A seminar held in Sykes Student Union, Monday, Feb. 5 gave students the opportunity to learn how to get past procrastination and set positive goals for effective time management. “Tips for time management,” hosted by senior Amanda Johnson, is a motivational program put together by Students Actively Involved in Leadership (SAIL) to promote good working habits and motivate students to manage their time in a productive manner. Johnson, a leadership consultant for the office of student affairs, actively involved students in a number of exercises to help cure the procrastination curse and prevent over-working.
After a brief icebreaker to find out who the students were and why they were in attendance, Johnson distributed a packet with useful information and tips. Students reviewed the contents and gave their input as to what strategies helped them most.
The first exercise started off by reading a mock scenario called “Stressed out Sally” in which a figurative girl named Sally is having a hard time coping with the numerous activities in her life. After students congregated for a minute or two, a few strategies for Sally to manage her time better were to buy a planner and cut out a few extra curriculars from her already busy schedule. Things like driving two hours to see her boyfriend every weekend and accepting the position of the secretary of the Chemistry Club are prime examples of things she could alter to give herself more “me” time.
The purpose of this exercise, and many others, was to set examples of real-life situations where someone could improve their time management. A great deal of problems start with someone not thinking so Johnson stressed the value of planning and setting priorities and deadlines.
Another main focus of the production was how to get past procrastination. Most of the students in the room admitted they fall subject to procrastination and typically put things off until the very last minute. When asked about fighting the procrastination demons, one student chuckled and said, “They usually get the best of me, but I try to get as much done as possible early.”
Johnson suggested that one way to procrastinate positively is to sit in a chair and do absolutely nothing. Don’t read, shuffle papers, or watch TV: just sit. Do this for 15 minutes. Getting started will be an appealing alternative.
She also talked about the value of breaking up large jobs in to smaller tasks and set SMART goals to focus on one thing at a time. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and timely. Allowing time to focus on one thing and develop a SMART strategy is important.
Johnson also said that developing smart goals is essential to success when developing a useful schedule. She also noted that goals are smart if they define: what will be done, when it will be done, and how much, how many, or how well it will be done. For more information on this seminar or future productions by SAIL, stop by the Leadership Resource Center in Sykes 218.