starting slow

The biggest issue for beginner schedulers, at least it seems to me, is committment.  They start a day planner, but forget to write in it.  They try to utilize a calendar, but never refer to it.  They sketch a schedule, but end up procrastinating.  They want to get organized, but they have trouble sticking with it.

The most sure-fire way for college students trying to better manage their time to stay on schedule is to start slow and start easy.  Don’t rush into it.  Don’t try to do too much at once.  Don’t jump into the ocean of scheduling before you test the temperature with your toes.  Mastering the easy stuff will make transitioning into the more technical seamless.  It will also assure that you stick with scheduling.

So where do you start?  As I posted last week, lists are a great springboard.  Lists help you get all of your ideas down, they help you remember everything, they help you get organized.  But lists can’t do it all.  They are not a map of your week.  They won’t set you up to get everything done on time.  They are not the best way to stay on schedule, but they are the best place to start.

So, master the list.  Practice making them, practice referring to them, practice making them more and more focused.  From here, you can turn your lists into schedules.  Sit down with a piece of paper and your empty day planner:

1. Write a list of all the things you need to get done in the week.  This should come naturally, once you get the hang of list-making. 
2. Include due dates and use them to prioritize your to-do list items.
3. Next to each list item put an estimation of how long you think the task will take.  This can be the toughest part of scheduling, so think about it.  Overestimate.  And, don’t get discouraged if it takes some practice to get it right. 
4. Now, look over at your day planner.  Fill in you recurring tasks, like when you have class or when you work.  Block these times off.
5. From here, add the tasks from your to do list into the free spaces in your day planner.  Use a pencil.  Move them around.  Think of it as a puzzle, and try to fit things together in the best way.
6. Look over your schedule to see if any individual day looks too busy.  If any day is too packed, try to re-distribute to even things out.

Using a day planner can be tough when you first start out.  Keep in mind that it can be an awesome and helpful tool, especially when things get busier.  Start with lists and start small.  Then – during a not so busy time like the summer – practice making schedules.  This will ensure that as things get busier you will have the skills to handle all the craziness that accompanies a tight schedule.  Stick with it!  Click here and here for your two minutes of procrastination.

lists of lists of things to do

It is May 8th, and that means I am twenty-five days away from taking my first ever trip outside of the Unites States.  I will spend 3 months living in to Sri Lanka this summer where I will intern with Emerge Lanka Foundation, an organization that supports Sri Lankan girls who have been abused.  Being the super-Type-A-borderline-obsessive-compulsive planner that I am, I have made list upon list upon list of the things I have to do in preparation for my trip.  At this point, I’ve got a list of lists of things to do before I leave.

In February when I started to seriously plan for my trip I made a list of things to do, then separated it by month.  These monthly lists have grown as the trip has gotten closer, and as you can imagine the one for May is quite a doosey.  Even if they can seem never-ending and unnecessarily extensive these lists have kept me on track, prevented procrastination, and set me up for an amazingly well-planned departure.

Okay, at this point I will just come out and say it:  I love lists.  I really love lists.  I love lists so much I make lists of lists.  It’s absurd and neurotic, I know.  But the way I see it, lists are the most fundamental form of scheduling.  You have a bunch of things you have to do but you’re afraid you’ll forget one, so you write them all down.  Then as you complete tasks, you check them off.  Just throw a calendar into the mix, and you’ve got a schedule.  Seriously, this isn’t rocket science; it’s more important than that stuff.  Lists are the building blocks of organization, and without organization we wouldn’t even have rocket science.  I’m just saying.

Since I started writing this blog, I’ve had a lot of friends ask me how to get organized.  Sometimes I have replied, “Buy a day planner.”  Other times I’ve said, “Start plotting on a calendar.”  I think a few times I’ve even suggested, “Use post-its.”  I take all of those things back – well, kind of anyway.  The best advice I have for anyone who is just starting to deal with time-management issues is to make lists.  Make shopping lists, make lists of movies you want to see, make Christmas lists, make to-do lists.  Because once you master the list, using a day planner or a calendar will come easier.

So this week think about organizing yourself for the end of the semester.  Think about all the stuff you have to do before the end of the month and write it down.  Take that list and break it down into what you need to finish this week.  Then break that list down to what you need to finish tomorrow.  And tomorrow, break that list down into what you need to do in the morning, afternoon, night.  That’s a schedule, brought to you through a list.  And that’s why lists are better than sliced bread.

So for all of you non-list makers out there living chaotic lives, this post is for you.  Want to get organized?  Start listing.  It will change your life.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

 

good busy

While going to school over the next four weeks I have to write three papers (the shortest of which is ten pages and the longest of which is nearly forty), take two finals, plan three events at work, mentor seventy students through the close of the semester, present my undergraduate thesis one more time, attend five graduation/award ceremonies, and plan my summer trip to Sri Lanka.  My schedule for the next month is jam-packed to say the least.

That opening paragraph might sound like a complaint, but I assure you it’s not.  To be honest, I don’t think I have ever been so happy to be busy.  While having too much on my to-do list can stress me out, this “To-do before I leave for Sri Lanka list” is an entirely different animal.  The longer it gets, the wider I smile.

I have found over the past four years of college that having too much to do can make me anxious, but so can anticipation.  Sometimes wanting to get through the week because of fun weekend plans can stress me out more than an enormous amount of work.  My trip to Sri Lanka, for which I am more excited than I have been for anything since I was eight and believed in Santa Claus, is like those fun weekend plan times one thousand.  I just can’t wait to get on the plane and head out of the country.  The anticipation is killing me.

Being busy keeps my mind off of the trip.  It keeps my mind off of packing lists, travel details, and trip anxiety.  It allows me to work through my last four weeks here with less stress than I might have had if I had more time to think about all the awesome adventures I will have this summer.

This post tonight isn’t about my trip to Sri Lanka (those are to come!), but about the utility of being busy somethings.  Sure, you shouldn’t pile stuff on to your to-do list to shut out everything, but sometimes using school work or real work to keep your mind off of things that might otherwise stress you out can be a good thing.  My rule of thumb for these kinds of things is if you throw yourself into work but give yourself an end date at which time you will think about whatever it is you are avoiding temporarily, it’s okay to put whatever it is you are avoiding on the back-burner.  As long as you realize this technique is not a permanent fix, it’s okay to use it.  So to avoid the anxiety of planning my trip, I have planned to work on other things for the next three weeks.  I’ll worry about all those travel logistics later.

So next time you find yourself stressing out about something in your life – maybe about where your future is headed or why that cute guy you went out with hasn’t called you back – try throwing yourself into your work for a little bit.  It’s a productive temporary fix that can sometimes work wonders.  If it does nothing else, it will take your mind off of things.

Click here for your two minutes of procrastination animation.

guiltless procrastination

It is 7:34 PM, and I just sat down to write this blog post.  I meant to start in on this at 6:30 PM.  Instead, I worked an hour later than I had planned.  Now I probably will not get back to my apartment until 10 PM.  By the time I get everything ready for tomorrow it will be too late and I will be too tired to do the homework I planned to do tonight.  I’ll push it off until tomorrow night or the weekend.

I hate procrastination.  Of all the things in the world that I hate, it makes my top five list of greatest evils (among ignorance and racism).  Most people know this about me, and most of them would say that I never procrastinate.  This is not an entirely accurate statement.  In all honesty I do procrastinate – just not the way normal people do.  You won’t ever find me watching television when I have a paper due or surfing the web the night before a big test.  If I ever did either of these things (or things like them), I’d just end up feeling really guilty.

But, I do procrastinate.  For instance, I worked late tonight.  I probably could have put off some projects for the next time I will be in the office, but instead I worked through to finish them.  I was productive.  I got stuff done.  Except, now I won’t have time to work on my school work tonight – the school work I was really avoiding.  You see, by deciding to work late I was really just giving myself a reason to put off writing a paper.  I feel less guilty about the procrastination because I got stuff done at work, but in the end I’ve just put off doing my school work.

I hadn’t noticed that I do this (and do it quite often) until a good friend pointed it out to me.  She asked me why I was working late during weeks when I should have been focusing on writing my undergraduate thesis.  My initial answer was because I had projects to finish at work.  The more honest answer – which I admitted only after she pushed me on it – is that sometimes even I don’t feel like doing school work.  “Yeah, you’re a work-a-holic,” she said to me, “but sometimes that’s only because you don’t want to have to write your paper.”

My point tonight is not so much that this kind of procrastination is bad.  It is; don’t get me wrong.  The bigger point here is that we sometimes don’t realize our own motives.  We think that we are doing something for one reason, when really another is driving us.  This week think really critically about why you schedule things a certain way.  Are you self-sabotaging?  Avoiding work in innovative ways?  Procrastinating guiltless-ly?  If you have trouble evaluating your scheduling methods, don’t fret.  This kind of self-reflection is really hard.  Try getting an outside opinion on your methods.  You never know what another perspective can teach you about yourself.

Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

 

my gripe with extensions

If there is one question most college students are really good at asking, it’s this:  Can I get an extension?  Since I started at John Jay College in 2008, I’ve heard countless classmates asks professors to extend deadlines, accept late papers, and push back tests.  And every time I hear a request like this, I cringe internally… okay, sometimes externally, too.

I’ve never asked for an extension on a paper or a test.  Never.  Not in college, not in high school, not as far back as I can remember (which for those of you wondering encompasses all of my schooling back to kindergarten).  When I was out sick for two months with mono in my sophomore year of high school, I turned in all of my assignments via email – early at that.  When I was preparing for the first presentation of my thesis at the ACJS conference in New York this past month, I worked on my PowerPoint slides for two months straight and managed to turn in three other papers the Friday before I presented.  I meet deadlines – always.  So when students, students who I have to assume work fewer jobs and take fewer classes than I do, ask for extensions I am easily frustrated.

Perhaps, this frustration is tied to my personal aversion to extensions.  I hate when I can’t meet a deadline.  It literally drives me crazy.  When I can’t complete a task and I end up having to roll it over to the next day, I do so ever begrudgingly.

But sometimes it has to be done.  There are only so many hours in a day.  I am starting to learn that there are going to be times when I just cannot physically meet a deadline and an extension is the only option.  So while I refuse to ask for extensions in school (because I am one month away from getting through 18 years of schooling without having to have done so), I have learned that sometimes I just have to postpone projects at work.  In doing so I am being honest with my supervisors and realistic about my abilities.

I hate extensions.  I think I always will.  Getting stuff done and on time is just what I do.  It’s who I am.  But, having time to work on projects and put my best work into them eliminates stress.

Next time you need an extension think about how much work you can realistically do.  Think about the role procrastination plays in your ability to get things done on time.  And be honest with yourself about whether or not asking for the extension is appropriate.  An extension may not be an ideal situation, but it is better than pulling an all-nighter.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

tuesday – april 10th @ 10PM – SLEEP

When talking to a co-worker, professor, or friend about upcoming tasks or events I often find myself saying, “Hold on.  Let me write that down.”  It’s a common rule among good schedulers to take note – literally – of these sorts of things.  When you have a lot on your plate it’s easy to forget about upcoming projects and deadlines.

But, how much is too much?  When do these notes become excessive?  Well to be honest, I’m reaching that point.  Yesterday as I glanced at my day planner I thought to myself, “I should try to get some sleep tomorrow night.”  I followed that thought with, “Hold on.  Let me write that down.”  Now my day planner reads, “Tuesday – April 10th: 10 PM – SLEEP!”

Surely this little note to myself was unnecessary.  I am tired enough tonight (and I knew yesterday that I would be) that I will not forget my intention to go to bed early.  Why do it then, you ask?  Boundaries.

Being busy means never having enough time to do everything on my list.  Trying to fit things in whenever and wherever I can is just part of my daily routine.  So it is entirely conceivable that I would look at my day planner today, see a bit of an opening tonight, and shove in a little task.  Later on as the tiredness set in I would think about going to bed early but convince myself to finish the scheduled task, because if I can’t cross everything off my list for the day I feel very unproductive.

“Tuesday – April 10th: 10 PM – SLEEP!”  It seems crazy, but putting in these kinds of placeholders works for me.  Sometimes I write in things like, “8 AM – relax,” or “3 PM – go on Facebook.”  Sure it’s bordering on scheduler insanity, but if I don’t write in these little tasks I’ll end up scheduling over them.  I’ll neglect my need for fun stuff (and sleep!), which could only make me even crazier.

This week think about the things in your life that you often neglect.  Consider using place holders in your day planner so that you won’t prioritize other tasks too often.  Who knows – you might just find this insane scheduling technique useful.

Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

 

setting boundaries

A busy schedule makes one prone to a lot of things – stress, sleep deprivation, a suffering social life.  A busy schedule can also lead to what I call overflow, when one project takes up too much time and cascades into the time allotted for another project.  The worst thing about overflow is that it often leads only to more overflow, sometimes rendering entire days of packed schedules unproductive.

I like to think that I know myself well enough to be able to predict which projects will take me longer than usual.  Most of the time I can tell in advance when I will have to work late, when a paper will need extra care, or when I’ll get hung up chatting with friends.  But, no one can be entirely omniscient about these kinds of things.  Occasionally (and hopefully infrequently), overflow happens, and when it happens to me, I erupt like a stress-filled volcano.

When I started to monitor and combat my stress levels as part of my New Years Resolution for 2012, overflow had basically taken over my life.  I was working late at all three of my jobs every week, cutting back on sleep, and experiencing anxiousness like never before.  While I still deal with overflow (like tonight in fact), I have been practicing a great little technique that has greatly diminished the impact it has on my day-to-day schedule – boundary setting.

Boundary setting is exactly what it sounds like; you draw lines and stick by them even when you might feel obliged to do otherwise.  For instance, though I feel like I should work late most nights (because I typically have a ton of work to do), I have set a boundary for myself.  I recognize that for my own personal well-being I need to get to bed at a reasonable hour, and so I have resolved myself to leave work on time.  The whole concept is a lot like the saying, “Leave work at work,” except for me it is just, “Leave work.” 

While there are times when overflow is necessary (like when deadlines must be met), a lot of the time it is avoidable.  Just be conscious, be forward thinking, draw lines for your schedule.  Just changing the way you think about overflow can help you begin to combat it.  Saying to yourself, “Tonight I am going to work on this paper for two hours, so I will end this texting conversation with my friend for now,” can really keep you and your schedule on track.

This week try to think of a boundary as little space in your schedule you have carved out for something specific, and don’t let anything interfere with that task.  Remember, being able to stick to your schedule can do away with tons of excess stress.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.

pranayama

December – is there a crazier month in the whole year?  Is there a busier month?  Is there a more stressful one?  I sure can’t think of a single one that rivals December in any of these ways.  It is essentially a jumbled combination of end of the semester projects; the stress those bring; holiday shopping, planning, and baking; new year planning, and end of the year cleaning.  And, what’s even worse is that amongst this mishmash of a million little tasks, this is also the time for reconnecting with friends and family.  This season, which was once meant for relaxation and recharging I am sure, has become for many of us the most troubling time of year. 

The holiday season isn’t something you can schedule (though this year I have been trying – check that post out here).  It is more of a feeling, a mood, a state of mind.  Yes, scheduling in an hour of holiday fun time a day can get you in the spirit, but the other 23 hours tend to just eradicate the jolliness.  So as you may have already guessed, I been trying out new ways to not only get into the holiday spirit, but stay there.

The solution to this worldwide problem won’t be found under any holiday tree.  No, the answer comes from ancient Sanskrit: pranayama.  Pranayama, which literally translates to “extension of the life force,”  is the contemporary word for yoga breathing.  Though these breathing techniques can get pretty advanced and difficult, their basic concept is our breath propels us – it gives us power and vitality. 

Breathing techniques won’t get you into the holiday spirit, but they can quell the stress and anxiety that can rush the spirit away.  Feeling stressed about your finals?  Dreading going home for the holidays?  Anxious about getting your Christmas shopping done last-minute?  Just breathe.  Take a deep inhale that opens up your rib cage.  Fill your body with air, and feel it expand.  Now, exhale fully.  Let all the air out, and feel all your stress release with it.  Pay close attention to how your breath connects with everything your body does.  Breathe slow and feel your heart rate slow, feel your muscles relax, feel that holiday spirit sustain itself.

Don’t be too stressed out and anxious to enjoy this holiday season.  Take the time to get into the spirit, but also make sure that spirit stays with you.  Click here for your two (relaxing) minutes of procrastiantion. 

procrastination, the enemy of fun

This week is the last week of class for CUNY students, and you know what that means – college students across New York City are spending more energy procrastinating that studying.  Whether it is Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, or just plain old television, time is being reallocated in avoidance of the inevitable.  Cramming becomes a coping strategy.

This time of year always gives me conflicting feelings.  Initially, I feel proud and relaxed, because I have finished my papers and studying early.  As I hear my friends and colleagues talking about their stress, however, I feel badly for them.  I wish they, too, could have free time to take part in the celebration of the end of the semester and the holiday season.

My advice to them and to all of you who are struggling to get your assignments completed is stop procrastinating.  Lock yourself in your room.  Block Facebook.  Turn off your phone.  Spend as much time as your mind can handle tacking all of your papers and finals.  Remember, finishing your school work early means finishing the semester early. 

I understand that focusing seems nearly impossible for some people, as the temptation of procrastination keeps finding a way to creep back into their minds.  If you have this problem, try keep a running list of all the things you’d like to do to procrastinate (maybe: check Facebook, watch a movie, call a friend).  Promise yourself endless time to do everything on that fun list after you finish your school work.  Turn the tables on procrastination and use it as motivation!

I hope you all have a stress-free last week of classes.  Keep in mind that we’ve almost made it through another semester - we just need to finish strong.  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination, but maybe think of saving it for when you are done with your papers and studying

the not so lazy sunday

Clearly, I consider myself a good schedule.  If I didn’t, I wouldn’t keep this blog.  But even though I pride myself on being a scheduling pro, I too have trouble getting everything that I need to finished.  There just are not enough hours in the day sometimes.  Other times, there’s just not enough caffeine.  Either way, tasks get rolled over from one day to the next, filling up that ever-growing to do list, which during this time of year is long enough already.

The end of the semester is always a busy time of year.  Couple it with the holidays, and busy becomes an understatement.  It seems like everyday tasks get rolled over to the next until the list of unfinished tasks becomes an unmanagable monster list (learn more about those by clicking here)  Because things are predictably hectic during the holiday season, I have devised a way to get around this sort of task buildup.  I call it the “Not So Lazy Sunday” technique.

In a typical week I spend Sunday at the bakery I have worked at since I was sixteen.  I travel about an hour and a half from my apartment in Queens to Staten Island (where I am from), work a ten-hour shift, spend some time with my family (who still live on Staten Island), then commute another hour and a half back to Queens where I am usually met with an hour and a half of laundry and a few hours of school work.  Needless to say, Sundays are long, Sundays are busy, and Sundays are tiring. 

Compared to every other day of the week, however, it is easiest to clear my schedule on Sunday.  I just take off a day at the bakery, tell my folks I’ll see them next week, and attack my laundry pile on Saturday.  Bam – a cleared day!  (In my life, that’s a beautiful and very rare thing, by the way).  And though it is quite tough to manage to get a day off from the bakery, I do this occasionally so that I can catch up.  On my “cleared” Sunday, I attack my ever-growing to do list relentlessly.  I cross off as many items as I can, and really make clearing my schedule for the day count.  My Sunday, in effect, becomes the opposite of a lazy weekend.

When I schedule, I sometimes do so optimistically.  I think, “I might not be able to finish all of these tasks today, but let me try.”  And while sometimes I can power through a busy day, most of the time this mindset leads to a lot of unfinished tasks.  Clearing my schedule for a day is tough, but when my to do list gets to an unmanagable point and I know that things are only going to get more busy (like at the end of the semester and around the holidays), I make sure to schedule in a catch-up-day.

This week think about designating a day at the end of this semester just for catching up on your to do list, whether the items on your list are school, work, or holiday-related.  You should never feel bad about not being able to get everything done in one day.  But remember, letting your list grow exponentially is dangerous!  Click here for your two minutes of procrastination.