Time Strategies

For the end of week 1, I read "The Myth of 'Too Busy" by Tim Grahl and "The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals Motivates Us to Accomplish Bigger Things" by Lauren Marchese.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about organization and prioritizing because I can apply these concepts not only to my classes but my life. When I was a freshman in college, I wasn't involved in many things. I wanted to get my college life situated and figure out how to do it before I got swamped with things to do other than school and work. Well, I think a lot of people will say they want to get involved but then don't actually do it. Well, I didn't do that. I got involved. I would say that I got so involved that by the time I reached my junior year here at OU, my friends made fun of me for having to schedule hang out time with me because I apparently was "too busy," or how Grahl puts it, "I didn't prioritize my time well for hanging out with friends. Furthermore, while I enjoyed reading what Grahl had to say, I definitely took offense at first. I personally like to say, "I am too busy to do this or that." I actually do get a weird sense of joy out of saying I'm too busy for something. It honestly makes me feel my life is important enough to be busy. While I know this is not necessarily true, for me, it is. I am the type of person who would rather have too much going on than nothing at all. I understand other people are different, and I respect that, but I choose to "not prioritize my time well."
But I see the truth in what Grahl has to say, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to use his words.
As for the checklists article, I relate to it on every single level. I love lists. I make lists for almost everything I do. In fact, I probably have founds myself making a list and putting "make a list for vacation or for next semester," on it. Some people might call it a sickness, I just call it life.

Photo of an hourly planner with ball point pen.
Photo: Best Online Universities, LLC. 

I don't have a set plan for studying really, because my major requires me to go out into the field and gather materials and then come back and write. My major doesn't require me to read textbooks and then take multiple choice tests where I must study for hours. I appreciate this.
In addition, I have an At-a-Glance Weekly planner, which is broken down by single days of the week and on every day there is a line for every hour starting with 6 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m. This is by far my favorite planner, and I never go anywhere without my planner. It's my entire life. So, I use this planner to plan out my classes, work and other activities, and that usually keep me from procrastinating. An advantage to being "too busy," is that if I don't get something done at the time that I've planned it, then I know it won't get done. So, that gives me motivation to get my stuff done in a timely manner. I'm happily busy.