You’ve surely heard it said before that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Try telling that to Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, who reportedly slept no more than four hours a night when running the multinational beverage corporation. Elon Musk, at one point, also worked 120-hour weeks just to meet Tesla’s production goals.
Time is one of life’s most precious commodities and learning how to manage it effectively is the key to success. For up-and-coming business students, the art of time management is just as important as skills such as listening, communication and strategic thinking.
Not only do business students need to find the time to juggle assignments, readings, case studies, but they also need to find that much-deserved downtime to enjoy being part of the student community. Struggling to find time can potentially lead to stress. To help make life easier, here are a series of proven time management tips for students.
List Everything You Need to Do
First and foremost, one of the most important things you need to do to manage your time better is to list everything that needs to be done. From studying for an exam to sitting a mock test, everything relating to your studies should be organized in lists so that you know exactly what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and where. As well as writing down jobs and tasks, you should also make a note of important deadlines and any personal errands or activities that you need to do.
Prioritize
Once you’ve listed everything you need to be doing over the coming weeks or months, the next thing you need to do is prioritize. Seeing everything in list form means that you can prioritize the most important tasks in terms of importance or deadlines, etc. Although it may seem obvious, it isn’t easy to prioritize tasks when you have a long to-do list. If, for example, you have an important accounting project due over the next couple of weeks, you can make it a priority and focus on that first as it will be your first major deadline. Of course, you shouldn’t ignore the more trivial tasks. It just means that you ought to focus on the most important ones first.
Avoid Distractions
Procrastination is any student’s worst enemy. When you’re studying by yourself, remove yourself from as many distractions as possible. If you prefer to study in silence, find somewhere quiet to go, such as a library. If you are tempted to keep checking your phone every few minutes, like so many of us, why not place your phone on charge in another room. Whether it’s the TV distracting you, your phone, a pet, or other people, whenever possible, remove yourself from anyone or anything that is distracting you, and only then you will be able to focus on your studies.
Set Goals for Study Sessions
If you’ve got an important exam coming up and you’ve got a lot of studying to do to, make sure that you’re ready. With each study session, set yourself small and achievable goals. Whether it’s writing a certain number of words, reading a set number of pages, or doing a few practice tests, set goals which must be achieved before you can call it a night.
Time management might sound like a simple concept but it’s not. Those who can manage their time efficiently, have a clear advantage over their classmates. At EU Business School, we not only help our students be leaders in dynamic business communities but help them develop time management skills to be more productive businesspeople.
