How to develop time management and better manage your time

Whether you’re starting your new career, getting stuck into job hunting or studying for your exams, you need to manage your time.

As a student or recent grad, there’s a lot to fit into every day. To help, we’ve put together some time management tips so that you can squeeze the most out of every moment – without feeling overwhelmed.

We’ll take you through:

• What is time management?
• Tips on how to manage your time effectively
  • Assess how much time you’ve got and what you need to do
  • Prioritise your tasks
  • Complete quick tasks
  • Take breaks
  • Get rid of distractions
  • Avoid perfectionism
• Benefits of developing time management

Time management is the way you use your available time to complete the tasks you need to do. Effective time management will make your to-do list less daunting.

As a university student or grad, you’ve got a lot going on. We get it. Between exams and looking for graduate opportunities, you’re going to need a system to make it easier to navigate your workload and get everything done.

Effective time management will help you assess how much time you’ve got, what you need to do and how much you can realistically complete within the time you’ve got.

For more information about the skills that will make tackling your tasks easier, visit our time management skills guide. It contains examples and advice on building up your abilities. Looking for a quicker fix? While it’s worth investing in your skillset, take on our time management tips below to make an instant change.

At the start of each day, list out all the things you’ve got to do. Include any lectures, seminars, meetings and appointments. Then, allocate time slots for your activities (ie. an hour for reading, two hours for writing coursework).

Part of time management is working out when you work best. So, if you’re an early bird, start your uni work sooner rather than later. However, some commitments have fixed time slots. If you’ve got a lecture from 2 – 3pm, you’ll need to structure your other work around that.

Once you’ve figured out everything you need to do, list your tasks in priority order. For example, if you’ve got to study for three exams, it’s probably best to prioritise studying for the one coming up first. However, if they all happen close together, you can’t wait until the first one’s over to pick up revision.

You’ve got to work out how to best split your time. Think about your deadlines, how much time you need to spend and the best order to do your workload. You can’t write the essay until you’ve done the reading.

Clear your desk – and mind – of quick tasks (ie. anything that will take five minutes or less to complete). Those quick tasks often serve as a distraction or a source of procrastination when you’ve got a large list of things to do.

Allocate 30 minutes or so first thing in the morning to get through your quick tasks. Setting some time aside to send that email, print that return label or listen to that voice note will eliminate distractions throughout the rest of the day. It also gives you the satisfaction of getting tasks completed right as you start. There’s no feeling like ticking something off your to-do list, so give yourself that boost early on.

As you’re putting together your task list for your day, always factor in time for breaks. How often you take a break depends on what works best for you. Some people recommend taking a five-minute break every 30 minutes to get up and move. Others prefer to stay in the zone for hours and take longer breaks between tasks.

Whatever you do, give yourself a proper lunch break to refuel. If you can, change up your environment too. Getting outside for a stroll on your lunch break can do wonders.

Some distractions are out of our control, but a major one is in our hands (often literally) – our phones. When you’ve got your phone nearby, it’s tempting to quickly check social media. Before you know it, you’ve been scrolling for half an hour. Try putting your phone out of reach or removing the apps that distract you the most. Once you break the habit, you’ll be surprised how much time you’ll get back.

If your environment is distracting, consider working from somewhere quiet like a library. Although it’ll take time to get there, it’s better to spend a while travelling than waste a day because of chatty family members or nuisance neighbours. If you need to stay at home, try listening to white noise. Some people find certain types of audio useful for improving concentration and blocking out distractions.

Perfectionism is sometimes a form of procrastination. Repeatedly editing your project until the deadline, needlessly changing document fonts, searching endlessly for an elusive statistic – we've all been there. Sometimes, it’s a way of procrastinating. Yes, quality control is crucial, but like everything else in life, there are limits. Keep your eye on the bigger picture. Are you fussing over a piece of work because you’re putting off a trickier task? Be honest with yourself and learn when to let go.

Now you know some tips for developing your time management abilities, but do you know why you should make the effort to take them onboard?

Breaking bad habits and picking up new ones is tricky, but it’ll be worth it. Some of the benefits of effective time management include:

There’s no doubt about it – overwhelm isn’t a good feeling. Luckily, effective time management can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Once you plan and prioritise your tasks in a way that works for you, you’ll have a much better understanding of what’s possible – and what’s not. That way, you won’t take too much on and will know when to ask for help.

The key here is to plan in advance. A daily plan is great, but it’s worth viewing things on a weekly or monthly basis too. Advance planning will help you see the bigger picture.

Once you’ve allocated time to each task, you’ll realise how much you can do in a day. By breaking down your days into manageable chunks, you’ll maximise the time you’ve got. Once you’ve cut out distractions and tackled procrastination, you’ll get more done than you thought possible.

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 without distractions. If you follow our top tip for getting quick tasks out of the way early, you won’t spend your job application writing time wondering about what to say in a message to a coursemate. You can use time management to compartmentalise tasks and free up your brain power for your current task.

You’ll also be less likely to multitask when it isn’t appropriate. It’s fine to listen to an audiobook while you cook dinner. However, you’re not going to absorb revision information by sneakily reading your notes in a lecture. If you do that, you’ll miss out on all the lecture information and then waste time catching up.

Time management is how you work out what tasks to do in the time you’ve got. Nailing how you manage your time will see you tackle your to-do list with less overwhelm while producing work that’s better quality at a more productive pace.

Once you’ve developed time management skills, you’ll notice improvements in your life – whether you’re using the skills at work, uni or everyday living.

Sound like something you want to master? If you follow our time management tips of assessing how much time you’ve got, prioritising your tasks, completing quick tasks, taking breaks, removing distractions and avoiding perfectionism then you’ll go far.