How to stay on top of everything- My top tips for time management

Time management is one of the most important skills to master while at university, it’s important to make sure you have enough time in your day to get everything done whilst also looking after yourself.

I believe the number one skill at the heart of time management is prioritisation. It’s important to not overstretch yourself by expecting too much of yourself. Each day, I consciously pick the tasks I put first and spend more time on, so I can conserve my energy for the things that are most important to me.

I listened to an episode of Emma Chamberlain’s podcast entitled ‘Quality over quantity’ which discusses the importance of prioritisation. I would recommend you give it a listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0YThGNgL46qBGNhPw4tds2?si=_l_GqIObRtu6Du4WTYTISw&dl_branch=1

Here’s some of the daily habits I have, which I personally find allow me to stay on top of everything:

1.      Diary

I check my diary every morning and add to it frequently. I like a diary which has a layout of the entire month on one spread, so that I can easily see how close certain deadlines/events are. I also use a colour coding system, for example I have one colour which I use to highlight all my work shifts and another for all my university deadlines. So, from a glance I can identify what I have going on each week.

2.      To-do list

Every day I make a to-do list. I then put a star next to the most important tasks of the day and make sure all these things are done first. My to-do list book is from Typo: (https://cottonon.com/UK/a5-campus-notebook-recycled/145660-181.html?dwvar_145660-181_color=145660-181&cgid=notebooks-notepads&originalPid=145660-181#start=37).

 

3.      Tracking time on excel document

My friend started a competition where we all track how much time we spend studying and then compare our total study time each week. I find this a really good way of tracking how much time I am putting into each subject, and this helps me review where I need to spend more time the following week.

Thank you for reading!