Final Essay
Throughout high school, I did well in high school. I was on high honor roll every semester and an average of 3.7 GPA throughout my four years. However, I never had a steady schedule throughout the year. Meaning, my time management struggled. Essentially, I “faked it to make it.” Luckily, I was accepted here to Ohio University, then was hit with reality about my time. Taking this course has taught me a lot how to manage my time and how to be a successful student.
To elaborate, I was a very busy high schooler. I played fastpitch softball, basketball, participated in a service club, and was active in the photo club and yearbook. I was very active in all of these from freshman year to junior year. Once senior year came around, my life kinda flipped. I didn’t play basketball or softball or yearbook so I had a lot of free time. It was my first spring break in a very long time without having to be at practice or a game every day. As well as not having to go to a lot of the school sporting events and travelling with teams.
Once my freshman year at OU came around, my world flipped all over again. I had never been in such big classrooms with classes I scheduled that I actually was interested for and big breaks between classes and not having my parents around. I was also hit with the fact that I had to take time to study since the material wasn’t always in my hands like in high school. It was especially eye-opening after my first VICO 1000 exam when I had completely failed it. I freaked out and I knew it was time for a change. I never studied in high school so I knew I was in for something new.
At the end of this semester, I have accomplished by having a good gpa and good grades in all of the classes I am taking. I have had good grades especially in my classes that others have said they are struggling in. This has given me a confidence booster which I feel I have desperately needed for a while. What I have not accomplished in my first term is a regular schedule that I started out with. I had a healthy schedule because every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I ran a mile and did a full abs workout. This all went downhill after I came home from the first time I went home for the weekend. Overall, I am contempt with my work as a student from this first semester mostly due to my grades and how quickly I start and complete my work and projects for all the courses I am taking.
Once I started getting into the content of each class, I started by studying or doing tasks in chunks. By grouping my tasks into similar categories of activities I will become far more productive and time efficient. Once my “chunk-time” is over, I can simply move onto something else, without making any further tired careless mistakes while writing more papers, doing projects, or homework.
I have began to set goals. I have set timed goals, meaning that they are broken down into smaller short-term objectives that lead to medium and long-term goals. With an understanding of the bigger picture I am working towards, depending on the class and or subject, I have become better equipped to more effectively manage time since starting college.
Even though I can’t control time, I can now control how the time I have is used from what I have learned in this class. This realization is the first step to being effective in my own time management. I have found that, it is important to take into account in what is important in my daily life and focus on allotting time for these things. I go to all my classes and eat at the times I can in a healthy manner. I usually try to start all my homework directly after the class that it’s assigned for ends unless I have a class right after. I have had a kind of odd schedule this semester because only two days of the week are the exact same. So, this has caused me to kind of try and make a routine for each day which for the most part has worked out potentially well.
Unfortunately, after the first time going home for a weekend, I kind of got out of wack especially with working out. I used to run a mile every other day, as well as planks, situps and other body workouts. I have tried to go but I always get stuck doing homework and projects for classes instead. Thankfully, this process has helped because I do have really good grades for having six classes that fulfill my 15 credit hours.
I have learned that time management must be learned. In high school and my home life, these things were just kind of done for me and I didn’t use a lot of my time wisely. I have also learned using time wisely allows a person to complete tasks in a certain time period or complete more homework and projects.
This class, in almost all of our assignments have made me manage my time a lot better academically. As I said earlier, I was a good student in high school with good grades; I just did all my homework last minute or started earlier and let it linger in my mind and every now and then complete work. Once I went to all my classes for the first week of this fall semester, I knew a change was in need. With all the schedules and laying out our days and what projects were due at certain times, that helped me schedule my weeks and times when I’d actually sit down and finish a project or assignment.
With our first assignment of recording everything we did in a day, I realized how much time I wasted on things that were no help to my academic life. I spent a lot of time walking around when I left class, eating and watching netflix and not doing homework. Almost immediately after discussing that assignment the next meeting, my whole schedule changed. I began to do all my work as soon as I was assigned it. I will admit that I sometimes I fall off the rails and wait a little longer than I should, but I have not ever missed an assignment in any of my classes.
As of now, and what this class has done for my fresh, college career. It has helped me with being realistic. College is a lot different than high school; when you know everyone in your class and can get the answers when you get to school, life is easy. Time management has helped me procrastinate less. I write everyday tasks in my planner for each day including the events and parties I have that aren’t school-related. It has helped me become more productive. Each day I pick out the classes I’m going to study and/or do homework for. Usually for the classes that I have the next day. Time management has given me a lot more freedom with my days – when I plan ahead, I know that I’ll be finished with at a good time. It has also reduced my guilt . When I know that I’ve achieved my goals for the day then I can spend my free time without my studies on my mind. Managing my time more has also helped me plan for the long-term – good organization has removed the uncertainty from my schoolwork and helps me focus on getting the best results possible, for the best future I want.
Time is very crucial; students like me need to make the best of the time in their possession as by doing so a lot can be achieved in their lives. Time being a limited resource means that a minute lost is hard to be return, or and assignment missed or an exam failed. All because of not managing our time to our best ability. Life is short. We need to make the best of it by making every minute count, by doing so most everyone can achieve their goals in life. Students should generate a habit of utilizing time more efficient and effectively. Thankfully, I had this class to help guide me. Now that I have this knowledge, I can help teach others in my situation no matter what age or situation. We are the generation of the world that grew up with always changing technology and ideas. People like me can accomplish a lot in life therefore the world will be a better place. Time management is a skill that can be learned, and if done correctly, it can make life less stressful and more productive.