Time Strategies
I think, at least for now, I'm going to stick with the original one-hour-per-day schedule that I submitted on the Google form. Maybe I'll decide to change that once I get into the meat of the coursework, but I've always preferred to get things done ahead of deadlines -- working with my back up against a due date stresses me out and I tend to produce subpar work because I'm focused on just getting the assignment cranked out as quickly as possible.
If I'm being completely honest, however, I don't normally work off of a defined schedule. That is, I don't sit down for a square hour and work on my homework and then leave off in the middle of something once my allotted time is up. I prefer to work more on a project-to-project basis, blocking out my study sessions in terms of assignments. Maybe my goal is to finish up five assignments today -- if it takes longer than an hour, fine; if I get done early, great!
Being ahead of the schedule also gives me some peace of mind. Part of the reason I love online classes so much is that they allow me to work at my own pace. There's no waiting for the next lecture to get the information you need to advance, it's just on to the next assignment. To get ahead, I'll probably front-load my first few weeks of the semester pretty heavily and then take my foot off of the gas a little bit. Last semester, I was putting in about 20 hours a week for marching band which isn't a commitment that I have to worry about in the spring. If I'm able to commit a similar amount of time to my online studies at the beginning, I'll be able to take a deep breath and relax a little bit when my other classes start getting into midterms and finals.
I try to apply this mindset to my other courses as well. If you can stay a week or two ahead of your syllabus, you'll get to dead week and realize that all you have to do is review for exams. Put the work in during syllabus week when life isn't hectic and your schedule will end up being the "eye" of the dead week hurricane -- everything is frantic around you, but you've bought yourself a little bubble of calm.
For my articles, I read The Myth of 'Too Busy' by Tim Grahl and The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay. In his piece, Grahl had a quote that I really liked: "You can say whatever you want about your goals in life, but the truth is in your calendar and checkbook.” That, combined with switching the phrase "I'm too busy" for the phrase "I'm not prioritizing that right now" is kind of a gut-punch. It's much easier to blame our shortcomings on the constraints of our days. Man, we say, if only that Sun took 4 hours longer to orbit the Earth...I'd be running marathons AND I'd have a promotion by now. Oh well, you can only do so much with 24 hours.
While that's the truth -- you can only do so much with 24 hours -- we have control over what it is we do. It's a lot harder to excuse watching Netflix instead of writing a paper when we label it as prioritizing Season 4 of The Office over our GPA.
I also loved some of the tools recommended by Mackay to encourage getting started. After all, just starting is half the battle. Some days I'll wake up and I know I need to get a jog in. It's good for me. It's therapeutic. But it's just so early/hard/cold/hot/etc. Yet, if I can force myself to slog through that first half mile, my momentum kicks in and I realize that 1. I'm proud of myself for doing it and 2. It kind of feels good after all. I accomplished a goal, mind over matter. Mackay also talks about sub-goals, which I'm a huge proponent of. Talk to any ultra-marathoner out there: Not a single one of them started out with 50+ mile runs. However, if you tell yourself that you're going to run a mile...and then a 5k...and then a half marathon...suddenly, you're well on your way to your overarching goal AND you've hit a bunch of milestones that you can be proud of along the way. Breaking tasks into manageable, bite-sized chunks can do wonders for your motivation.
If I'm being completely honest, however, I don't normally work off of a defined schedule. That is, I don't sit down for a square hour and work on my homework and then leave off in the middle of something once my allotted time is up. I prefer to work more on a project-to-project basis, blocking out my study sessions in terms of assignments. Maybe my goal is to finish up five assignments today -- if it takes longer than an hour, fine; if I get done early, great!
Being ahead of the schedule also gives me some peace of mind. Part of the reason I love online classes so much is that they allow me to work at my own pace. There's no waiting for the next lecture to get the information you need to advance, it's just on to the next assignment. To get ahead, I'll probably front-load my first few weeks of the semester pretty heavily and then take my foot off of the gas a little bit. Last semester, I was putting in about 20 hours a week for marching band which isn't a commitment that I have to worry about in the spring. If I'm able to commit a similar amount of time to my online studies at the beginning, I'll be able to take a deep breath and relax a little bit when my other classes start getting into midterms and finals.
I try to apply this mindset to my other courses as well. If you can stay a week or two ahead of your syllabus, you'll get to dead week and realize that all you have to do is review for exams. Put the work in during syllabus week when life isn't hectic and your schedule will end up being the "eye" of the dead week hurricane -- everything is frantic around you, but you've bought yourself a little bubble of calm.
For my articles, I read The Myth of 'Too Busy' by Tim Grahl and The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay. In his piece, Grahl had a quote that I really liked: "You can say whatever you want about your goals in life, but the truth is in your calendar and checkbook.” That, combined with switching the phrase "I'm too busy" for the phrase "I'm not prioritizing that right now" is kind of a gut-punch. It's much easier to blame our shortcomings on the constraints of our days. Man, we say, if only that Sun took 4 hours longer to orbit the Earth...I'd be running marathons AND I'd have a promotion by now. Oh well, you can only do so much with 24 hours.
While that's the truth -- you can only do so much with 24 hours -- we have control over what it is we do. It's a lot harder to excuse watching Netflix instead of writing a paper when we label it as prioritizing Season 4 of The Office over our GPA.
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| It's always a hard choice, especially when they added Good Will Hunting during midterms season. Source: Wikipedia. |
I also loved some of the tools recommended by Mackay to encourage getting started. After all, just starting is half the battle. Some days I'll wake up and I know I need to get a jog in. It's good for me. It's therapeutic. But it's just so early/hard/cold/hot/etc. Yet, if I can force myself to slog through that first half mile, my momentum kicks in and I realize that 1. I'm proud of myself for doing it and 2. It kind of feels good after all. I accomplished a goal, mind over matter. Mackay also talks about sub-goals, which I'm a huge proponent of. Talk to any ultra-marathoner out there: Not a single one of them started out with 50+ mile runs. However, if you tell yourself that you're going to run a mile...and then a 5k...and then a half marathon...suddenly, you're well on your way to your overarching goal AND you've hit a bunch of milestones that you can be proud of along the way. Breaking tasks into manageable, bite-sized chunks can do wonders for your motivation.
Ha ha, it is ALL about the "bubble of calm," Spencer! What a great way to put that! I'm also someone who doesn't actually have a daily planner or schedule since a lot of my work really depends on the pace at which people are doing their work for these classes. But that's okay: the idea is just to have an overall idea of how much of a chunk of those 168 hours each week will go where. I am glad the flex aspects of this class are working for you... and by getting the early start like this, you can easily stay ahead all semester, or work even further ahead. :-)
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