Time Management for Geniuses

There are twenty four hours in everyone’s day, but often it seems as if we can’t get everything we want to get completed in that time period. To really live a balanced life, which is what many of us strive for, we make time for work, make time to care for our bodies through eating and fitness, make time to rest, and make time to socialize with our family and friends. With all of those activities, it seems like twenty four hours is not enough time. But even if we had more time in a day we would still rush around doing the same habits. So time is not really what we need to focus our attention on. Our attention needs to be focused on the activities we do throughout the day.

As a professor, business owner, writer, daughter, sister, aunt and friend, I want to get everything done, sometimes all in one day. Yet, I have learned that when I overload my list of activities, I run myself down—physically and mentally. When I run myself down, I’m unable to perform my activities on the level to which I would prefer.

So each week I make myself a list of priorities, which I call, “My List of Dreams to Fulfill.” Knowing what my overall goals are, I list all the activities I would like to complete in order to fulfill them. I then rank the list in order of priorities. I almost never complete the entire list by the end of each week, but the most important activities that I’ve identified as important are always done. And the activities that I have ranked and not finished are either removed from my list due to its lack of importance or move up in rank for the following week. Allow yourself to be okay completing the top three. That’s an accomplishment wroth of celebration.

Another key to managing your activities is asking for help. You’ll be surprised at how your family and friends really want to be a part of helping you fulfill your dreams. And for my professional business activities, I hire others who specialize in activities they complete far quicker than I would, especially with my busy schedule.
Hiring someone to do your work in college is definitely not a wise idea because, in addition to cheating, you will never know the information yourself. However, seeking extra help from your professor or your school’s tutoring center will allow you to complete your work with more confidence and in a timely manner. If there is someone in your class who seems to understand the material that you may be struggling with, get their contact information and arrange a study session together.

People explain things in different ways. Hearing the information from someone else might give you some clarity and allow you to complete your work in a timely manner. The more you understand, the easier it will be for you to complete your work.

So go ahead and create your own personal “Dreams to Fulfill” list, and seek help from others around you.

Published on Monday September 20, 2010 in Broadcast, College Success, Life Management and Self-Discovery. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Express True Self Through Journaling

One of the best ways to identify your true self is through journaling. Many people write in journals and only look at them months later. But the truth is you may find numerous treasures if you revisit your previous entries often.

When writing in your journal, it is important to write about whatever comes to mind. I recommend writing at the end of your day, before going to bed, so that you can include as many of the day’s events. Try to remember as much as you can about your day, using Post-it Notes to jot down certain things that impacted you throughout the day.

Make sure that your journal includes three important pieces of information:

  • Include every event that impacted you. If it was important enough to remember or you made a note of it during the day, it influenced you in some meaningful way.
  • Write down the feelings you had surrounding each event you mentioned in your journal. Then take as much time as you need to think about why you felt the way you felt. There is always a lesson hidden in the emotion you feel when an event takes place.
  • Log the reactions you had to each event. Determine if that is the reaction that you’d like to have if that event occurred again. If not, then write down how you’d like to change that reaction.

In order to make journal writing a consistent part of your weekly schedule, assign a certain amount of days that you commit to writing. Allow one additional day that will give you the opportunity to review your entries from that week. Reflect on them.

Between the margins, point out the parts of your true self that you embrace and want to keep a part of your being. Also, include notes about the parts of your true self that you’d like to change. When considering making alterations, think about some of the people you admire, whether you know them or not. The things we admire in others are aspects that we already possess in ourselves somewhat but may not yet express as much as we’d like to.

Published on Saturday September 18, 2010 in Broadcast and Self-Discovery. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Get Involved on Campus and Make Some Friends

Going to college is far more than just the academic experience. It’s also a time to grow into an adult, learn how to balance your schoolwork and social activities, dicover more about who you really are, and meet new friends.

Sometimes this can be a scary thing to do because you have known all of your high school friends for four years or more, depending on how long you lived in your school district. But making new friends, who resonate with your personality, will make college a much more wonderful and fun experience.

Start talking to the people in your classes. Join clubs, a sport team, or a organization on campus that you are interested in. Then you’ll meet other people with the same interests as you.

When I was in college, I met a lot of my friends from my cheerleading team. And then I made friends with the friends they were meeting. I’m still very close with my college friends.

Everyone goes to college not knowing what their journey is going to be like. Linking up with like-minded people will give your journey the full college experience.

Published on Friday September 17, 2010 in Broadcast and College Success. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Tapping Into Your True Self

Your true self is being exactly who you want to be. Some of the choices about who you want to be might be derived from your past, and some of the choices of who you want to be might be based on your personality.

Don’t doubt it for a minute that who you are influences what you do and how you do it. Let’s use a career example to show you exactly what I mean. If I have a student who does not value education and is only in school because his or her parents told him or her that is what he or she had to do after high school, that student is going to do is the bare minimum to pass classes. This is not you’re “A” or “B” student but the student who may or may not pass the class.

The student does this is by exerting only the slightest effort. The student does not study, does assignments last minute, and does not accept tutoring services when offered. The student just described has inner conflict and is not living a fulfilled and happy life in school or in any other aspect of his or her life.

Everyone has a foundation that makes up a part of who we are created from the environment from which we were raised, our families, our friends, the society around us, our religious background, our beliefs, and our morals and values. But what many people do not understand is that our foundation can be changed. Some parts of this foundation might work well for you right now in your life. If that’s the case, keep those aspects of your foundation. But for the parts of your foundation that aren’t working in your life, get rid of them so that you can be who you want to be.

Being your true self is so important, because it allows you to expose the gifts you have to offer to the world. If you keep them inside and don’t share them with anyone else, the world will miss your contribution.

One of the biggest blocks that prevents people from being who they want to be is fear of judgment from others. Some people worry about what their parents might think about their decisions, and others fear what their peers might think about their decisions. Fear of the peers is often referred to as peer pressure. No matter what age, many people feel they have to do what everyone else is doing so they can fit in. Most people think this only happens with teens and young adults, but the truth is that for a large chunk of life we all try to fit in at work, in our social groups, and within our families.

If you fear what others might think of you and your decisions, you are not tapped into your true self. If you live your life they way you want to live it, you’ve found the freedom that has been your right since you arrived on this Earth.

Tapping into your true self takes courage, because it may go against the grain of others you know and love. But if you feel you are living life the way it is supposed to be for you, keep going. You are on the right track.

Published on Thursday September 16, 2010 in Life Purpose, Self-Discovery and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Practicing Detached Involvement in the Classroom

Being engaged in the information you are learning is, of course, super important when it comes to being successful in college. However, try not to label yourself according to how you are progressing in your classes. Remember that everyone progresses at a different pace, and you have the entire semester to do what it takes to be as successful as you strive to be. 

In the beginning of the semester when I start returning essays back to my students, I always notice that their first set of grades can either become a brutal blow to a student’s self-esteem or a boost of confidence. Either way, your grades do not really say anything about you as a person but serve as an indication of what you need to work on to be successful in your classes.

I have seen students start off well in the beginning of the semester and then slack off because they think they are sure to pass with a high grade in the class. I have also seen students who begin the semester with weak grades and work hard to get really high grades at the conclusion of the semester. Either way, detaching yourself from the grades you get and using them as a tool to help you grow in the learning process is the way to go. It keeps you striving for more to improve on and will prevent you from giving up when things seem a little tough.

Believe it or not, your professors are not expecting you to walk into the classroom knowing everything they have set out to teach you throughout the semester. If that was the case, what would be the point for the students or the professor to even show up to class?

Look at your assignments and exams, see what is working for you and continue doing that. If you notice that something seems tough, go to your professor or your school’s tutoring center for extra help. You can even make a friend with someone else in the class who seems to understand the information you are learning. Everyone explains information differently, so hearing the information you are learning from someone else might just give you the tips you need to move forward successfully.

But by all means, do not give up. You are not your grades. Do your best and remember that your best in each class will differ because some information will be easier for you to learn than other information.

Published on Wednesday September 15, 2010 in Broadcast and College Success. 0 Comments Tags: , , .