Important and Urgent: Do it, but investigate the cause
These are crises. You are putting out fires. You must do these tasks immediately. However, if you find yourself in this quadrant too often, your system is failing. Ask yourself why the task became a crisis—did you procrastinate on your revision, or was it an unexpected outage on the client's end?
Important and Not Urgent: Block out time in advance
This is where true growth happens. It involves working on your business, networking, or engaging in continuous academic reading. For this quadrant to work, you must firmly block out time in your calendar before operational tasks consume it.
Urgent and Not Important: Delegate, automate, or renegotiate
Things that appear to be on fire but don't actually move you forward. If you have the budget, delegate these to a virtual assistant or use automation tools. At university, this means learning to say "no" to tasks that fall outside the scope of your responsibilities.
Not Urgent and Not Important: Eliminate without guilt
These are time thieves: procrastination, social media, and perfectionism on tasks where a "good enough" solution suffices. Ruthlessly strike them from your calendar.
One System, Not Two Separate Lives
If you want to successfully combine university and business, you must stop viewing your life as two separate entities. You only have 24 hours and one cognitive capacity.
The foundation is one unified calendar and one central To-Do list. If you keep your university schedule in a paper diary and your business tasks in a digital app, they will inevitably collide. Use colour coding to separate hard deadlines (lectures, client meetings), blocks for deep work (thesis writing, campaign creation), administration, and, crucially, time for recovery.
Implement a practical 30-minute weekly audit (ideally on a Sunday evening). Review what went well and plan your capacity for the days ahead.
Tip: We explore which tools to use in our article Apps and tricks that will save your exam period.
How to Turn a University Project into a Real Business Asset
The most effective student entrepreneurship occurs when your academic obligations don't work against your business, but rather support it. If you have to write a marketing strategy or create a financial plan, don't base it on a fictional scenario.
Proceed ethically and transparently:
- Verify the brief: Ask your lecturer if you can use your own real-world project.
- Define the problem: Choose a current challenge you are facing in your company.
- Create the deliverable: Process the assignment so that it meets academic requirements (citations, theoretical framework) while simultaneously providing you with a real business plan you can apply in practice tomorrow.
Crisis Mode for Exam Season and Business Peaks
When exam season overlaps with a major contract, it's time to enter "crisis mode". This is based on the concept of a minimum viable semester/business.
Define in advance:
- Which business activities will be temporarily paused (e.g., social media content creation).
- What can be delegated to freelancers or colleagues.
- How you will communicate with clients (set up an auto-reply or notify them in advance of your limited availability).
- The goal during this period is not growth, but keeping the business running without losses while passing your key exams.
When the System Isn't Enough and You Have to Let Go
No Eisenhower Principle will save you if you consistently exceed your biological capacity. Warning signs include chronic sleep debt, repeatedly missing deadlines, or promising things you simply do not have time for.
At that point, you have to let something go. This might mean turning down a new client, narrowing your service offerings, extending your study period, or switching to a different study mode (we discuss the differences in our article On-Campus or Online?. Cutting back on sleep is not a solution; it is a loan with a ruinous interest rate.
How NEWTON Supports Student Projects and Entrepreneurs
At NEWTON University, we don't view running a business while studying as an obstacle, but as a massive added value. Our educational system is designed so that academic outputs directly serve real-world practice.
For students who are already building their own projects or want to start, we offer tangible infrastructure:
In the NEWTON Business Accelerator, you can consult your ideas with industry professionals and secure investment.
For those requiring maximum flexibility to run a company, our Premium Care programme provides a study coordinator.
Want to see how studying and doing business would work in your case? Come and meet us at our Open Days. And remember, we are only accepting applications for the upcoming academic year until 30 September!
Balance Isn't Built Daily, But Over the Semester
Success does not mean perfectly managing your company and sitting through 4 hours of lectures every single day. Balance is created over a longer horizon. During exam season, university wins. During a new product launch, business wins. The key is knowing your priorities, communicating them to those around you, and having a system that keeps you from drowning in chaos.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I manage running a business while studying?
The key is to unify your calendar for both university and business, plan with a buffer for unexpected events, and use university assignments to solve real problems in your company.
How does the Eisenhower Matrix work?
It is a prioritisation tool that divides tasks into 4 quadrants based on their urgency and importance. It helps distinguish things that are "on fire" from things that actually move you forward.
How do I set priorities between university and business?
Priorities must shift dynamically. During exams, introduce a "crisis maintenance mode" in your business; during a quieter semester, lean into company growth. Crucially, plan both from one shared calendar.
Can I use a university project for my own company?
Yes, at practically focused institutions (like NEWTON University), this is highly encouraged. After consulting your lecturer, you can base your coursework or research on real data from your business.
How do I plan my semester when I have clients?
Conduct a review before the semester even begins. Note down all assignment deadlines and exam dates, and inform your clients well in advance that you will have limited capacity or slower response times during those specific weeks.
What should I do when exam season overlaps with a work peak?
Delegate everything non-critical. Inform clients about adjusted deadlines where possible, reduce essential admin to the bare minimum, and fiercely protect your sleep—an exhausted brain will neither pass an exam nor impress a client.
Resources:
- Aeon, B., Faber, A., & Panaccio, A. (2021). Does time management work? A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 16(1), e0245066.
- Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Free Press. (Historický kontext Eisenhowerovy matice).
- Harvard Business Review. (n.d.). Conquer Your To-Do List with This Simple Hack.
- MŠMT. (2020). Strategický záměr ministerstva pro oblast vysokých škol na období od roku 2021.
