Your commitments change but the amount of time you have doesn’t. Here are three quick tips to get you started on effectively managing your time.
1. Prioritize your tasks
You have a lot of things to do, but are they all priorities? Prioritizing your tasks based on importance and urgency helps you determine a logical order to tackle them.
Importance: Will you face consequences if you don’t complete the task? If you do (e.g., your grade will drop by 15%, your friendship quality will decrease), the task is important. Tasks are important if they directly impact our academic, professional, and personal goals.
Urgency: Is there a deadline for the task or does it require your immediate attention? If so, your task is urgent.
Once you have determined the level of importance and urgency of your tasks, complete them in this priority order. However, don’t worry about how much time it takes you to finish as long as you complete everything by the due dates!
| Level | Type | Examples |
| 1 | Important and urgent | 30% essay due in 4 days |
| 2 | Important and not urgent | Exploring career pathways |
| 3 | Not important and urgent | Responding to an invitation you don't care about |
| 4 | Not important and not urgent | Surfing the internet to pass the time |
2. Break down larger tasks into smaller and more manageable ones
Identify the stages it takes to complete your larger tasks. Even if your Professor doesn’t explicitly tell you, there are many steps to producing an A grade assignment. Breaking down larger tasks into chunks can improve the quality of your work and decrease your stress level. Identifying the steps it takes to accomplish your tasks helps you to budget your time and effort.
For example, writing an essay doesn’t just involve writing. It also requires research, creating an outline, writing drafts, getting feedback, and making revisions. You can set personalized due dates for each of these steps.
3. Plan out your tasks with action words
You know you’re going to study, but what are you really doing? Use specific actions words when you plan your tasks. Accomplish specific goals in your study time instead of working on vague ideas. This strategy will increase your efficiency and productivity.
| Vague idea | Specific goal |
| Study for ENG110 | Go to Office Hours to discuss narrator reliability in Frankenstein |
| Practice for PSY100 test | Re-read Ch. 5 summary notes and complete all the end of chapter questions Create 4 short answer questions based on Ch. 5 lecture and answer them |
More resources for time management
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