progress

I have never been one of those people who physically crosses days off of the calendar.  While I have several calendars, the entire process of crossing a day off once it has ended has always seemed a bit morbid to me.  It is as if you are saying, “That day is done and gone.  We’ll never have it back.”  So while I will cross appointments off a schedule and tasks off a to do list, I will almost never cross a day off of the calendar…

… Almost never.  As I have written before, last summer was a learning experience for me.  The days flew by so quickly that tasks had to get put on hold, and soon I turned around to find it was September already.  I felt like I had not been able to schedule in the things that I needed to get done while I was on break.  I felt like I had fallen behind.  I felt like I had failed.  So this summer, I vowed to be productive.  This summer I have been on top of all my summer to do list tasks and responsibilities.  This summer I have been quite proactive.  But, one of the techniques I have been using, to my dismay, is the crossing off of days on my calendar.

At the start of this summer the Jeanette K. Watson Fellowship, a summer internship program that basically runs my life from June to August, provided me with a summer calendar of events.  Naturally this scheduling tool was immediately hung beside my desk so that I could see it daily.  Then about two weeks into my summer I read a blog post by another avid scheduler, who swore by crossing days off of the calendar.  He said that being mindful of the passing days in a given two or three month period will help you monitor your progress.  Being aware of the time that has passed and the time remaining before your deadline, he said, would keep you on track.  I was reluctant, but determined to do anything I could to prevent a repeat of last summer.  So I tried it and started crossing days off of my Watson calendar.

While I still do not like the idea of crossing days off of a calendar, I can appreciate the practical application of it.  If everyday you take a few seconds to acknowledge that you are one day closer to a deadline, you are more likely to work on your projects and less likely to procrastinate.  This crossing off of days is a mini reminder that time is limited, and it goes by fast.  It is almost impossible to cross a day off the calendar without doing to quick calculation of how many days are left in summer.  Just last night I crossed a day off and thought with disbelief, “In just two weeks my summer internship will be over!  Where has the time gone?!”  And isn’t it better that I have this realization now when I still have time to act on the things I want to do before my internship comes to an end, rather than two or three days before my last day in the Bronx?

I am the first person to say that crossing days off a calendar is a bit morbid and sad.  I do have to begrudgingly admit, however, that for the purposes of this summer and staying on track it has really worked for me.  When you are working on projects that have defined deadlines or on to do lists with a sharp end date, think about monitoring your progress by crossing days off your calendar.  It will keep you mindful of your time, but better yet it will keep you on track.  And in case you have not been keeping track, allow me to alert you to the fact that there is ONLY ONE MONTH LEFT OF SUMMER VACATION!! Use this time wisely.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

whatever happened to predictability?

When I was a kid, I used to spend every Friday night watching Full House on FGIF with my family.  That was back before my life became organized chaos, back before work and other responsibilities.  Looking back on those days I do not miss the carefree feeling so much as the predictability of it all.  Everything was part of a routine: school, lunch, recess, homework, television, dinner.  Ah, things were so much simpler then, back when I knew what to expect.

It’s clear that I am an avid scheduler, I write everything down, I plan, and in many respects I live according to routine.  Yet, inevitably every week something unexpected pops up – without fail.  Most weeks I can work around it.  Some weeks it throws me off entirely.  A few times I’ve nearly thrown my hands in the air in defeat.  Every time something pops up a scramble ensues, as I try to move things around and fit in what needs to get done.  My routine is routinely rearranged, and my day-to-day becomes largely unpredictable.

Unpredictable, for me a least, has for a long time meant scary.  It is the unknown.  It’s the unplannable.  It is everything that can wreck a schedule in one fell swoop.  In the past the unpredictable nature of my life made me anxious.  I would dread late emails at work, changes to the syllabi in class, or invites from friends last-minute, because all of these could mean added work and stress.

This summer I am working on my phobia of unpredictability.  It is the nature of life that things will come up, that routine will have to be broken, that there will be surprises.  How we deal with these things, I have found, depends largely on our perception of them.  If I see any deviation from my schedule as stress-provoking, then I will be anxious all the time.  If I reframe the way I approach these deviations, looking at them instead as spontaneous and adventurous, then I will tackle them with a calmer and more productive attitude.  I may hate having to squeeze in unpredictable tasks, but if I try my best to think of these things positively I can at the very least live a less stressful life.

This week try to be spontaneous.  Routine is great and helps you to be productive.  Stepping outside of that routine occasionally, however, if ever important in helping you to learn how to deal with unavoidable unpredictability.  Be spontaneous now and again.  There is no harm in living in the moment.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

bigger picture

I cannot even begin to count how many times in the past year I have looked around – in the midst of a chaotically busy day – and thought to myself, “What am I doing here?”  One of the worst things that could happent to busy people, busy students in particular, is to get caught up in what we are doing and forget to consider the big picture.  So focused on studying for finals, so intent on going to work and on finishing projects, we skate through with blinders on.  The real danger in this crucial part of our lives, when our eyes are being opened to so many new and different things, occurs when we are too busy to reevaluate our goals and the paths we plan to take to achieve them.  Too many students turn around after four years and think, “Why did I get my degree in this?  Do I really want a career in this field?”  I am one of these students.

With just a year left before I will be getting my BA in forensic psychology from John Jay I am nearly 100% certain I do not want to be a psychologist.  The trouble is I am just one class away from completing the course requirements for my major.  My answer to this problem has been to diversify my studies by picking up two minors (history and philosophy), and to spend this next year searching for what career path I would like to pursue.  It is a really amazing feeling, when you feel free to explore and see what is out there.  I have to say I am enjoying the search entirely.

Why the blog post, then?  Well honestly, I feel I have fallen victim to the myth that you have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life before you even start college.  All of my friends were picking majors, going into specialized programs, deciding what and where they would be in twenty years.  So, I made a plan too.  And, I liked my plan.  I still do, but the truth is I have a million interests that I would like explore before I settle on any one thing.

This realization – that I have options and that I should consider them seriously – came to me over the winter break, and I have written before about it here.  I feel that such an epiphany could have and should have come sooner, however.  I truly believe it would have, had I not been so busy in my first three years at John Jay.  I ran from class to school to volunteering to meetings to class to homework and friends.  I never had time to think about what I wanted to do once I graduated, so I simply did not think about it at all.  Now I am too invested in a major I have little interest in to change it.

When I started writing this blog, I did not consider myself an expert in scheduling.  I thought that much of what I wrote here would be about mistakes I have made from which others could hopefully learn.  This is certainly one of those cases.  My advice to all students is to make time every month, every week even, to seriously and whole-heartedly question everything you know and think you want.  Get experience in the field in which you think you would like to have a career before you commit to it fully.  Be open to other possibilities and never turn down opportunities because they don’t seem to be related to what you think you want.  If there is one thing I would change about my time at John Jay, it would be the mindset that I had for the first three years.  I was very close-minded.  I was too narrowly focused.  I never considered opportunities that would expand my knowledge, because they did not fit into what I thought I wanted to do.  I deeply regret that.

This summer reevaluate your goals.  Think long and hard about what you want to do in the future, then label your goals as tentative.  Things always change with time.  The MaryBeth from five years ago would be confused by the me now, but that’s the fun of growing up and maturing.  Do not let your busy schedule prevent you from seeing the bigger picture.  Always take time to critically look at where it is you are moving, lest you end up somewhere you do not want to be.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

know yourself

The simple proverb, “Know thyself,” is one attributed to the Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and even European Enlightenment philosophers.  At the risk of co-opting a phrase perhaps overused enough to be called a cliché, I will state my opinion that knowing thyself is the key to being a successful and expert scheduler.

When the end of the semester rolls around and my fellow John Jay students work themselves into a frenzy trying to meet deadlines and study for finals, I always get asked at least ten times how I manage to take on so many responsibilities and yet get everything done on time.  My answer is quite simple: I know how long it takes for me to do most tasks.

Think about it.  You would not estimate how long it takes you to visit a friend three states away without a basis for such calculation.  You would perhaps Google Map it or ask someone else who has been there before.  In the same way, you should not guess at how long it will take you to write a paper or study for a test without a basis for this estimation.  Guessing wrong will only put you behind schedule, cause you to run late, and ultimately default on responsibilities or miss deadlines.  Knowing how much time is required to finish a task makes scheduling infinitely easier.  When you do not have this estimation, scheduling becomes a guessing game.  When you know yourself and your abilities, however, scheduling is an easy and clearcut puzzle.  All the tasks have time requirements.  Each day has a given amount of free time.  All you have to do is fit the tasks into that free time and follow through.

Let me reiterate that last sentence:  Fit the tasks into your free time and follow through.  Knowing yourself in a scheduling sense is a two-step process.  First, you must be able to estimate the time it will take you to finish a given project.  This comes from experience, trial and error, and being conscious of your time.  Secondly and equally as important, is the follow-through.  If you are the type of person who writes a paper while watching television and chatting on Facebook, you need to be honest with yourself when you estimate the time it will take you to write that paper.  Sure, you probably could write it in an hour or so, but if your attention is drawn elsewhere it may very well take you a lot longer.  In this instance you should either dedicate yourself to focusing solely on the paper or designate more time in your schedule if you know you will end up with a few distractions.  After all it is useless to know that you could conceivably finish a project in a given amount of time, if you then leisurely take twice the time to accomplish the task.

For the next couple of weeks try timing yourself to prepare for the coming semester.  Time how long it takes you to read twenty pages, so that when classes start back up you know how much time to set aside for class readings.  Note how long it takes you to comprehensively research a given topic, so that when research papers are back on your radar you will be able to estimate how much time you will need to prepare before sitting down to write.  Be honest and critical about your skills.  If you have to, write down your times.  I promise you, like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Plato, Confucius, and many others have said before, “Know[ing] thyself,” is the key.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.