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Being organised: a Practical Guide

Weekly planners

How to manage your time effectively and prioritise tasks.
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Make a Weekly Planner

Having a weekly planner can significantly improve your time management. Learn more about balancing your academic life, work, and personal life seamlessly, potentially reducing stress while aligning your daily activities to your goals.

Benefits of making a planner

Looking at the week ahead can be very helpful...

  • Time management: A weekly planner provides a clear view of your weekly commitments, ensuring a balanced approach between work and personal life
  • Goal alignment: Your daily activities can be aligned with your academic and personal goals
  • Stress reduction: Reduce anxiety by visualising and organising weekly tasks, avoiding last-minute rushes.
A Google Calendar showing the week ahead with each day as a column of hours. Lectures have been coloured green, prep has been coloured red or orange, tennis is blue, seminars pink, study yellow, and social activities lilac.

Tips for an effective Weekly Planner

Be realistic: Plan achievable tasks considering your peak productivity times.

A visual reminder: Display the planner prominently and refer to it regularly.

Make regular updates: Adjust the planner as new tasks arise or priorities change.

Prioritisation: Use a system to highlight urgent tasks.

Reflection: At the end of the week, review accomplishments and areas for improvement.

How to make a Weekly Planner

Here's how to make a weekly planner for assessments. You could apply the same approach to anything you're doing that needs planning:

  1. Gather information: Note the important events like seminar and lecture times, regular commitments (jobs, meetings), and personal activities (meals, family time)
  2. Prioritise activities: Mark essential academic activities, including seminar and lecture preparation, as well as assignment deadlines.
  3. Allocate study time: Follow the 2-3 hours per lecture hour guideline and distribute study sessions throughout the week.
  4. Incorporate breaks: Schedule short breaks during study sessions and ensure longer breaks for physical activity and relaxation.
  5. Include personal time: Reserve time for hobbies, social activities, and rest to maintain a balanced lifestyle.
  6. Flexibility: Allow some open time slots for unforeseen tasks or priority shifts.

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