Self-Management

Goal: Learn how to make some space in my calendar for more “non-structured” activities

A challenge that many people face is the concept of time management. At the end of my freshman year, I believe I had mastered the concept of time management and instead was faced with the issues of prioritization. I always was able to make time for all of my academic commitments along with extra-curricular activities and provide quality work for everything. The true challenge that I faced was saying “No” to opportunities that came my way. At the time, and to a degree now, my perspective was that many chances to get involved and meet new people only come once. Throughout my time here, I have been hired at an additional job every year (except this year), increased the number of organizations I am very much involved with, and joined a social fraternity. Particularly, once I was promoted to the Co-Director of ExplorACES, I exceeded the threshold.

I do not regret my involvement at all even though mid-semester of junior year I was barely able to balance everything. Through all of the experiences I have gotten many different opportunities to learn new skills and practice working with other people in team and group environments. At that point of overload, when I was handling three jobs (working about 38 hours a week), plus being a full-time student, the moment of my need to reconsider my priorities dawned. I have always been able to attend many social activities, in part thanks to the convenience factor of the house. Even so, I wanted to be more social and work less (seeing I was working very much over the limit).

The moment of realization during ExplorACES season, helped me realign my priorities and set a net “limit” of work time and school work that I was willing to commit to, compared to the ratio of social activities. For the time of my senior year, I have surely been focusing on getting more socially active and enjoying myself through relaxation.