5 Tips for Time Management
The #1 thing university has taught me is that time is precious. I am personally happiest when I am busy, but there is a very fine line between being busy and being overbooked. Being overbooked can cause a lot of stress and anxiety, especially when you feel like you’re not performing at your best because of it.
Here are five things I try to do to keep my schedule stress-free and full of fun and fulfilling activities!
1. Use a calendar or planner
I like to visualize everything I need to have done in a week ahead of time. For this reason, I put pretty much everything in my apple calendar. This works really well for me because it syncs between my laptop and phone, so I never have an outdated version. I colour-code different types of events – I put all my classes in orange, extra curriculars in blue, assignments in pink, and social activities in purple. I basically use this as both a to-do list and calendar. If there is someone I need to meet, even if just for 5 minutes to pick something up from them, I’ll toss it in my calendar so I don’t forget. I find if I see things booked as blocks of time, it motivates me to get them done, and if it’s something social, then it reminds me of something to look forward to!
2. Budget your time
In addition to keeping a tightly packed calendar, I like to have an idea of how much time I need to spend in class, studying, working on an assignment, or attending meetings in a week. Each weekend I make sure to check out what’s already booked in my calendar, and then make an estimate of how much time I’ll need to spend on various tasks. This helps me manage my free time and remain calm about all the stuff I need to get done that week.
3. Prioritize
Some weeks are just crazy and won’t be well balanced. I like to have a focus in mind for each week, so if I know I have a particularly difficult midterm or assignment to work on, I make sure to make that my priority over anything else that week. This also goes for social events and restful time! If you know you have a little bit of flex time in terms of school or work, make sure you prioritize doing the things you love. Keeping a planner or calendar helps with this because you can identify your downtime and plan more exciting activities with friends!
4. Keep your weekends open
One thing that I don’t always achieve but always strive for is to keep my weekends relatively free. Obviously, if you have a big group assignment coming up the next week, you’ll likely be booking some meetings on Sunday afternoons. But for the most part, I try to get my assignments done during the week so that I can spend my weekends how I like. Even if I have to do a bit of studying, I try to keep it flexible so that I can go to the market and then study at a café I like, or go on a hike with friends and study whenever that ends. Having some chill time on the weekend makes working hard during the week way more satisfying.
5. Keep sleep consistent
Something I learned from my co-op terms is that going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day is so beneficial to my energy levels. Even if I’m going to bed quite late, as long as I go to bed at that same time and wake up at the same time, I just have more energy! This is harder to apply during a school term because life becomes much more spontaneous, but it’s something I try to do as much as possible.
About the author: Paige Powell is the VP Marketing for the Rowe Women in Business Association. She is in her third year of the Dalhousie Commerce program and has completed two co-op placements at EY Halifax in their tax service line.
