Uni Series: Time Management

How do you manage to balance having to go to uni, meet deadlines, go home every so often, go on nights out, have a relationship, clean your room/kitchen go to the gym and basically live and have time to write this blog post? You don’t without organisation. So first things first I’m a realist, and I’m gunna be real. Buy a bloody diary or calendar. You know what? Buy both. 

Organisation:

People could call me anal but I plan my week out. I have a big whiteboard on my wall so when I wake up every day and go to sleep I know what I’m doing. English lessons are in one colour, drama in another, social stuff in another and meetings in another colour. I look at my week and the times I’m in uni and not and realistically plan my time. During breaks at uni, I’ll have an hour or so break to have lunch and chill from the lectures. Then do work for my other two hours, so when I get home I can skype mates, cook food or go get drunk.  

You could do this in your phone calendar, reminder apps, whiteboards, diary form. I use a white board and diary and colour code both. So I have a big visual aid at home and a small one I can take with me everywhere.

Obviously you can’t plan every second of your life because life just isn’t like that. Your mate might decide they want you to go out at 10:00pm at night. So be realistic with your time.

I plan in what time I’ll be eating that night and if I need to clean or whatever I’ll put that in. If I’m going to the theatre for a show or a gig I need to consider when I’ll get home and make up for lost work time either the next day or that day during my breaks. You have breaks in uni for a reason, I know I sound like your lecturer but don’t just use them for napping. The more you get done during the day the less you need to do that night or tomorrow. 

Deadlines:

You got your course handbook at the start of the year, it should have all your deadlines in there. I map my deadlines out in my diary and on a calendar so I know what’s when and plan when I need to have the reading done for that essay and start working on that presentation. Doing a combined honours means neither of my departments communicate with each other. This year 3 of my assignments coincide within the same week. If I don’t want to scrape a 40 I need to plan in advance.

To do lists:

I have a tiny book that I write down my to do’s for the day. For example:

·         Go uni

·         Go shopping

·         Gym

·         Write 500-750 words of essay.

Be realistic, small goals it feels so fulfilling to tick all the things off at the end of the day you feel like you’ve achieved something. Your to do list is evidence of that. If you don’t want to do daily ones then do weekly ones instead. 

Realistic Goals:

You don’t want to be that person the night before the deadline writing 3,000 words in one big go. It’s better to set yourself realistic goals. I give myself 2 weeks before an essay deadline one week to write it, and one week to proof read and reference properly edit it around a bit. I set myself easy goals of 500-750 words a day. This normally takes me between an hour and two hours. If you do that during your break and an hour after your tea it makes it much less daunting. Setting smaller goals makes you feel like you’ve accomplished more. If I set a goal of 500 words and reach 800 I feel really fucking good. Cause that’s less to do the next day and day after. Same goes for revision and learning lines. I revise in slots of 30 mins with 5-10 min breaks. In which I’ll go and make a brew or have a wander around campus. You can't sit at a desk all day, your mind needs regular rest breaks. Set a timer on your phone when the alarm goes off go make a snack or watch a 10 min YouTube video. Or do a 20 min work out like the 30 day shred or go work your stress off at the gym.

Social side:

Obviously you don’t wanna be locked in your room or the library. You need to have a break and some fun so if you need to revise or write an essay schedule in tea breaks or time to go for a walk as mentioned previously. You need movie nights and nights out as well, so schedule them in if you can or do your work during the day then your evening is free for you to nip to your mates flat and have a gossip. Or get your work done during the week then you can go home for the weekend or have your partner come up for the weekend to reward you with cuddles.

I know its hard, in first year I fucked up a lot with this. But I've now found a way that works for me. You just have to be as realistic as you can. Don't tell yourself you're going to do 5 hours of straight reading cause girl/guy it aint gunna happen now is it?

Hope this helps,

Bekka.