Time Management (Outcome 2)

Big Picture: Semester Plan (Exams)
Just Do It
Daily plan
Ideal Week
Tracking

Day 1 (Thursday April 6): I did not follow my planner very well on Thursday. I dropped English class so that is why it is crossed off on my "ideal week" planner. My day started off when I woke up at 11:20. This was not good because I did not get breakfast before class like I would like to and I also did not go to class. I showered and got ready for the day. I prepared for my professor interview and then went to that at 12:30. This is not on my typical week however it was productive and necessary so it just pushed lunch back a little to 13:00 which is still good and basically the plan. At 13:45 I finished lunch and stopped at the amphitheater and checked my e-mail and sent some e-mails because it was nice outside. At 14:15 I met with another professor to set up an appointment which was also beneficial. At 14:30 I went to the library and sent some more e-mails and did some studying. I was fairly productive at the library but could have done better for sure. I stayed there for a good while then got dinner at 17:30 which is early but it's my free time in my plan and I didn't eat breakfast. At 18:30 I hung out with my friends and played Fifa. I am alright with this because I need some down time and I was at the library for a long time. At 21:00 I ate again which is good because I want to eat a lot. I went back to the library at 22:00 with my friends and wasn't very productive. I did not get much done plus I stayed up too late. I left around 00:15 and talked to my friends back at my dorm for a little while before going to bed at 01:30. We had good conversation at the dorm so I was fine with that but I should not have gone to the library. I felt this was a very productive day overall. The main and maybe only issue was sleeping. I stayed up too late the night before and overslept. Then I stayed up late again. I feel that I have struggled a lot with sleep lately and honestly for a lot of my life. I have always kind of been a night owl and it is kind of like a domino effect because even if I try to go to sleep earlier I still sometimes can't even fall asleep because I'm not tired yet. The e-mailing and meeting with professors were very important and nice to get done.

Day 2 (Friday April 7): Friday I followed the planner a little more however I wouldn't say it was a better or more productive day necessarily. I woke up slightly after 9:00 and went to engineering class. I was a little late though and I did not get breakfast before class. After class at 10:00 I stopped by the mail room and picked up a package and then went back to my dorm room. At 10:30 I showered and got ready. At 11:00 I had a phone interview with someone from the YMCA for a summer job this coming summer. At 11:30 I met with my professor and reviewed a prior test. None of these things after class were on my ideal week plan yet were all good to do and productive. At 12:15 I hung out with friends for a little and played Fifa again. Then we went to lunch at 12:45 and I went to math class at 13:25. Lunch and class are on my planner. After class at 14:30 I took a nap and relaxed for a while. At 16:00 I checked my e-mail and then did not do anything productive so kind of just relaxed more. At 17:00 I played spikeball. After math is basically free time on the planner so I guess it was alright except for I didn't work out. After spikeball I went to the Smokin' Pig at 19:30 with friends. At 21:30 I hung out and watched part of a movie. Then at 22:45 I did a little workout of push-ups and some ab work and then hung out with friends at 23:30 until I went to bed at 00:30. This was a pretty good day with a productive morning and fun evening. It was Friday so that is kind of the goal and how I set my planner up to be. I still could do better with the sleeping situation. Also after math class I would like to either be productive or having fun because it is the weekend after that class.

Day 3 (Saturday April 8): Saturday is my free day so I guess I followed it completely. I woke up at a good and for me early time for a Saturday at 9:30 so that feels good to me. I showered and got ready for the day. At 10:15 I checked my e-mail and then at 10:40 I did some schoolwork. This was kind of impressive but I also was just waiting on my friends to get up. At 12:00 I went to breakfast. At 13:00 I went to a tailgate for the spring football game with a friend. We went to the game at 14:30. At halftime, which was 15:30, we took our own intermission and got lunch then returned to the game at 16:30. After the game ended we went and played spikeball at 17:30. At 20:00 We went downtown and watched the hockey game and hung out at the bar all night. I got back to my dorm around 00:30 and hung out with people until about 01:30 and then went to sleep. Saturday was a really good and fun day and definitely a fun and memorable night.

Evaluation: I think the "big picture" plan is very helpful so it is harder to forget when important things are coming up and due. It also helps for making plans outside of school especially travelling plans. I think the daily plan is probably the best and most useful tool at least for me. I see it all the time without even having to put the effort in to think about taking it out. Also it isn't so restricting as the ideal week yet I still understand they are things I need to get done. The ideal week planner is still helpful as long as it is used properly. I think it should be a little more general because it can get very hard to follow if too specific. Also when you did mess it up and struggle to follow it you shouldn't get frustrated and quit using it, rather keep trying to improve towards it and or make slight revisions. I really liked the "time-management self observation tracking" because it was pretty neat to see what you actually did after the fact. Also you may feel that you're doing great or poorly with the plan yet could realize you are actually doing otherwise and will either be happy or need to re-evaluate.

Revision: I may very well use all four of these time-management tools in the future. I feel very confident though that I will use the big picture and the daily plan. I really like the app I have for my daily plan. Every time I open up the internet or a new tab it pops up. It's called Momentum and it shows a new pic and quote everyday and of course has the to do list at the bottom right. Another feature is that you can put a main focus for the day but I don't really use that. I will hopefully make the big picture plan at the beginning of every semester or even time period where I could use it like over the summer if I have some big things to due. I may or may not use the ideal week planner again but I probably will give it one more shot next semester. Also I might use it and just put classes and extra-curricular activities like clubs and maybe also an eating schedule and working out. I feel the homework type stuff can be useful but even if you have it on the sheet you probably won't do it unless you have it prioritized and the other way around. So if you have it as a priority you should still get it done even if it's not on the sheet. The self observation tracking would be useful as an occasional test and also it is kind of fun to do.

The "Activities I did" chart consists of all of the activities I did in the self observation tracking with how many of those were on the ideal week plan.

The "Plan Activities" chart consists of all the opportunities I could follow my plan on the ideal week plan and how many I followed.

The "Productivity" chart shows activities I did that were productive, non-productive, or necessary.

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