Are you always juggling your responsibilities to keep your head above water? Do you have too much on your plate? You're not alone, and we're here to help you through with some of our top tips for busy students.
Navigate Urgent vs Important Tasks
Eisenhower's Urgent vs Important matrix is a handy tool when it comes to time management. The matrix is a fail-safe way to help you determine your priorities and how to tackle them efficiently and in the right order. The matrix requires you to break up your daily tasks into groups:
Priority 1 tasks are both urgent and important.
Priority 2 tasks are important but not urgent.
Priority 3 tasks are urgent but not important.
Priority 4 tasks are neither urgent nor important.
You will then work your way through your priorities with clarity of mind, and confidence that you're being effective and making great use of your limited time.
Simplify Your Life
You've likely heard of the growing trend of minimalism, a way of living in which minimalists prefer to have only a few, and valued possessions. Their possessions generally fall into two categories, either needed essential items or items that spark joy. Living a minimalist lifestyle is the perfect way to save time in your life. For the parents out there, this is a great time saver when juggling family life. Less clothing means the washing is never out of control; you'll spend less time looking for specific items with less clutter to sort through, tidying up becomes a breeze!
Hold off on extravagant family meals. Don't spend hours in the kitchen to cook restaurant-quality food. Your job in the kitchen (if looking after others) is to provide a filling and nutritious meal and nothing more. Look for options that involve lots of fresh produce and salad to save time cooking.
Accept Help
Do you have kids or a partner that can help you? Put them to work! Children can pack away toys, or assist in the kitchen or laundry if they're old enough. If your partner needs direction as to how to contribute, give them meaningful tasks that will genuinely save you time. Choose wisely, ladies we can be quick to ask the men to take the bins out but really - it would save you heaps more time to ask them to do a load of washing a day (but make sure they understand the washing isn't done until it's put away)!
Do you have a parent, sibling or friend who has offered to look after your kids or take your dog for its daily walk? Say yes! People don't tend to offer unless they want to help you.
Two Birds, One Stone!
Use daily obligations to achieve two things at once. For example:
Delete Social Media From Your Phone
Before you panic, stop and read on. Social media is a part of life that most of us enjoy. We're not suggesting you give it up entirely, however, by deleting if for a few weeks during your busy times you'll find so much extra time and realise that you're mostly only missing out on mindless scrolling. If you get desperate, you can always check your feeds on a desktop or tablet. Good luck!