see, part of improving your time management is improving your organisation. If you filter your tasks into these categories, you won’t be scrolling around on TikTok pretending you have nothing to do.
Conclusion
In the end, the decision to improve your time management is up to do YOU. However, remember, there is always a balance between working productively to manage your time well and overburdening yourself with too many tasks to complete. It’s all about finding the right balance.
Nevertheless, for whatever you’re doing at school and beyond, there are always ways to improve the ways you manage your time.
Anthony, from the Kalibre Post.
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