One of the most important aspects of a student’s life is the efficient management of time. In order to excel in academic and extra-curricular activities at university, it becomes essential for students to maintain the right balance between the two. As proper time management helps students in contributing adequate time towards their education as well as personal lives, it is observed that students who manage their time well score better grades with lower stress and without any feelings of deprivation.
So, if you are finding it difficult to succeed in your studies or need help with post-graduate studies at university, here are a few tips for efficient time management which can guide you in making the right impact on your academic growth.
Get everything organized
To improve your academic life, start by getting everything organized. From organizing your room to your bookshelves, study table, cabinets, etc., make sure everything is in place. File your documents and segregate books, notes and study material based on their subjects. This will help you save a lot of time throughout your studies as you will know in advance where to look when you are in an urgent need of something.
Prepare a term calendar
Once you have physically organized everything, you should plan your upcoming term at university. Prepare a term calendar as per the dates suggested by your university. Highlight important dates for your assignments, tests, university activities, extra-curricular activities and out of school activities. This will allow you to understand how much time you can give to yourself for studying and everything in between.
Make a weekly schedule
A weekly schedule must be planned out and prepared at the start of each week. Not only should you list your weekly targets in the schedule, but you should also track and record your progress throughout the week, for self-reflection. Keep your schedule flexible to make space for impromptu events during the week.
Prepare a daily schedule
Similar to the weekly schedule, prepare a daily schedule for your entire day. You can make this schedule either a day before or early in the morning before getting started on anything else. List down your activities for the day and also make a list of activities which were not completed from the previous day. As the day progresses, place a tick mark against the completed activities. This will help you understand your progress rate and will guide you in achieving your weekly and termly goals with one day and one week at a time.
Set your priorities
The major objective of time management is to distribute your time wisely, so you can achieve all your goals. To succeed in your studies, it is a good idea for students to know about their study requirements. Know about your subjects and decide which subject will take more time. As every subject comes with a different set of essays, assignments, experiments, research, papers, projects, presentations, readings, writings, tests, etc., setting priorities will improve your chances of scoring higher grades. For every subject, decide how you will complete its related tasks on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and assign the same in your daily and weekly schedules as well as in the term calendar. This advance planning will reduce any waste of time and will increase your awareness of different subjects or upcoming tasks.
Get rid of distractions
Most students believe that they spend a lot of time studying. However, the truth is that students are constantly surrounded by a lot of distractions. Whether it’s a TV, a smartphone, a radio or something else. While it is easy to get distracted from studying by activities that are more fun and appealing, students should take all measures to overcome such distractions. To assign enough time for studying, students must count the number of hours they utilize for sleeping, traveling, eating, talking on the phone, watching TV, etc., and then make small changes in these everyday habits to obtain a positive control of their time.
Focus more on the task at hand
Keep yourself completely focused on the task at hand. Start by completing all major tasks first and gradually moving towards the smaller tasks. Putting all your focus on the projects with close deadlines will make you feel more energetic as you will try to finish them sooner. When you gradually shift your focus onto the smaller tasks, your energy will flow smoothly and will increase your motivation. This will make carrying out your tasks much more enjoyable, which in turn will make you more productive.
