Managing your time as a university student

University students are often unaccustomed to the greater challenges, workload, and time commitment associated with university and college compared to secondary education. The use of editing services when writing papers, or even using an editing service to help respond to emails or supervisor feedback is helpful, but time management is something that is ultimately left to the individual.

In everything a university student does, there is a trade-off in terms of time spent on one task rather than another. However, if you recognise what is draining your time and use reasonable strategies to address the situation, you are likely to find that you can balance all of your commitments effectively. Even if you are studying on the most demanding course, you should still be able to satisfy all of your course requirements and have a peaceful night’s sleep.

 

1. Create a checklist or schedule

Doctors, pilots, entrepreneurs, and many other professionals use checklists or schedules to ensure that they make optimal use of their time. As a university student, you are likely to have many tasks and events for both, personal and academic – competing for your attention. For this reason, using a checklist or schedule to write down all your tasks, and then to cross them out when they are finished, is worthwhile. There is also something very rewarding about checking off every task in a checklist, which can drive you on and give you momentum.

 

Image: Crossing items off your checklist can give you a psychological boost

2. Prioritise your tasks

If you don’t already have a to-do list, schedule, or checklist, you should create one (as we draw attention to in the previous tip). Once you have, the next crucial step is to order your tasks based on their priority. To improve your ability to identify tasks that are high-priority and those that are low-priority, one of the key questions to ask yourself is the following: “Will doing this task on my to-do list help me resolve others?” If there is a clear answer to this question, those are the tasks you should prioritise.

 

3. Use rewards

Oftentimes, you – as a university student – desperately want to purchase a product or attend a social event. Even if you have the money and time to do so without sacrificing too much, use the desires you have to help you achieve your academic goals and manage your time more effectively. For example, if you stick to a routine where, every time you cross a task of your checklist, you add £0.50 to a saving jar for something you want to buy, you’ll begin to find that this has dramatically positive impact on your productivity and efficiency.  

 

4. Get an early start

If you wake up early in the morning, you are less likely to rush and, as a result, you are less likely to experience time-related stress. Also, when you wake up early, you may benefit from the fact that many of the people you live with do not. As a result, this will help you to remove things from your environment that are distracting you, helping you to manage your time much more effectively.

 

Image: Rise early to make the most of your day