- Hello, and welcome back to my channel. Today's video is about time management because what is more exciting than time management? 

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC] You showed me how to dare to love 

So tell me what you're thinking of 

- I get asked a lot in my other videos how I time block and how I use Google Calendar as a uni student. So today, I thought I would just whizz through the concept of time blocking and how to do it on Google Calendar and how it works really well as a uni student. I've seen other videos about Google Calendar, and oh my, they make it so complicated. 

However, I use the bare minimum features on Google Calendar. I just do everything on one calendar. I manually color code, and that works for me because it doesn't need to be overwhelming. It doesn't need to add stress. Your calendar should not add stress to your life. It should help you. 

And the reasons I love Google Calendar for time management is because, one, as I mentioned, it's super easy when you are just simply using it. And also, it's super flexible, which is great as a uni student because, I don't know about you, but no day is ever the same for me. My days always have a different structure and therefore are really prescriptive. Calendar format just doesn't work for me whatsoever. 

So as I mentioned, I use the concept of time blocking. I don't strictly stick to it. However, time blocking is basically just making appointments with yourself. I think that's how Grace Beverley describes it in her book. So throughout your week, you will have fixed time slots for certain things that you just can't change the time of. And that could be things like classes. It could be work shifts. 

However, time blocking is then planning out your time around those commitments using blocks of time. So for example, this is this week on my Google Calendar. I thought I may as well just show you realistically how I time block instead of making a load of stuff up. So firstly, on the top row, these blocks here are blocks that I either don't know the specific time of or take the whole day. 

However, then, as you can see, I have my classes on there. I also have when I'm going to do specific YouTube work. I am supposed to be editing right now. However, I am filming, so that's a bit hypocritical when this video is literally about time management. And all of the different blocks, as you can see, are color coded. I think this is super important when planning out your calendar because it just means, at a glance, I can see roughly where my classes are, roughly when I should be doing social-media-related work, et cetera, et cetera. 

And I normally do this a few days in advance. I don't really do it like a week in advance or anything because my days just change too much for me to be able to plan them that far in advance. And I also only do it when it's necessary to structure my time. So Monday to Wednesday, Sid was here, so it didn't really make sense for me to structure my time. However, for the rest of the week, I have a lot to be doing. And the way that I start time blocking is I start with those fixed time slots, for example, my classes. 

And my classes automatically are inputted onto my Google Calendar via a code. So there was a code that I could copy from the CBS website onto Google Calendar, and that meant it automatically inputted it. I am not good in general with tech and code, so I don't really know if every uni has that. I literally did it by accident through trial and error, but I would recommend firstly starting by inputting those fixed time slots onto your calendar. 

Then, for example, if we take Tuesday, because I hadn't planned out that day, because I knew my class was at 8:00 in the morning, I would get up at 6:30 in the morning and do my morning routine. And then I would just work through my day from the morning till the evening. So after my lecture, I know it would take me roughly like half an hour to get back and faff around for a bit. And then at 11:00, I could do lecture catch up or something, and I will just block that in there. 

And during those specific time blocks, for example "lecture catch up," I will be doing different lectures and different tasks. However, I don't really like to write down the specific details of this because I think too many details on a Google Calendar is when it gets too overwhelming. And if I don't do those specific tasks within that time slot, I get stressed out, et cetera, et cetera. 

Instead, I like to just block out a few hours where I know that I'm going to purely focus on the work that I need to do. I put my phone away or I put the Forest app on, and I do as much as I can within that time block. And after that, I'm free to do whatever else I need to do that day. And that is how I work most effectively. And trust me, it actually does work. I have been working so much more efficiently since I started doing this. 

And as I mentioned earlier, I love the flexibility of Google Calendar. So say I don't want to do lecture catch up at 11:00. I can just drag that to the afternoon and just move it there. I also use this as a to-do list. So I know that if I need to do something next week but I'm not sure when I need to do it yet, I can just stick it on Monday at 11:00. And then when I come to properly time blocking that day, I can just move it around. 

So even though time blocking sounds very prescriptive, it can be as flexible as you want it to be. And I think as a student, that is very important. But this is just how I keep on top of everything and how I keep balanced and how I actually make sure that I work efficiently without burning myself out. It's very self-explanatory, as you can see. So there's really nothing more for me to show you in this video. 

However, if you do have any further questions, then feel free to leave them down below in the comments, and I will try to answer them. If you did find this video useful though, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Subscribe down below for lots more university-related content. And while you're there, also make sure to follow my social media because I post daily little snippets over on there, particularly on my Instagram stories. Bye, guys! 

[AMBIENT MUSIC]