Planning
Get an overview of your studies
Prioritize your time
As a student, you will do well to think about how you use the limited time you have available. To work effectively and create synergy, it is important that you acquire some good collaborative habits and learn how to utilise the resources of your study group or team.
It is also important that you achieve a good work-life balance, which will allow you to recharge your batteries.
Effective planning
How am I going to make time?
A study plan is a good way to create an overview of your study, your deadlines and your work efforts. The study plan may be a long-term or short-term plan. Ideally, it must give you an overview of what you need to do every day, how much time you need for each assignment - and when you can take time off from your studies. A study plan works wonders during project work.
Tips and tricks for the study plan:
Action-oriented: Be precise about what you need to do and state where and how, instead of using general terms like “study reading” or “preparation time”.
Chunking: Break your assignment into small chunks. This will give you a better idea of how much time is required.
Precise time specification: Set aside a reasonable amount of time to avoid spending too much time on a particular assignment.
Hacks for workflow optimisation:
The 2-minute rule - if a thing on your to-do list can be done in two minutes or less, then have done with it!
Take advantage of your flow - complete the assignment if you feel you are on a roll.
Assignment break-down - this will make it easier to plan and take a comprehensive view.
Deal with the tedious assignment first - it may motivate you to get the worst part over and done with first.
Work more effectively with the Pomodoro method
If you need a good tool to structure your time when studying, try the Pomodoro method.Here you divide the work into intervals, with fixed breaks, and define exactly what you want to work on. There are lots of apps and different versions of the pomodoro method, but common to them all is that they follow a few simple steps:
- Decide exactly which task you want to work on
- Set a clock to 25 minutes
- Work on the task
- When the clock rings, pause for five minutes
- Reset the clock to 25 minutes, and continue working on the task
- When the clock rings again - take another five-minute break
NB: Once you have completed four Pomodoro periods, then take a longer break of 30 minutes.
Coordination
How do I plan together with others?
Collaboration is a crucial skill, whether you are self-employed, a student or an employee.
There is no “right” way of doing it, and as you get more experienced, you will find out what suits you and when one or the other working method works best. The most important thing is on-going communication, so that you avoid misunderstandings, duplication of work and a waste of valuable time. Here are some useful tips:
Set goals for the day together
Discuss what must be done during the day and follow up at the end of the day.
Schedule your activities
Agree to meet on fixed days. This way you can plan ahead.
Arrange your assignments in order of priority
You must agree on what is important.
There are lots of online collaboration tools that may help facilitate your workflow:
Trello is ideal for small projects. It is based on Kanban, which means that all assignments are broken down and described on small paper patches or “Kanbans”. Then, the project work goes through different phases (for example, “To do”, “Doing”, “Done”). The point is that you always have a visual overview of how far you are with all parts of the project.
Microsoft Planner is very similar to Trello, but it's part of Microsoft 365, so it can integrate with other applications such as Teams, Word, and Outlook.
Asana is a visual planning tool particularly useful for large projects.
Work-life balance
How do I prioritise my time?
What is a good work-life balance differs from person to person. You may well think that a 50-hour working week is fine, whereas your boyfriend/girlfriend or fellow student may start to feel uncomfortable when they work 30 hours a week. However, it is not just about how much time you put in. It also has to do with how you spend your time. Some people are perfectionists. They have difficulty letting go of a project before they are completely satisfied - even if it is at the cost of sleep, family life or hobbies.
You may feel comfortable “giving it your best” for shorter periods, but in the long term, all people need to relax and find a good balance between work and leisure. For some, it is a good idea to “pull the plug” and turn off their phone, computer, etc. Others may be in need of physical exercises, a cup of coffee with friends or meditation.
If you find it difficult to strike the right balance, here are some tips:
- Make a priority plan for leisure and working life.
- Take breaks, and do not study when you are off.
- Reward yourself! Go for a walk, eat a cake or call a friend.
- Vary your working day with demanding and less demanding assignments.
- Turn off your phone and social media.
- Do not be afraid to ask for help.
You may also make use of various tools such as The Eisenhower model, which helps you prioritise and create an overview of your tasks. Click here to learn how to use the Eisenhower model.