Lesson Overview

Time Management is the key to your success. It is a skill that is continually developing as our lives adjust to daily demands. University life is exciting but it can also be stressful when you feel like you don’t have enough time to get everything done.You might suddenly find that your world is very busy; you may be having difficulty working out how and what to prioritise. Or the complete opposite may be true. You might feel that, since you have started college, it feels like you have loads of time on your hands. You might even miss the structure of the second level school system.

Managing your time efficiently allows you to feel in control of your time and helps you to get all your assignments done with plenty of time to relax and have fun. This lesson aims to explore different strategies for planning your time. This will involve setting clear goals for the division of your time and helping you to break these goals into achievable steps. Reviewing your progress and learning to prioritise will help you gain insights into how to achieve the study/work/social life balance and integrate your academic life with your personal life.

Time Management Tips for Students

Breaking up a task

Set Timers for 25-40 Minute Blocks

The following step-by-step guide on how you can complete your tasks is based on the Pomodoro technique. This a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. There are six steps in the original technique:

Decide on the task to be done
Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally, you will set it to 25 minutes)
Work on the task
End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper
If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2
After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1

NOTE: There are many apps out there that are for free and will do all of these steps for you.

You can adept the amount of time you need to complete a task as needed for your work. Another good way to manage your time is to do the "Eat the Frog Method". This is when you start your day or afternoon, whenever suits you, by tackling the task you are dreading the most. Once you complete the most difficult task first, everything else will seem easier. It also means that you can alleviate any anxiety and stress from repeatedly putting something off.

Spend Your Time in Lectures Wisely

When attending lectures, whether they are online or offline, try to get the most out of your time by following the tips below.

Always make sure that you early or on time for your lectures, whether they are online or in person. This will allow you to prepare for your lecture, by getting a good seat while attending in person, and making sure you can easily see and hear the lecturer and the lecture slides. It will also allow you to get your pen, paper and computer ready for taking notes. For an in-depth overview on note taking, you can visit the how to take notes for lectures canvas page
Make sure to remove any distractions from your lecture, such as setting your phone on airplane mode and chatting with friends after, not during, the class
To get the most out of your lecture, you can read up on the Book of Modules to familiarise yourself with the learning outcomes and objectives. This will help you focus on the main points to take from your lectures
In some cases, a lecture time/location may change or a lecturer may share important information regarding the module through Canvas and your student email, so be sure to regularly check them for updates
Do you have any unanswered questions after the class? Try to ask the lecturer a question before, during or after class where appropriate. Remember, you can also access your lecturer via their official office hours, or alternatively, ask your academic tutor
Take note if the lecturer has assigned any readings or if there is anything you need to do in preparation for the next lecture

Making a Schedule

Block Out Your Time

Firstly, you should consider large chunks of your time, which can be reviewed and broken down later. This schedule maps your main tasks of the week. This shows how much of your time is taken up by only a small amount of the weekly tasks. It is not the same for all students but consider if anything stands out to you. For example, does your travel to college afford you time to study or can you free up time in the evening?

Time blocking is the practice of planning out every moment of your day in advance and dedicating specific time “blocks” for certain tasks and responsibilities. While a standard to-do list tells you what you need to do, time blocking tells you when you’re going to do it. You can also include the weekends or get a monthly overview; add in as many different “calendar” categories as you need.

Using Google Calendars & Planners

UCC students have access to a Google calendar via their Umail accounts. You can access your calendar via Google Apps, once you have signed into your student account. You can download the app for your phones or tablets and sometimes even link it to the main calendar app on your phone.

You can use different online calendars for different activities and they can be synced together, such as Outlook or Google calendar. Note that your Umail account is also a Gmail account. You can create several calendars within the Google calendar to differentiate the type of activities you are doing by colour.

Such as times for college activities like lectures, tutorials, academic reading time, assignment writing time, editing and proofreading. Be sure to also factor in personal and work activities, such as family, friends, exercise and your hobbies.

Utilise the Scheduling Checklist

When making out your schedule, try to consider the following points. This will help you review and be realistic about making changes in order to become as efficient as possible. Firstly, your calendar should be reviewed on a weekly basis and, as time goes on, it will need to be looked at less.

☑ Requirements, Priorities and Responsibilities - Make a list of priorities, consider what will take up the most of your time and what you have to get done. To do this you must first identify your priorities and tasks. Then, rank them by level of importance. Examples may include work, family time, study time, appointments, sleep, meal times, exercise, lecture times, and socialising

☑ Honesty and Being Realistic - You should be honest to yourself and get a clear picture about what you need to do and what you want to do. Is your schedule realistic or over ambitious? Do you have some “white space” in your schedule?

☑ Sustainability - Are you happy to take part in the schedule you have mapped out for yourself? Is your schedule achievable? Is your schedule a workable system?

☑ Enjoyability - This doesn’t mean that you enjoy every single activity on your calendar, but rather that you enjoy your overall time allocation!

☑ Balanced - Your schedule should include enough time for sleep (8hrs) , good nutrition, exercise, academic work, community (friends/clubs), rest and you-time!

☑ Big Picture Thinking - Try to consider your short or long term goals. What are your 1/3/5-year plans? Building on the last question, what can you do now to get a step closer to those goals?

☑ Cull/Review - Flexibility is important in any schedule as things simply don't always go to plan. Do you need to review your schedule because it may take away from main priorities or are not sustainable?

☑ Discipline vs Procrastination - Try to build habits in order to get repetitive tasks done on autopilot!

Review Your Weekly Schedule

It is important to review your weekly schedule to make the most efficient use of your time and break down the tasks as much as possible. It will help you find time wasters (e.g. social media, YouTube, Netflix etc.). Schedules can also give you a more accurate picture on how long certain activities take (for example, you may need more than 5 minutes to shower), which activities need more time dedicated towards them and it will make your priorities clear.

But remember, live your schedule – don’t just write it down, stick to it! There will be times where your schedule isn’t adhered to. When this happens, don’t be afraid to reschedule what you do not get done but be careful not to reschedule high priority tasks in favour of low priority ones.

Managing Your Time Effectively Utilising Schedules - Gimme Two Minutes

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