Do you have that friend who seems to fit in twice as much stuff as everyone else? Somehow, they can get amazing marks for their work (even though they spend less time than anyone else on their assignments), their calendar is always filled with extra-curriculars, and they still have plenty of spare time to go out and socialise with their friends.
It might feel like the only logical explanation for this is that they are just way smarter than everyone else, but the more likely scenario is that they have just honed their time management skills to an expert level. And today we’re showing you how you can do this too.
WHY DO I NEED TO IMPROVE MY TIME MANAGEMENT?
Time management is a critical skill for law students to develop. We all know that a law student’s workload is extensive, and if you don’t manage your time well, you’ll struggle to keep up with all your assignments. More importantly, it is a key skill that law firms will be looking for when it comes to recruiting. If you can’t demonstrate that you have good time management skills, you are unlikely to be offered a job. After all, law firms record time in 6-minute chunks, and you will be constantly required to balance the needs of your clients with the commercial needs of your team, whilst maintaining work-life balance.
By learning to effectively manage your time, you can ensure that you have enough time to study, complete assignments, and still have a life outside of law school – plus it puts you on a good track for succeeding in your future role as a lawyer.
So how can you improve your time management?
MANAGE YOUR TIME AND ENERGY
First off, it's important to understand that time management is not just about managing your time, but also your energy. As a student, you’ll need to be able to focus and concentrate for long periods of time, and that requires energy. It's important to take care of yourself, both physically and mentally. Make sure to get enough sleep, make exercise a priority, drink enough water, and eat well.
Everyone works differently, so taking the time to understand what works for you is really important. For some, it’s getting up early to complete important work first, for others, it’s about getting fresh air and a workout in to kick-start your battery for the day.
2. LEARN TO pRIORITISE EFFECTIVELY
Secondly, it's important to set realistic goals and priorities. As a law student, you have a lot of reading and writing to do, so it's important to set realistic goals for what you can accomplish in a day, week, or month.
Once you have set your goals, you then need to prioritise them. Prioritisation isn’t a “won-and-done” type of activity – it’s an ongoing battle! A great way to learn to prioritise quickly and effectively is to rate your ”to-do” list by urgency and importance. We tend to have a habit of prioritising urgent tasks over important ones, but this keeps us from hitting our goals. Rating tasks by urgency and importance forces you to question whether you are prioritising properly, rather than just jumping into something that feels very urgent, but is not actually important in helping you reach your long-term goals.
For example, if you have an exam coming up, it's clearly important to prioritise studying for that exam over other tasks. However, if you keep putting off TC applications (which are for most of the year very important, but not very urgent), you risk only prioritising these at the last minute… and you definitely don’t want to be submitting a low-quality, rushed application!
3. YOUR CALENDAR IS YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS
Next, you need to use a calendar or planner to keep track of your schedule. This might seem really obvious, but it’s amazing how much more you can fit in when you schedule your day. Not only will this help you stay organized and ensure that you don't miss any important deadlines, but it also allows you to create balance in your life. Scheduling in time for workouts, fun and relaxation is the best way to ensure that you actually take a break and look after yourself.
One way to maximise productivity is to block similar tasks together, rather than jumping between activities. For example, give yourself two or three times a day to check and respond to your emails and social media, rather than reacting as soon as a notification pops up on your phone – change this one tiny thing and we guarantee you’ll get lots more work done!
4. SHAKE UP YOUR STUDY TECHNIQUES
It's important to use effective study techniques. As discussed in our previous blog post - active reading, spaced repetition, mind mapping, mnemonics, and practice questions are effective ways to retain information and prepare for exams. There is nothing worse than coming out of a study session feeling like you know less than you did going in, so take the time to find out which learning techniques work specifically for you – and then commit to mastering them.
5. ARE YOU SAYING “NO” ENOUGH?
Finally, it’s about creating solid boundaries. Learning to say no is one of the hardest things for most over-achievers (👋 hello 99% of law students). This skill only gets harder as more opportunities appear throughout your career.
As a law student, you will be asked to participate in many extracurricular activities, but it's important to remember that you can't do everything. Start practicing saying “no thank-you” to activities that are not essential to your goals. Remember you can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything at once. You need to figure out what is important for you in your current season of life, and then prioritise accordingly. Sometimes that means prioritising health, sometimes that means prioritising relationships, sometimes that means prioritising your studies.