5 Time Management Tips for Students Juggling School, Work, and Home

Key Insights:

• Time management involves effectively dividing your time between activities, including obligations at school, work, and home.
• Learning to manage your time can help with academic performance, boost productivity at work, and reduce feelings of stress and burnout.
• UMA's Student Services team is available to support learners who are facing academic challenges or need guidance finding helpful resources.

Do you feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to look after your family, complete your work duties, and study for your healthcare training program? Maybe this concern is strong enough to keep you from pursuing your career goals. Juggling multiple obligations isn’t always easy, but it is possible — especially when you use time management strategies.

What Is Time Management?

Time management involves effectively dividing your time between specific activities. This includes both activities you must do in your schedule (go to work, attend your kids’ school functions, complete your schoolwork, etc.) and things you want to do (play a board game with your kids, read a book, or watch a television show).

Learning how to manage your time can help with academic performance, boost productivity at work, and reduce feelings of stress and burnout.¹ Some items on your daily to-do list might be less negotiable, such as showing up for your scheduled shift at work. Others may be more flexible and able to be moved, reduced, or even eliminated to give you back your time.

Whether you’re currently enrolled in a career training program or considering this step but worry about how you’d get everything done, here are a few time management tips that can help.

#1: Understand How You Spend Your Time Now

Learning how to better manage your time begins with understanding where it’s currently spent. This can help you recognize activities you engage in that may take a lot of your time without realizing it.

In a paper journal or using the note app on your cellphone, write down each of your daily activities and how long they take. Do this for a couple of days if your schedule varies. You can even track your time for an entire week to get an in-depth view.

Tip: If you’re trying to improve time management at work, keep track of your tasks there, too.

#2: Look for Areas of Improvement

Once you’ve recorded how you generally use your time, analyze your daily activities to see where you may be able to create more open time in your day. Look for:

• Time wasters. How often do you go to your phone or computer for one task, and wind up spending an hour mindlessly scrolling through social media? Or maybe you find yourself wandering around the house when you’re supposed to be studying. These activities don’t add tangible value to your life and can suck up a surprising amount of your day.

• Tasks that take longer than necessary. Parkinson’s Law is the idea that the time it takes to complete a task depends on the amount of time you have to do it.³ For example, if you decide to clean your house over the weekend, it might take until Monday morning to get it done. But if you learn that visitors are stopping by on Saturday afternoon, you can likely finish this chore by then. Start identifying the places where Parkinson’s Law might be impacting your schedule. Did you need three hours to write an essay for the English Composition course in your health and human services program, or did you waste time mid-project by checking your email or texting a friend?
• Immovable tasks. Some activities can’t be changed, such as going to work. Identify these types of tasks, and evaluate whether you can modify the way you’re doing them to free up some time. For example, if you have a long commute, you may be able to listen to an audio version of your textbook while in transit. This allows you to complete a separate task on your to-do list concurrently, possibly freeing up time later in the evening.

#3: Implement Time Management Strategies

Using certain strategies can help you manage your time better. Here are a few to consider.

Aim to make changes slowly

Have you ever decided to lose weight or get in better shape and made so many changes at once that you gave up on your goal within a few days (or hours)? You don’t want to set yourself up for failure by trying to overhaul your life too quickly. This can make it feel like the changes you want to make aren’t sustainable over time, causing you to give up early on.

Complete larger tasks in small chunks

If an assignment normally takes you 3 hours to complete, set a timer for one hour and work nonstop. You may find yourself more focused knowing there’s a time limit. You can use this technique for cleaning the house, studying for a test, cooking dinner, and making phone calls. It can be helpful for all sorts of things.

Prioritize tasks by importance

Make sure the tasks that are most important to you are reflected in your schedule. This may include schoolwork and work, but also things you want to do in your spare time. Try to eliminate unnecessary activities that don’t add value to your life, giving you more time for things that can really make a difference. Time management isn’t about eliminating activities that make you happy. It’s more about identifying and working toward your top priorities.

#4: Create a Weekly and Daily Schedule

Decide how much time you need for each of your activities per week. Start with the most important things to you, which may include work, school, spending time with your children, or engaging in that hobby you enjoy. Next, divide each into smaller, daily tasks.

Maybe you need 15 hours per week for your schoolwork, for example. Decide how much time you’ll spend each day on your studies, noting what you need to get complete during each session. This can help ensure that you don’t miss a deadline in your healthcare career training program, while also setting aside the time needed to prepare for tests and exams.

Tip: When creating your schedule, remember to use time management strategies such as reducing tasks that take too long, eliminating time wasters that don’t add value to your life, and keeping your priorities in mind.

#5: Take Steps to Stay Motivated With Time Management

Creating a schedule that aligns with your obligations and goals can help you manage your time. If you’re worried about whether you’ll be able to stick with it, here are some tips to help you do just that.

• Use time tracking tools. Download a time management app to stay on track, or use a to-do app and arrange your schedule in list form, setting notifications to receive reminders on your phone. You can also use a printed planner and track your time that way, which may be preferred if you like writing out your schedule and seeing it physically.
• Use time-limiting tools. Some apps limit how long you spend on various sites, such as social media. These may be helpful tools for reducing the time you spend mindlessly online when you’re bored or supposed to be working on something else.

Test different time management tools. With so many available, you can experiment and find the ones that work for you.

• Limit distractions. You might find it helpful to use your phone or computer’s “Do Not Disturb” feature to keep distractions at bay during times you need to focus on the task at hand. Headphones or other noise-cancellation devices can help limit distractions, too.
• Include self-care in your schedule. Looking after your physical and mental health can help you feel your best while juggling school, work, and home. The National Institute of Mental Health stresses that “even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big impact,” which includes getting regular exercise, eating healthy meals, staying hydrated, prioritizing sleep, and taking time to relax and practice gratitude.⁴
• Remember your why. What made you want to improve your time management? Maybe you’re fed up with not having enough time, or you have a goal you want to reach, but feel like you can’t because you’re too busy. Keep this in mind when you’re tempted to waiver from your schedule.
• Stay positive. Instead of thinking about what you’re losing by creating and following a schedule, focus on what you’re gaining. Envision your life once you’ve implemented an effective time management system and use that image to continue pushing forward.
• Make your time management goal visual. Decorate a bulletin board or your wall with images and words that remind you of what life looks like when you’re doing everything you want or need to get done. Create a vision board of where you want to be at the end of the year, or what you want to accomplish with your newfound time management skills. Look at it to help you keep going during rough times.
• Celebrate your accomplishments. Put a reward system in place to celebrate your time management successes. If you finish studying for a quiz in the allotted time, for instance, reward yourself by streaming your favorite show. Rewarding yourself with activities you enjoy can give you something to look forward to, while also preventing you from feeling burnt out.⁵
• Make adjustments as needed. After you’ve been following your new schedule for a few weeks, consider whether it needs adjustments. Do some things take longer than anticipated? Or maybe you feel rushed and need more breaks between activities. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to tweak your new schedule so it works better for you.

Time management can improve with practice.⁶ Try these tips to help you manage your time and establish a schedule that can help you get your schoolwork done while tending to your obligations at home and work.

UMA Learners: Contact Student Services if You’re Facing Academic or Career Challenges

Learners at Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA) have access to our Student Services teams. If you’re struggling in your healthcare program or facing challenges that are making it difficult to complete your coursework, our caring and compassionate staff members are here to listen and provide potential resource guidance.

At UMA, we believe that adult learners shouldn’t have to pursue their academic or career goals alone. We’re here to walk through your journey with you, providing academic support where we can and connecting you with resources outside of UMA if needed (based on your qualifications and resource requirements).

Contact us to learn more or to discuss our healthcare career training programs.

FAQs

• Why is time management important? Finding ways to effectively manage your time can help you tend to obligations in multiple areas of your life — such as school, home, and work — more efficiently while maximizing your productivity.⁷ In short, you can get more done in less time, freeing up spots in your daily schedule to do more things you enjoy.
• What are the best strategies for time management? Some of the best strategies, according to the American Management Association, include creating to-do lists, prioritizing tasks, scheduling items at the time of day when you tend to be the most productive, and taking breaks regularly to avoid fatigue.⁸
• Can I reach out to UMA if I’m struggling with time management between school, work, and home? Absolutely! We’re here to provide academic and career support to UMA learners and alumni. Let us know what you’re having trouble with, and we can work together to try to find a solution.