‘Start The Day By Eating A Live Frog’- Top Tips for Time- Management
By Spela Horjak
Are you one of those students who swears to stay on top of coursework every year only to realise once again, you’ve left everything until the last minute?
Do you often realise halfway through a conversation that your friends are talking about assignments you didn’t even know existed?
Do you regularly find yourself looking at the clock in a frenzy hoping that you can churn out those last 500 words before the coursework deadline?
If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to the above, it sounds like you might have some time-management issues and when it comes to that all important, post-university working world, bad time-management is a major turn-off for potential employers. Well, look no further; help is at hand!
The first thing to remember is that we all have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week so don’t complain about how time flies, instead try to make the most of it. One of the main attributes of successful people is their time-management skills; they respect their time and constantly strive to become more organised and more efficient.
So, where do we start? By following these steps, you can start managing your time more efficiently and dazzle those future employers.
1. Procrastination is a no-no!
The first thing to banish is procrastination. We’re all guilty of spending an extra few minutes on the phone or an extra hour on Facebook but serial-procrastination WILL make your stress levels soar and as we all know, stress is detrimental to our health and well-being. Someone once said that the problem lies in the fact that “people don’t know what needs doing, but always find reasons not to do it anyway”. Work out what needs doing and don’t make excuses not to do it…Facebook will still be there in an hour or two!
2. Divide your time
Make a to-do list and separate your work into achievable chunks, allocating certain times of the day to certain tasks. This will prevent you feeling overwhelmed at the amount of work you have to do. It will also create a sense of accomplishment when you are able to cross things off your list.
3. Set earlier deadlines
Whether facing an important assignment or tacking crucial revision, aim to finish whatever your task is a week before the deadline. Knowing that you’re ahead of things will leave you with a more relaxed mind-frame and this way, there is still time for the finishing touches without the added stress.
4. Visualise completed tasks
Always visualise tasks as if they’ve already been completed. Imagine how happy you’ll feel when you’ve passed an exam or been to the gym twice a week for a month – the feeling of self-satisfaction, contentment and pride should be the force that keeps you going.
5. What is essential?
Understanding the difference between what is important and what’s essential is imperative. If you find yourself ready for bed but the list of un-ticked boxes is still screaming at you, don’t panic. Make sure you’ve taken care of the essential bits, and the important tasks can be tackled the next day. See, this is why it’s good to start way before the deadline!
6. Reward yourself
For every bit of work you complete, reward yourself. Enjoy a chat over coffee, catch up with emails or make a nice meal but really make sure you are there in mind and body; don’t find yourself being here, wanting to be there and being there wanting to be here - that’s just time wasted! Don’t feel guilty about enjoying your time off – you deserve it!
7. Take responsibility
Take full responsibility for any procrastination. Don’t blame other people or situations for work that you haven’t completed. Your time is in your hands and you can only rely on your own abilities.
8. Eat a live frog
Someone once said that we should start a day by eating a live frog. Ok so this is a little far-fetched but the premise is this – by doing this you’ll know the worst thing that could happen to you is over and done with. Tackle your work load with the same ethos; hard tasks should be tackled first thing in the morning when you’re fresh and this way, you will not go through the day with a sense of dread.
