When you decide to do a master’s degree, postgraduate course or MBA, like the ones you will find at the Barcelona Executive Business School (BEBS), time management becomes an invaluable resource for achieving your academic and professional goals.
The importance of time management
To take your career to the next level, you have to face several challenges, and doing so requires understanding the importance of managing your time properly.
Balance and efficiency
If you’re not keeping track, balancing your academic or professional requirements and your personal life can be complicated. Using every minute well becomes an essential skill to make the most of this unique experience.
Main advantages of managing your time well
When you learn to structure your day properly, you will realize what you’re achieving:
– You’re more productive: Efficient time management will let you be more productive and complete your tasks faster, which will give you more free time.
– You have less stress: By avoiding procrastination and last-minute emergencies, you will reduce stress and strike a healthy balance between work/study and personal life.
– Good academic performance: Organizing your time will help you achieve better academic results and make the most of your BEBS experience.
Tips for effective time management
If you stick to a plan, you will see that managing your time is not too demanding or complicated. And doing so makes your life easier.
Nine crucial points you need to keep in mind
Follow these tips to manage your day better:
- Set clear goals: Before starting, define your academic and professional goals. Having a clear purpose will give you the direction you need to manage your time effectively.
- Planning and prioritizing: Use tools such as agendas and task management apps to plan your daily activities and assign priorities. Make sure you balance your academic activities with time for leisure and to thoroughly explore Barcelona.
- Don’t procrastinate: Procrastination is your enemy if you want to manage your time well. Divide tasks into smaller steps and start with the easiest ones to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Use the Pomodoro technique: This technique is based on working in time blocks (for example, 25 minutes) followed by a brief rest that will help you stay focused and increase your productivity.
- Learn to collaborate and delegate: Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks whenever possible, whether in academic group projects or at work. Delegating will allow you to focus on what really matters.
- Set time limits: Assign a time limit to each task and stick to it. This way you will avoid spending too much time on a single task, letting you keep a steady work pace.
- Find your rhythm: Identify when you’re most productive and schedule your most important tasks during those periods. This way you can make the most of your hours of maximum energy and concentration.
- Don’t neglect your well-being: Efficient time management doesn’t mean you should sacrifice your well-being. Make sure you sleep long enough, exercise and eat a healthy diet.
- Be flexible: Although planning is crucial, since you can’t control the unexpected, it’s important to be flexible and ready to adjust your schedule to changing circumstances.
Work-life balance, are you there?
Work-life balance is a modern paradigm that involves productivity at work with personal commitments, and whose aim is to allow people to strike a satisfactory balance between their careers and personal lives.
Ideally, you should be able to have some flexibility at work with remote working options and customized policies. However, it’s a simple fact that without effective time management, the work-life balance can turn into an insurmountable challenge.
