Time Management – Tips for meeting deadlines

Deadline season is fast approaching and it is easy to lose track of time and be left with a large amount of work and a very small amount of time to complete it. In this post I will be giving my top time management tips to help you get all that work completed on time!

Prioritise:

Sometimes it can be tempting to get the easier or more enjoyable tasks done first. Although this might make you feel productive at the time it inevitably leads to a build up in the harder more lengthy tasks and will give you less time to do those. A great way to tackle this is to prioritise your tasks by the length of time they take and by deadline. Chunks of a larger task should be prioritised over smaller, easier to complete tasks. Find the prioritisation that works effectively for you and stick to it.

Set aside uninterrupted time:

In a modern world full of social media and notifications it can be very hard to get uninterrupted study time. I recommend doing chunks of half an hour to an hour where you pop your phone in a draw or turn it off and concentrate on your study. Although this can seem difficult at first, even a small amount of quality study tends to be more beneficial and productive than a large quantity of poor quality study.

Set Goals:

If you sit down to do work and have no aim its unlikely you will be productive. I find that making to do lists for the week and each day allows to plan my work so that everything gets done before my deadlines. This works for me because I know once I have got my tasks for the day done I can relax and have some free time knowing that my work is done.  For more information on using to do lists effectively check out my article “Can to do lists really work?”.

Be realistic:

When setting goals and planning your time it is easy to get carried away but it’s important to be realistic. If you plan your weekly schedule around completing your whole essay or presentation in one day you could be setting yourself up for failure. Breaking big tasks into smaller chunks and spreading these out will allow for you to get all your tasks completed on time without getting overwhelmed. Although we are at university to study, if you plan it right you should be able to socialise and have fun too!

Make small changes:

If you are feeling like you a drowning in work you are most definitely not alone. It can feel impossible to get on top a mountain of work but with lots of small changes it is possible! I would start with making a plan of how to tackle it using some of the tips above. For information on how to get on top of work before it all builds up check out my post “Tips for getting on top of uni work early”.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post I hope it has helped you. Remember, if you are really struggling with your uni workload then why not reach out to your personal tutor and student support to see how they can help you. Remember you are not alone and that support is there for you if and when you need it. There is also loads more content made by students, for students, here on our website. Posts on studying at university can be found here.