Top Ten Time Management Tips

Are you feeling like you are not using the time you have effectively? Does it seem like you can't rearrange your resources to accomplish what you want throughout the week? We’ve gathered some strategies for you to evaluate your current use of time, your desired priorities, and focus on energy management and self-care! Join us for our Tuesday @ 7 in room 209 of the Illini Union on March 8th.

1. Try making lists instead of schedules

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Having time constraints on every task that you have to do in a day can be too rigid for the natural fluidity of life. Having a list of things to do instead of a precise schedule can help with creating flexibility and prioritizing in your day.

2. Prioritize for each day

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With each day comes new priorities - It is important to not only look at the things you do, but how you’re feeling as well when creating priorities. If you need to get a lot done but also are feeling mentally exhausted, then your priorities may shift to address that first.

3. Be flexible, and don’t judge yourself

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There will always be something that comes up unexpectedly in your day, and it’s important to not be too hard on yourself for not following a plan that you may have made. It could even be useful to plan flexibility into your day, so that you’re not thrown off when something happens.

4. Be honest and compassionate with yourself

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It is important to be authentic with yourself and recognize when you don’t have the energy to do the tasks that you have committed yourself to. Or, you may have more energy than you’re expending in your daily life. Either way, having the compassion with yourself to meet you where you are and move forward with your day based on how you are honestly feeling will be truly beneficial to your productivity.

5. Make Time for Self Care

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Make sure that you take the time to “recharge”; take a walk, hang out with friends, sleep, do whatever it is that will help you to feel reenergized and ready to complete everything on your list!

6. Be present in what you're doing

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It’s easy to get preoccupied with your day’s activities while you’re going through them. Thinking about a paper you need to write while you’re in lecture, thinking about the reading you have to do while you’re writing the paper, and maybe stressing about not getting enough sleep while you’re reading. Whatever you do, it is important to be completely present and not let outside thoughts cloud your experience. By becoming more immersed in the tasks you’re doing, you will be able to become more productive and efficient while working.

7. Make a log of your energy

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Take a week and document the times during the day when you’re feeling particularly high or low energy--with these general times in mind, you can better plan your days so that you are doing high energy activities when you have high energy, and vice versa.

8. Learn the work styles of the people you're partnered with

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Everyone has a different way of working and managing time. By understanding the way your coworkers or classmates work, you can work together more effectively that caters to both of your working needs.

9. Check in to see if your energy is actually going where you want it to.

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It’s easy to lose track of our priorities when external forces are asking different things from you. Every once in a while, take the time to look at where you would like to be spending your energy and where it is actually going. This can provide some insight into what changes you would like to make to help move your energy to the place where you would like it to be.

10. Set realistic goals for yourself.

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Part of being honest and compassionate with yourself means creating realistic goals whether that means taking things out of your schedule or adding them in. Make sure that you are in a place where you are expending the energy you are recharging, and you are able to recharge the energy you expend.

Hope to see you this Tuesday March 8 in room 209 of the Illini Union!