Time Management

            The way I normally organize my time to study and complete tasks is to first take note of any and all important deadlines, and start planning out the best days to begin and finish the task at hand. For instance, I have an important assignment due for my online “Women and Power in Ancient World” course that is due on Friday of week five. I have read the guidelines very carefully, and since it is an assignment that will require an interview with another person and some video editing on my part, I have started the planning and outlining process already, and plan to meet with my TA this week to ask some clarifying questions before I conduct the actual interview. By beginning this process now, I should be able to finish all of the major components of the assignment by the end of this week and have plenty of time to edit/make any final adjustments before the deadline. Thus, keeping track of deadlines is key in managing my time since I can plan if/when I need to talk to instructors and be able to study or complete assignments in less of a rush.

            I am typically most engaged in my studies during the middle of the week, like Tuesday or Wednesday, since I prefer to complete as much work as possible before the weekend. However, since I am taking an online class this quarter and I participate in an online discussion for it every Thursday, I usually spend my Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s solely working on my online class and leave my other homework for the end of the week – typically on Friday’s and Saturday’s.

            I’d have to say that I am probably least focused towards the end of the week since Monday’s consist of me going to class, Tuesday-Thursday is dedicated to working on my online class, and Friday-Sunday is dedicated to working on/finalizing assignments for my other classes. Thus, I am consistently working on, or at least thinking about, schoolwork during most days of the week, which has already started to become a bit exhausting as the quarter progresses.

            To manage my time more efficiently for this quarter and beyond I’d like to start making daily goals for myself in the form of to-do lists so that I know what should/needs to be done by the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. I hope that by doing this, I will feel motivated to complete more tasks faster, allow myself more time to work other tasks into my schedule (like exercising, relaxing, crafting, etc.), and not feel so overwhelmed/drained by the end of the week. I’d like to manage my time more effectively to finish my online classwork sooner so I can work on homework for my other classes earlier in the week, have the weekends to complete other, non-school related tasks, and also have time to relax and recharge for the school week so I don’t feel so stressed and overwhelmed.