Don’t Go Wasting YOUR Precious TIME!

There are a million and one things that we all have to get done by specific deadlines. Sometimes we halt ourselves from doing these tasks and WASTE TIME. We usually waste time when we have many things to do. For me, wasting time hits hard when I know I have an assignment to complete on a topic that really isn’t so interesting. I tend to hold off on the most important tasks that need to get done and start making up small task that “must” get finished that I didn’t even have on my list of things to do, but somehow I all of sudden have to get these smaller task done. I often involve myself in activities instead of accomplishing work that needs to get done.

Because I am a visual and kinesthetic LEARNER, I used the Excuse Busting Strategy so that I can identify and see what time wasters and task I’ve been avoiding. The act of thinking about it and writing it down helps me realize what I am doing and what tasks I need to do in order to get the work done.

On the left column, I listed the time wasters that I use, also known as the “Excuses”. Some of my excuses were doing my hair and nails, visiting friends, social media/blogging sites, telephone, television, and working out. Next to each, I wrote the tasks I’ve been avoiding in the right column. The majority of my excuses translated into me procrastinating and not wanting to do an assignment or reading when I had to. Based on what I have listed, I’ve noticed that WASTING TIME coincides with PROCRASTINATION.

In order to combat this bad habit of wasting time, I decided to use the Chunking the Task Strategy.

With the Chunking the Task strategy, I chunked thee task into small, manageable units and work on each over time. For my CHE 106 class, I have really procrastinated my reading assignments. This is not good at all, especially because this is the course I am struggling with

the most this semester. I have an exam coming up in 3 weeks. In preparation for the exam, I decided that I would read all of the chapters (Ch. 7-9) that the exam will be on and work on practice problems. The way I chunked each task it by due dates. I will use all of my resources and MATERIALS (textbook and lecture slides) to study/ read for each chapter by a specific date. Then I will review homework problem and go over some of the practice problems in each end chapters. With Thanksgiving Break approaching I know there are going to be many events will come up. It is crucial that I stick with completing each task by the dates I have selected. I have used this strategy before to complete my Faculty Interview Project and it definitely helped me manage my time well especially because I was in a time crunch and had to submit the assignment earlier. I would recommend that anyone use these strategies, and remember stay on tasks and don’t’ go wasting your precious time.