Students are often juggling a complex variety of tasks in their lives which can become overwhelming.

Time management is the key.

We all only have twenty-four hours in each day, and it’s critical that we get a full eight hours of sleep in order to have our brain work quickly and efficiently. That leaves us with sixteen hours to manage. The more efficiently we can map out our day, the less stress we experience, the more energy we have, and the more free time we have to do the things we love.

These time management tips for students should help:

Write a Daily Task List

Each morning, write down a daily task list. Do it by hand. Apps and online calendars are handy, but study after study finds that the act of writing something helps it stick more firmly in the brain. Also, writing it means you are reminded, each day, of something that hasn’t gotten done. The more you have to re-write it, the more you get motivated to just do it and get it off your list.

Use Short Term Milestones

If you have a large project, like reading an entire book in a week, don’t just put that on your list. It will seem too daunting and also like something that can be put off. Come up with a reasonable milestone to tackle for today. Read Ten Pages. Put that down. Make sure your tasks are things you actually think could be done in a day.

Strive to always use concrete terms for your tasks. Be able to measure them. Say “revise for half an hour” rather than just “revise”. To boost productivity when doing work you could try the pomodoro technique.

Have Tasks of Different Lengths and Difficulties

Sometimes you’ll have a large block of time become available. Other times, it’s all you can do to find five minutes to breathe. By having a variety of task options on your list, you can work to find what fits where. Similarly, sometimes you’ll be full of energy and at other times you’ll be worn out. By having some easy tasks in there, you’ll have something you can do which is fairly mindless and low stress.

Write Down How Long Tasks Take

A common challenge people have is they underestimate how long a task will take. They figure they can whip through a task in fifteen minutes when in reality it takes a full hour to get it done. That is part of the learning process here. The more you keep track of what the task was and how long it took, the better your estimates will be going forward. That makes your future time planning that much better.

If Tasks Crop Up, Add Them To The List

If something gets added to your work load for the day, add that onto your list. That way you maintain that sense of how much you can realistically do in a given day and how much time it takes. It’s wise to always build in some buffer time to account for those kinds of situations. Life rarely runs exactly the way you plan for it to.

Review Your List At The End Of The Day

When you finish off your day, take a look down your list and be grateful for the things you were able to get done. This is the time to count your blessings. Yes, not everything gets done – that’s the way life runs. You do your best. You learn and become better.

Then put the list aside. Evening is not the time to be plotting out the details for tomorrow – that’s likely to keep you up at night thinking about what to do and how to do it. Instead, know that your day is now done. Be grateful for all you have learned from today. Dedicate yourself to getting a solid night’s sleep.

If thoughts come up while you are trying to fall asleep that you do have to remember, write them down on a pad by your bed. Tell yourself that you will handle that when you wake up. Then refocus yourself on falling asleep as fully and deeply as you can. Getting a solid night’s sleep is absolutely critical for your energy levels and health.

Every person on this planet, whether they’re young or old, has only twenty-four hours to work with in each day. We all have obligations and responsibilities which need to be handled during those twenty-four hours. And we all have to sleep to maintain our energy and health. We can each take steps to understand our time options, optimise how well we use that time available to us, and improve our time usage from week to week. This lowers our stress levels, raises our contentment, and uncovers the free time we need to do the things we really love.

A2B DSA Assessment Centre