7.1 Time management

Why is time management important? It’s a core skill, which a lot of your life will revolve around. You need to manage your time efficiently for study and work, thereby increasing your chances of success in a highly competitive world. Effective time managers are often high achievers in life.

Let’s revisit our Week 4 case studies, with a particular lens on time management skills.

Amaka

Here’s what Amaka’s doing to manage her time.

Amaka (model used for illustration only)

• Getting the ‘big picture’ of her life by analysing available time, tasks and deadlines.
• Using calendars (physical and digital), diaries, reminders, lists, post-it notes and colour highlighting different subjects and tasks.
• Being aware how she uses her time, and prioritising certain activities where necessary.
• When she feels overwhelmed by the volume of work and tasks she needs to achieve, amid the general fast pace of life, she minimises her stress and maximises success by being proactive not reactive. This helps her to stay in control.

Chandru

Let’s see what Chandru is doing to plan his time effectively.

Chandru (model used for illustration only)

• Time management – determining his available time, and planning out what he can realistically achieve with it; identifying and using ‘unproductive time’ for other things; sticking to his plan, but allowing for adjustments and building in flexibility.
• Task/workload management – prioritising tasks, defining his goals, making lists of everything he needs to do; reviewing and, where appropriate, reducing the number of tasks assigned for any given day; acknowledging that tasks often take longer than expected, and that work tends to expand to fill any available time; ticking off tasks when work is completed.
• Planning – getting the big picture of time frames by using a large wall planner, which helps him look ahead and stay on track; using highlighters and sticky notes on the planner to keep it up to date about progress and developments.
• Use of deadlines – establishing the deadlines for urgent tasks and marking them into the plan; building in contingency, and using false/early deadlines to help him get ahead.
• Productivity – considering his most productive times of day; planning in breaks alongside periods of work; tracking his progress, removing completed tasks, carrying over unfinished tasks and reprioritising as needed; establishing a routine for himself.

Ben

Ben is taking the following actions to manage his time during his apprenticeship.

Ben (model used for illustration only)

• Reminders – setting alarms ahead of deadlines and appointments, and connecting them to his phone calendar.
• Tasks – using ‘to-do’ list facilities, like Todoist (Linear) or Trello (Visual).
• Timers – useful for practicing exam papers, using timed study methods, oral presentations.
• Productivity apps – Pomodoro, Flora and Focus. He particularly likes the ‘Forest’ app which grows trees while you are engaging in a task, which helps him stay focused and in the present.