Budgeting Time and Working on Essay topics
If you haven't written about this already- how are you adjusting to the demands of college? We are going to be working on our 168 Budgets tonight. Have the demands of your class schedule significantly changed how you "budget" the 168 hours you get every week? Secondly- If you don't have an idea of a paper topic yet please come to class with one. We will work together on this so do not be afraid! This blog can also be a place where we work together on refining topics and sharing resources. I will continue to provide examples for you to review in the coming weeks but please share ideas with our classmates.
Before starting college this semester, my life always revolved around my career. I am a hair dresser so I’m very used to block scheduling my clients and I carry that over into my life. Prior to school my schedule was very scattered. Everything depended on client availability so I weaved my life in between appointments. I always had a list of tasks that needed to find a place in my schedule and I spent a lot of time trying to fit each task where it fit. Little did I know, that I was preparing myself for this very assignment.
ReplyDeleteI knew working around such a scattered schedule was going to cause a problem by the time school started. Because of this, I decided to calculate my total hours working in the salon and recognize my most popular days. Now, I only work in the salon Friday and Saturday and focus on school Monday through Thursday.
Sundays are my days off. I try to unplug from school and work and just relax. If I’m lucky, I may even avoid household chores and see family and friends. Having free time is the most difficult part of my schedule, as weird as that sounds. I’ve inherited the “work-a-holic” gene from my parents, so trying to relax is hard. However, I am aware that it Is needed for success so I try to take it seriously. When working around everyone else’s schedule and being available at the drop of a dime, you can imagine that, just the time it takes to figure out where to put your own tasks, never mind implementing them, will cause you to burn out.
College has added structure to my life and doing this exercise has visually shown me how budgeting your time can create some peace in your life. Knowing that everything that needs to be done already has a time slot to be completed, reduces the stress of wondering how you’re ever going to finish all this work.
Elementary school, middle school and high school have a simple morning routine. Wake up (early to be the first in the bathroom), get dressed, pack your backpack, eat breakfast (or if you're like me complain about how there's nothing good to eat) and finally wait at the bus stop or get a ride from Mom. College is a new world. When I first started, I thought I wanted to be in the Nursing major. Too much work; I'm undecided still. I took random classes: Anthropology, College Learning with Ms. Nightingale first semester, then I tried FYW 100 and Intro to Film but had to drop out because of a personal incident. Then when I returned from my hiatus, I took piano and guitar classes last semester. I procrastinated a lot and fell behind whenever I skipped assignment thinking I could wing it. I looked and felt like an idiot. I had a job at Donovan Dining once; it felt good to be working and earning my own money. I miss those days. I messed up badly. However, this semester I have a plan. First, address your problem. I'm taking two classes at Gaige Hall every Monday and Tuesday: College Learning and Film. Having classes one day apart should prevent the "I have plenty of time; I'll take a nap" voice. Second, see work as play. Take classes that interest you and will help you improve your learning/studying methods. Third, discipline equals confidence. For a procrastinator, it is a uplifting feeling to be prepared for class. Having done the reading and assignment for class on time gives me peace. I'm not looking forward to the essays and presentations (I'm always worried about failure) but I know I'll do better. I have no life outside of college. I have no job, a ridiculous sleeping schedule and rare contact with high school friends. The Sims 3 can wait, YouTube can wait, and normal people sleep at night. This semester must be difference for my own sake. I have time to work so i will work. If I get stressed, so be it. Comes with every job.
ReplyDeleteManaging my time hasn't been much of an issue for myself. I work 5-6 days a week so I usually do the same routine everyday. Adding college into my life was more of figuring out switching some things around. My usual morning routine is waking up in the morning brushing my teeth taking a shower and getting ready for work then I go to the kitchen and pack my son a lunch for school. After that I wake him up brush his teeth and get him dressed. If I don't do this for him I run late because he won't wake up or get out of bed. He's not a morning person. Then I drive to my fathers house drop him off there and drive to work. What has change is my after work routine. Now my after work routine has changed. Monday's I have the evening class so my Monday I pick him up around 430 and wait for my bf to come home from work to stay with our son then I head to class in the wonderful traffic. Tuesday's and Thursday's I have class from 4-550 so I am not able to pick him up from his after school programs those days I leave work and head to class after class I meet up with my bf at his parents house where we have dinner together then eventually head back home Wednesday's and Friday's I don't have class. I usually head to the library after work to do my homework. Then I go pick my son up around 5 and head home to make dinner we eat I help my son with his homework give him a bath brush his teeth and then he goes to sleep. I then put clothes to wash and dry fold the clothes then brush my teeth take a shower and go to sleep. I work every other weekend so my weekends on I wake up brush my teeth shower get dressed. I lay my sons outfit for the day out and head to work. When I get out of work I head to my house shower and see if my son wants to do anything or just wants to stay home. On my weekends off I don't have a routine I do the usual brush my teeth shower get dressed eat. If there's laundry to be done I do laundry, clean. Once that's all set then I like to take my son out to the park or some place where he can play and have a good time. Just to get away from being at the house all day.
ReplyDeleteOdaliz Quinonez
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ReplyDeleteI have never had to deal with such a busy life until now. When I was in high school I pretty much depended on my mom to tell me what we were doing that night for dinner and what her plans were for the weekend so I could figure out what to do with my friends on the weekend. Within the past year I got my first job, finished high school, and started college. I thought that college was going to be a lot easier than high school but boy was I wrong. I can no longer depend on my mom for my time management (reminding me to do my homework, waking me up for school, etc.) because I wake up for school after she leaves for work and I have work at random hours when she's still at work or out with my sister or her friends. I have been working really hard to make sure that I have time to do everything I need to set myself up for success. I have cut back my hours at work to make sure I have enough time to do homework and still have a social life. I have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 10 pm with breaks in between. I use my breaks to study and work on homework. My only other class is this class on Monday nights. I leave one hour before I am supposed to be at school to make sure I can get to the campus even when there's traffic, and make it to class on time. I work every Sunday and most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I spend my mornings before work, studying or doing homework and on Saturdays I spend time with my family and friends. I feel as if I'm making a lot of progress with my time management and I try to make sure every minute I'm given in my day is being used to my advantage. And of course I leave time for the usual things (showering, eating, getting ready, taking care of my cats, laundry).
ReplyDeleteAll throughout high school I had a pretty basic schedule that was the same everyday. I would go to school until 2 and some days work after school. I would then have my mom who would make me dinner for when I got home. On the weekends I would work and then usually be with the same group of friends. That was the time I could enjoy myself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started college I realized how different and busy my schedule was. Classes weren't the same everyday, some days I don't get to eat lunch or dinner, my mom isn't there to make my homemade dinner, and she isn't there to get me motivated to do my work.
I realized when making my 168 budget that my classes are at such random times with random breaks and it makes it difficult. During my breaks I never get motivated in time to do homework or study, so by the time I do it's already time for my next class. I usually instead go on my phone or since I live on campus I just go to my dorm to sleep. I also realized I don't have a lot of time to do everything I want. I don't even get to sit down to eat meals! Some days my classes are right at lunch time or right at dinner time. Also, I love going to the gym and I strive to go 4 days a week, but some weeks I can only fit in 2 days. I'm also an adventurous person. I love adventures anywhere with anyone. It makes it hard that some weekends that I want to be outside and going places, I have to do school work. It's so different from high school because now everyone has such different schedules in their lives so I don't get to see friends often and some weekends are the only time I can. I also work when I go home on weekends which takes up a lot of my hours in my 168 hour week. I guess I just wish I would manage my time and get work done when I can so I can do the things I like doing when I actually have free time.
Before I started school, I used to have two jobs and I worked between 65 to 70 hours per week as a cashier. I didn’t really have time for much, I used to sleep around 5 to 6 hours and I was always tired and couldn’t see my friends. When I had any time off I used to sleep or do things around the house. When everything fell into place and I could finally start college, I had to drop one of my jobs and now I would work between 25 to 27 hours. I knew college would be difficult since English was my second language but I never thought it would demand so much of my time. Now I don’t have the two jobs and I have more time off but I always have homework and somehow everything is writing assignments which takes me a long time to get done since English is my second language.
ReplyDeleteMy days are pretty much the same as when I had two jobs, I still barely see my friends because when they have time off I have to be at work and any spare time that I had I now use for homework, studying and doing things around the house, but if there’s an opportunity that allows me free time, I go see my friends. I do hope that the day will come where assignments get easier and I have more time for myself.