It may be common sense that having a plan before taking action will probably increase the effectiveness & efficiency of our action. For this reason I usually plan out my daily agenda just before going to bed. Throughout my college experience it seems that I have an undeclared major—time management. I’ve taken no courses with this title, yet, this discipline has presence in every single course I take. Time management has been a recurring theme every semester and continues to be the most crucial factor affecting the outcome of my grades. After about 4-5 weeks into every semester I usually have my time management “program” down to a formula. Nevertheless, there is always a monkey wrench that complicates my schedule: the dreadful unforeseeable event.
I’m interested to know: how do you, the reader, deal with unexpected setbacks/delays/interruptions? Do you look for other time slots in the week to try to make up for this loss in time? Do you assign a level of priority to the thing/s that have been missed and weigh it against other upcoming things on your schedule? Is there a “winning philosophy” when it comes to the unforeseeable?
5 comments:
The way I deal with unforeseeable events is by figuring out how urgent this event is and what my schedule is like. I started using a planner and realized that it is very helpful and that is also what helps me schedule unplanned things that may come up. If its urgent, I hurry and do it at the moment if possible otherwise, I’ll do it on the weekend or Thursday nights since I have no school the next day. I usually worry about this event when I have time so therefore, I wouldn’t have any loss time. Unless its in the middle of three tests, homework, and papers, then I guess I won’t be having any fun on the weekend…Tests of course are number one priority and the schedule helps to lay out things so you can see into the future and know what you have planned out and what you need to do. There is no set solution to dealing with this problem but knowing what you have to do later on in the work and how fast you can do things or the amount of time you need for certain things is very helpful.
COOL POST! I deal with the unforeseeable future by just going with the flow. That's how life is. When things are to planned out you set yourself up for failure because you usually expect a different outcome... not in all cases though. I work 9-5 everyday and have class 530-9 Mon-Thurs, 4 classes. I leave my house at 730am and don't get home till 11PM everyday. I am also dealing with a new boss who expecting a lot of new things and big change so it is pretty draining at work, but I am on the same exact page with him so its cool. I just go with the flow and have fun because that is all you can really do in life.
I did the same thing last semester.. I studied on my 45 min commute each way and barely had to study before the test and did great last year. I am trying to do the same this year. Thanks for the insight!
I find myself first assigning priority levels to each of my assignments, which not only includes actual written assignments, but also reviewing notes from class. Depending on the level of difficulty I have with the class, and the average amount of assignments per class, I dedicate more time studying for certain classes then others. Then, I have to weigh out my free time, which is possibly the most difficult task of time management. I set a goal of at least 3 hours in the day devoted to studying. The best time to study is when traveling, and for me, to and from school, is about 2 hours already out the way. Any breaks between classes can always be dedicated to studying or reviewing for a course. The more review of class material, the easier it is to study for exams.
This is a great post. I noticed that the best way for me to deal with unforeseeable events is to overestimate my schoolwork responsibilities and reflect this into my schedule. By overestimating what I have to do, it usually leaves me comfortable to handle emergencies or take care of things that pop up around important dates. For example, I have a marketing exam this Thursday. However, I took it upon myself to prepare well in advance for this test and thus, I only have to do light review work until Thursday. As it turns out, I found out today I have to help my dad write an important document that will probably take me two days to finish. If this happened in previous semesters when I never planned ahead and played the "not study game", I would have been very stressed out and angry for having to help. Instead, I know that I can handle this unforeseeable event without it hindering my studies. My advise is instead of just planning daily work responsibilities, it would be to plan your daily schoolwork responsibilities aggressively according to a future important date, like a test. Thus, if unforeseeable events pop up prior to important dates, you won't be stressed out because you didn't procrastinate and you have time to handle these events. Hope this helps!
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