ENC2135: Genre & Storytelling

     Many students are juggling full course loads, part-time jobs, extracurriculars, relationships, fitness, family obligations, AND finding time for the many tasks associated with maintaining a human body like showering, eating, hair maintenance, washing clothing, and sleeping. 

     This course and all your other courses are going to require you to devote a significant amount of time to your assignments. How do you make sure you are getting it all done?

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1. Find a time-management system which works for you. Whichever system you choose, make sure it is one you want to look at multiple times a day.

• Paper planner: the FSU bookstore sells paper planners with school events already listed. Also check out the many, many academic paper planners available at B&N, Target, WalMart, Dollar Tree, Amazon, Passion Planner, Etsy, or the many free printables available on Pinterest. Even Microsoft Word has a calendar printable which you can use.

• Google Calendar: all of our class assignments are accessible via Google Calendar, and you can add them to your own with one click.

• Bullet Journal: While Instagram showcases super artsy and complicated bujo spreads, the system is simply writing down everything you need to do. Ryder Carroll coined the system and walks you through it in this quick video. 

 

2. Log everything. Take the syllabus for every class and log every deadline for every assignment. 

 

3. Estimate how much time an assignment will take and schedule that time. For example, schedule an hour to write a 500-word blog post. Why? Because you book the time, find a seat, open a laptop, open Wix, open a text box, and all of a sudden 15 minutes have already passed because your messages were blinking and notifications were popping and you wanted to check those first to make sure they weren't urgent. Things happen. Schedule more time than the assignment will take, and if you knock it out quick, that's like free time to do the stuff you love.

 

4. Book study time every day, not just for when you have an assignment due.  

 

5. Super-procrastinator? Lie to yourself. Tell yourself that the deadline for an assignment is two days earlier than it is really due. This way you have some buffer time in case you miss that first deadline. 

 

6. Book time to chill. Whether it is for Netflix or a nap, make a date with yourself to do absolutely nothing. Put it on the schedule.

 

7. Don't get overwhelmed by large tasks. Instead, break it down into small tasks. Our class requires you to compose an annotated bibliography which in the end should be 1,500 words (it is a paper-length project). Don't try to knock this out in one night. Break it down over multiple study sessions. 

 

8. Develop routines. If you know that you will be happy/healthy eating bagels every morning for breakfast, then that's one less decision you have to make that day. The more routines you develop, the fewer decisions you have to quibble over making. Settling into your study spot, your bus route, your late-night delivery service, or your beverage order means you have more time for the unpredictable time sucks, such as looking for parking, loud roommates, hall meetings, and long lines for food.

 

9. Whether you are a morning person or night person, wake up at the same time every day. This will keep you from sleeping through classes accidentally. 

 

10. Check out time management guides like Getting Things Done by David Allen. Available at FSU libraries.