I’m currently sat here wondering how I’m behind with my work after only one week back. It’s because I’m really not great at time management. I thought I’d try writing a blog about time management tips, which may seem ridiculous as I’m so incapable. I thought instead I could write you a list of the things I sometimes do that you definitely shouldn’t do.

1. Stay up very late trying to catch up. You’ll just feel tireder tomorrow and then it’ll be even harder to catch up.
2. Plan to do all your work tomorrow. It’s likely that even if you get up as early as possible and work through the day you wont be able to complete a weeks worth of work in one day. Future you will also be very angry with past you for being so lazy and leaving them all the work.
3. Sleep in.  It really is a waste of time. Especially if you have lectures late on in the day it’s very tempting to get up in time to go to them instead of getting up earlier and doing some work beforehand.
4. Leave your reading for the week until the weekend. You’ll end up spending your weekend crying into textbooks instead of having fun.
5. Do anything but work. Obviously doing your washing and tidying up is very important but don’t wash and iron your entire wardrobe just to avoid starting an essay.
6. Compare yourself to your friends. Although they may be persuading you to come out because they’re on top of their work it does not mean that it’s fine for you to go out too. If you know you have stuff to do sometimes it’s best to avoid going out. Boring I know, but you’ll be proud of yourself when you’re not still writing your essay at 4am.
7. Work in your bed. This is less about time management and more about creating a good working environment. You’re less likely to just go back to sleep or end up watching TV if you’re out of bed and at a desk (preferably not in your bedroom!).
8. Put off revision. Your lecturers will likely tell you to be revising from the beginning. However upsetting, this is true. Make sure you understand the content, don’t leave it until right before exams to try to understand the lectures you had in week one that didn’t make sense.
9. Go out too much. I know everybody will tell you that you’ve got to go out all the time at University. Although having a great time is a very big part of uni, you need to make sure that you’re not going out constantly. If you end up feeling rough the next day you can lose so much time that you could spend getting on top of your work. Obviously I’m not saying never go out, but make sure you limit it to times when your workload isn’t so high!
10. Go home. This is one that I’m quite good at avoiding. I try to stay in uni after my lectures have finished. It forces me to get work done as I know that if I were to go home I would probably end up procrastinating.

Obviously make sure you have fun too and give yourself a break. Stress is horrible and sometimes you really do just need to get in bed and watch TV, that’s fine, don’t feel guilty! I know that I’m particularly bad for feeling bad about trying to de-stress…which leads to more stress.

I’m currently sat here wondering how I’m behind with my work after only one week back. It’s because I’m really not great at time management. I thought I’d try writing a blog about time management tips, which may seem ridiculous as I’m so incapable. I thought instead I could write you a list of the things I sometimes do that you definitely shouldn’t do.

1. Stay up very late trying to catch up. You’ll just feel tireder tomorrow and then it’ll be even harder to catch up.
2. Plan to do all your work tomorrow. It’s likely that even if you get up as early as possible and work through the day you wont be able to complete a weeks worth of work in one day. Future you will also be very angry with past you for being so lazy and leaving them all the work.
3. Sleep in.  It really is a waste of time. Especially if you have lectures late on in the day it’s very tempting to get up in time to go to them instead of getting up earlier and doing some work beforehand.
4. Leave your reading for the week until the weekend. You’ll end up spending your weekend crying into textbooks instead of having fun.
5. Do anything but work. Obviously doing your washing and tidying up is very important but don’t wash and iron your entire wardrobe just to avoid starting an essay.
6. Compare yourself to your friends. Although they may be persuading you to come out because they’re on top of their work it does not mean that it’s fine for you to go out too. If you know you have stuff to do sometimes it’s best to avoid going out. Boring I know, but you’ll be proud of yourself when you’re not still writing your essay at 4am.
7. Work in your bed. This is less about time management and more about creating a good working environment. You’re less likely to just go back to sleep or end up watching TV if you’re out of bed and at a desk (preferably not in your bedroom!).
8. Put off revision. Your lecturers will likely tell you to be revising from the beginning. However upsetting, this is true. Make sure you understand the content, don’t leave it until right before exams to try to understand the lectures you had in week one that didn’t make sense.
9. Go out too much. I know everybody will tell you that you’ve got to go out all the time at University. Although having a great time is a very big part of uni, you need to make sure that you’re not going out constantly. If you end up feeling rough the next day you can lose so much time that you could spend getting on top of your work. Obviously I’m not saying never go out, but make sure you limit it to times when your workload isn’t so high!
10. Go home. This is one that I’m quite good at avoiding. I try to stay in uni after my lectures have finished. It forces me to get work done as I know that if I were to go home I would probably end up procrastinating.

Obviously make sure you have fun too and give yourself a break. Stress is horrible and sometimes you really do just need to get in bed and watch TV, that’s fine, don’t feel guilty! I know that I’m particularly bad for feeling bad about trying to de-stress…which leads to more stress.