Time and Priorities

Posted by Jen Zeman on July 6th, 2008

Time management and prioritization of responsibilities are not as daunting as they sound.  I will admit up front that I do not have children, which made prioritization and managing time a little easier for me.  Those readers who have children can hopefully take some of this advice and tweak it to their specific needs.

When I studied for my bachelor’s, I was also working full-time while taking three classes a semester.  I knew I had a lunch hour, some evenings, a full weekend, and vacation days I could leverage in completing my school work.  My employer offered flex time, so I also had off every other Friday which helped tremendously.  If your employer doesn’t currently offer flex time, perhaps now would be the ideal time to propose it your boss.  Before the start of each semester I would map out the major projects that were due and scheduled off accordingly.  For example, if in mid-October a major paper was due, I would schedule a couple of days off a few weeks prior to allow me time to complete the paper, without stressing out.   The less stress, the more successful you will be!

Organization is something I often lump into time management because, if you are organized, you manage your time better.  The caveat to be being organized is that you will have to spend some time up front getting things in order.  Before a semester started, I did a couple of things.  For one, I made up separate binders for each class, printed the syllabus and filed it in the front of the binder. Each binder would be divided up amongst major projects, weekly activities, and research material for the projects.   Secondly, with the syllabus in hand, I wrote on a large whiteboard project deadlines for each class for the entire semester.  With this white board hanging right next to my desk, I could see at a glance what was due when (which comes in handy when you need to schedule that time off to work on projects).  The best part of having the whiteboard was being able to erase projects as they were completed!  It boosts your confidence to keeping plugging away!  If a day planner works better for you, go for it.  I just strongly suggest having some medium to use to clearly write out your deadlines for your course work instead of just referring back to the syllabus.  As working adults with a million different things going on at any given time, it is very easy to overlook a project and most professors will not be sympathetic to an excuse of “I was busy and forgot.”  Trust me on this!

Prioritizing responsibilities will be just as tough sometimes as organizing your time – they actually go hand-in-hand.  I made up my mind at the very beginning I was going to take on a heavy school load in order to finish early.  I knew that doing this along with working full time was not going to leave me with much time, if any at all, to do anything else.  I decided everything else was going to take a backseat to my school work.  In other words, I had no social life or real time to myself for two-and-a-half years.  I made sure I still exercised, but outside of that it was all school work.  I may be a drastic case, but adults soon learn shortly after starting a college course that some leisure activities need to be stopped in order to accommodate the requirements of college.  It is difficult, but you will need to decide before school starts what activities you will be giving up. For those with children, it might mean one less activity that the kids participate in after school.  I know, it’s rough (at times feeling like a prison term), but the thing to keep in the back of your mind is that it is only temporary.  Some people may not understand and will try (usually unknowingly) to sabotage your school work commitments, but you will have to stand your ground. 

It is about you right now and your future success in school and then ultimately in the workforce.  Be proud of your commitment of college and take it seriously.  Get organized and face the challenge head on with confidence knowing that you are on top of your responsibilities!  The pay off is worth the time you put into it.

 

  

 

  

 

Tags: college, Online Education, priorities, Time Management

Read more of Jen Zeman's blog.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Colleges and Universities, My Online Experience, Online Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.