Tips for Effective Time Management

The great Benjamin Franklin once said, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” These profound words have been adopted by many time management advocates. Well, I know some people enjoy the thrill of doing things last minute, whilst most end up kicking themselves for the unbearable pressure of trying to meet deadlines or cram-up an entire textbook a night before an examination. Yeah, you smiling now because this sounds just like you. Every semester-end you tell yourself you are going to do it better in the next and never leave work for last minute, but when the new semester starts the same cycle repeats itself and you can’t seem to run away from it. This not only applies to assignments and examination studies; it applies even those who are regularly late for classes. Each day you tell yourself you are going to sleep early so you can make it in time for the morning class, but then at night you find yourself with all sorts of distractions and before you know it it’s already 1 am (Yep people don’t sleep in this country). Early in the morning, you have to drag yourself out of bed (only the disciplined ones maybe), or else the lazy ones just decide to skip class altogether and sleep-in.

So where are you getting it wrong? I mean you have invested in buying expensive watches and phones but you still can’t make it on time (The struggle is real!!) Well it all comes down to time management. If you cannot manage your time well or plan your things, believe me you will go through the same cycle of having to play catch-up with your studies throughout your study period. Good thing we about to put that to an end, as I share with you some tips on how to effectively manage your time. Thank me later!!

1. Set Goals

Effective time management starts by setting goals for yourself. The goals could be: daily; weekly; monthly; or yearly. Goal setting means coming up with a list of targets you need to achieve within a specified timeframe. However, you need to make sure that your goals are SMART, that is:
S – Specific (What do you want to achieve? How? E.g. improve grades; complete assignment)
M- Measurable (How much? How many? How will know when it is accomplished?)
A – Attainable (How will you attain the goal? Are you really able to achieve it?)
R – Realistic (Is your goal and timeframe realistic?)
T – Timely (When do you plan to accomplish the goal?)

2. Create a schedule

Many people fail at time management because all their work is done without proper planning. If ever you want to be successful in anything learn to be organised. It is advisable to have a daily schedule for all activities such as labs, classes, extra-curricular activities, etc. When you do this you are able to determine how much time is left for your studies and other activities. Do make sure you schedule some time to relax or hit the gym. That my friend is much needed!

I know people don’t sleep much in Malaysia (pretty weird), but that doesn’t mean you have to follow that trend especially if you have early morning classes or examinations. Learn to schedule enough sleeping time for yourself so you don’t end up skipping classes or dozing off during those lectures (*blame it on the lecturer huh?). Good thing in this day and age it is actually easier to schedule your work because we have countless organising apps and tools that help with time management. Do yourself a favour and download one of these. You’re welcome. 

3. Deal with procrastination

The greatest enemy of progress is procrastination. Procrastination is when you put off work in favour of other activities. I remember when I was in University and how I would tell myself “I will do it later or another day, after all it’s due after a couple of weeks.” Believe me I never enjoyed the pressure I would have to go through to meet the deadlines because there will be so much to do in “so little time”. We tend to be deceived by submission dates into thinking that we have ample time to complete the tasks, forgetting that other modules are going to be demanding the same amount of work.

Don’t put off what you can do today for another day. It is better to make progress bit by bit than none at all. They say “slow motion is better than no motion.” Stop making excuses for not doing your school work and then putting it aside for another day. My advice is that you get started on your assignments as soon as you get them, and study each chapter of your coursework as you go. Don’t wait until exams are around the corner to start stressing about your studies. Learn to manage distractions; that means if it’s not important to your studies that thing got to go. Put away your Xbox, social media, etc and focus on your studies. If you want to play your games and chat with your friends then slot them somewhere in your daily schedule.

These are just a few steps from the many which you can use to manage your time effectively. You can visit the library or browse online for more tips on effectively managing your time. Remember “FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL!!”