The temptation of becoming a true Mount Holyoke woman has overtaken me; sleep is a foreign concept and caffeine is my new best friend. Nevertheless, there are definite perks to getting your foot in the door in a variety of activities, if you know how to balance your schedule with food and showers and get adequate sleep (which, in my opinion, is somewhere between 6 and 7.5 hours). Lucky for all you overachievers out there, I have some excellent tips!
1) The Weekly Grind
This is something I gush about to everyone, whether they asked to hear my opinion or not! Plan out your life on the Weekly Grind, courtesy of Katherine Wasserman, a graduate student at Mount Holyoke who led a workshop called “Time Management 101”. It’s a handy-dandy spreadsheet that lays out your days by the hour, with an especially helpful to-do section at the bottom. Below is my schedule for one of my weeks in the past:
As you can see, my schedule is a wee bit packed, but I write down not just my classes but rehearsals, meetings, deadlines, and even fun events! As well, if you look closely, there’s two huge gap of time on Monday afternoons that, without writing it down, may not seem sufficient to do anything productive. By visualizing tasks and deadlines, your mind is much less cluttered and less likely to stress out over the sheer amount of stuff you need to complete.
2) The to-do list
Make a definite to-do list that you need to complete for the week every night before you start your workload. By referring to your schedule of deadlines, you can determine whether you should be doing the math redo that’s due next week or the econ analysis that’s due tomorrow morning… in paper copy. It helps to have leftover tasks that, at the end of your study session, you can place into your schedule for next day. Write down errands you really need completing in the spare time slots (fortunately for me I have no early morning classes!), and throw in some fun events so you set apart for yourself a time to wind down and prepare for the coming week.
3) The sleep cycle
Find your sleep cycle! Personally, I feel more well-rested after 6 hours of sleep rather than 6.5 hours, because my body follows the 90-minute sleep cycle. Each person varies: I’ve known some people with the special hours of 3, 4.5, and 7, while others simply cannot function without 8 hours a night. Over breaks, experiment with your body to find a sleeping pattern that doesn’t jeopardize your health!
4) Recognize your achievements
There is nothing worse than stressing yourself out without some form of reward in the end! The most important aspect of managing your life is to appreciate yourself and recognize your achievements! Be proud of what you have done, and enjoy the rewards that you reap from your hard work. If it doesn’t give you that satisfaction of knowing you have done extraordinarily well, it’s not worth it, no matter what it is.
Hopefully this gives you some idea of adequate time management.
Now go forth, be merry, and represent Mount Holyoke!