Whether you’re starting your new career or getting stuck into job hunting, as a new graduate you need the ability to self-motivate. There’s a lot to fit into every day, so here are some of our top tips for effective time management.
What is time management?
Time management is the way you use the time you have to complete tasks you need to do. Effective time management can not only help you complete more of what you need to do, but also help you prioritise your tasks so that you don’t get overwhelmed.
As a university student or even as a recent graduate, you have a lot going on. Between exams and looking for graduate opportunities, you’re going to need a system to help you navigate your workload and get everything done.
Effective time management will help you assess how much time you have, what you need to get done and how much of that you can get done with the time you have.
Benefits of effective time management
Avoid feeling overwhelmed
There’s no doubt about it – overwhelm is not a good feeling. Luckily, effective time management can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Once you’re able to plan and prioritise your tasks in a way that works for you, you can assign time towards completing each one and better understand how much time you actually have to complete everything you need to do.
The key here is to plan in advance – make sure you give yourself enough time to figure out how much time you need to assign to everything you need to do.
Increased productivity
Once you’ve allocated specific stretches of time to each task, you’ll more effectively be able to understand how much you’re able to get done in a day. You’ll also be less likely to try and multitask. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking doesn’t actually help you get more done – you’re more likely to get stressed when you’re trying to focus on multiple things at once and this can actually decrease your productivity.
Better quality of work
Effective time management means you’re able to put all your focus into the task at hand. You’re more likely to produce better-quality work if you’re not distracted trying to work on other tasks or reply to emails or messages from friends, family and co-workers.
5 tips for managing your time effectively
Assess how much time you have and what needs to be done
At the start of each day, list out all the things you must do. This should include any lectures, seminars or other meetings or appointments you have that can’t be missed. Then, start to allocate time slots for each one. If you have a lecture from 2 – 3pm, you’ll need to structure your other work around that.
Prioritise your tasks and assign time limits to each task
Once you’ve figured out everything you need to do on a given day, it’s time to list these in order of priority. For example, if you need to study for three exams, it’s probably best to prioritise studying for the one that coming up first. List your tasks in order of priority and assign a timespan to each one so you know how much time you should be spending on each one.
Complete ‘quick tasks’
‘Quick tasks’ can be classified as tasks that take five minutes or less to complete. These can often serve as a distraction or a source of procrastination when you have a large list of tasks to get through. Allocating 30 minutes or so first thing in the morning to get through all of your ‘quick tasks’ will eliminate these as a distraction and give you the satisfaction of getting tasks completed right as you start your day.
Take breaks between tasks
As you’re putting together your task list for your day, make sure you’re factoring in time for breaks. How often you take a break depends on what works best for you but some people recommend taking a five minute break every 30 minutes to get up and move around while others suggest taking longer breaks in between tasks.
Make sure you’re taking a proper lunch break each day and changing up your environment where you can do – a 20-minute walk as part of a one-hour lunch break can do wonders!
Learn more about taking care of your wellbeing from Certified Life Coach, Ally Monk in this Bright Network Academy module.
Get rid of distractions
Distractions come in all shapes and sizes but there are some that you should definitely try and avoid when you’re trying to get things done. One of these is your phone! Social media is a massive distraction for most of us, as are incoming messages from friends and family. When you’re trying to get a lot done and manage your time effectively, why not try and leave your phone in another room or put it in a drawer, so you’re not tempted to check TikTok or Instagram.
Remember, perfectionism can also be a form of procrastination
Compulsively editing your project, changing the font, googling for that last elusive statistic - we've all been there. Chances are, it's a more sophisticated way of procrastinating. Yes, quality control is crucial, however like everything else in life, there are limits. Keep your eye on the bigger picture.
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