UConn Student Keeps Many Plates in the Air

Hello all, Chi here blogging about the art of time management and juggling all the many activities that college students go through.

In high school, I juggled having a part time job as an intern at Yale New Haven Hospital, vice-president of the senior class and the National Honor Society, and time devoted to studying for those wonderful AP classes. So I knew coming to college would only heighten my busy schedule. I thought I had mastered the art of juggling in high school… come to find out, I had so much more to learn.

Going into my senior year of college, I am currently a double major in Molecular Cell Biology and Women Studies with a minor in Human Rights. I am a Resident Assistant in the Public Health House, a programmer at the African American Cultural Center and a campus tour guide at the Lodewick Visitor Center. In addition to my three jobs on campus, I am the program coordinator of a community outreach program known as W.A.I.M. (Windham Area Interfaith Ministry), a Community Service Day Leader, and the Event coordinator of a fashion retail organization on campus known as Sneak Technique. I know this might sound like I have my feet in many different doors but I learned very early on the art of juggling and how importance of effective time management. No, I am not going to bore with you the typical time management lecture you hear from everyone but I will break it down and share personal stories about how I manage my time.

Rule 1- Time management is a myth: First of all, no matter how organized we try and be, there are only 24 hours in a day. With that said, we cannot turn back the hands of time we spent watching  two hours of the Jersey Shore instead of completing our Accounting homework. Time doesn’t change. However, we can actually manage ourselves and what we do with the time that we have. So set out time for work and then play can come afterwards.

Rule 2- Figure out where you’re wasting time: Do you spend too much time worrying about what the cute kid from class is tweeting about? Well STOP IT!!! As students, we tend to surf the internet a lot and spend too much time on social networks. I used to be addicted to facebook and twitter when I started college but now I have neither. I made the decision to delete both my facebook and twitter accounts and ever since then, I have had so much more time to do more productive things like read the Economist or even take a nap in between classes. I’m not saying everyone has to take drastic measures as I did but maybe cutting back on the social networks will free up your time. Keeping track on your daily activities will keep in well organized and keep you off tumblr or other blog sites.

Rule 3- Make use of time management tools: Whether it is the free daily planner that UConn provides us with that are free at the start of each semester at the Co-op or the wonderful Google calendar, the first step to physically managing your time is to know where it’s going now and planning how you’re going to spend your time in the future. Everywhere I go, my Blackberry follows me and I have access to my Google calendar so when anything new pops up, I insert it in my calendar right away. Then why I get back to my room, I plug it right into my actual planner. This helps keep me sane because between RA staff meetings or my one-on-one meetings with my W.A.I.M volunteers, I am bound to forget a thing or two if I do not have it written down.

Now that you have these three rules in place, you can also be able to juggle everything you have going on and then. Chi signing out!