Hi guys! It’s me again, Shrinidhi. I wanted to share some tips and tricks that have helped me to be successful in my classes this semester, as well as things that I do to make sure I can accomplish all the different goals that I have set for myself.
We are all currently in a situation where we are being forced to adapt and adjust our previous ways of life. The time we once spent going out with family and friends has now turned into virtual Zoom meetings. And as frustrating or annoying as it may be, this is very likely to be our new way of life. So, rather than exhausting my mental energy feeling bad about what I don’t have control over, I’ve decided to start looking at the brighter side of things.
It’s common and totally normal to feel afraid and stressed during a pandemic or outbreak. But taking time to step away from the noise and focusing on yourself can help ease those feelings. With everything practically taking place virtually, one thing that has really helped me build a structure in my day-to-day life is creating a schedule on my laptop. Every morning, as soon as I wake up, the first thing I do is create a tentative timetable for what my day is going to look like.
Each task on my schedule has a different color. For example, my Honors and other academic courses are scheduled in green and the assignments that I have due the next day are in yellow. Basically, the point of this is that one, I can visually see what my day is going to be like and two, it allows me to see how much free time I actually have. When I first started doing this at the start of this semester, I quite honestly wasn’t sure how helpful this was going to be. I kept thinking to myself, “This definitely isn’t going to do anything except stress me out more about how much work I have to do.” But I was wrong. Yes, it can get a little overwhelming at times to see how packed my day is or all the upcoming deadlines I have that week, but in the end, it keeps me on track to meet my goals. And believe me, there are numerous days, more than I would like to admit sometimes, that I don’t follow my schedule because other things come up or I’m just being lazy and slow. But even on those days, the good thing is that all the tasks that I couldn’t complete that day are already on my to-do list, so I can just work them into my schedule for the next day. And obviously, this only works with long-term assignments or tasks that aren’t as urgent, but my point is that there’s always tomorrow.
Now, you’re probably thinking, “I know myself and this is definitely not going to work for me.” Maybe you already tried this and weren’t really a fan. But I strongly encourage you to give it another shot. I did, and I’m so glad that I made that decision. As Honors students, we all tend to not only have academically rigorous courses, but we are also heavily involved in communities and extra-curricular activities. All in all, making a timetable and a plan is the first step in fixing all time-management problems. Don’t get discouraged–even if you are not successful at first, you can make a plan for tomorrow that can help you feel and be accomplished.
