changes in life
... time management, be it having a planner, a to-do list or simply sticky notes with your daily goals provides you with a clearer sense of direction. Instead of aimlessly wandering from project to project, from class to class, or from event to event, time management gives you the opportunity to have more control over what you accomplish with your days. Having time management skills also increases your organizational skills. Instead of forgetting due dates or milestones in projects you’ll have them written down somewhere you can clearly reference those items, days even weeks ahead of time. There should be minimal last minute schedule changes or surprises. Most experts say that you should take time before you go to bed at night to plan your next day’s activities and to review the current day’s activities. This serves two purposes, first it allows you to realize what you have accomplished today and to plan for tomorrow. If you loosely plan out your week on Sunday night, it gives you a broad view of your week and you have a better chance of completing, in a timely manner, those things that are pivotal to your week’s success. Now that we know why time management is important to us, let’s talk about how to set goals and priorities in your life. Goal setting doesn’t necessarily mean sitting down with a pen and paper and making a list of priorities, although most times that can be extremely helpful. Goal setting can be mental, but it shouldn’t be a one time thing. You should always take time to go back and reassess where you are in your list of goals. There are five basic steps to goal setting. 1. The first is to make a scale of your priorities. All of us in this room are 18 and over. And all of us have established a certain lifestyle. Many of us are parents, some are athletes, some are musicians and some are partiers or some combination of all of these things. Without even really knowing it, we all have a set of priorities that we live by. This is a time in all of our lives when we should look at who we are and contrast what we see with what we want to become. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be yourself, but you should make room for growth and improvement. By making a scale of what is important to you, you will be ready to set some definite goals. 2. Set specific, measurable, and realistic long term goals. Just saying that you want to “do well” in school is not enough. Everyone wants to do well. Besides “doing well” is not a measurable goal; what exactly is doing well. In simplest terms, set specific, measurable, and reasonable long term goals. Say to yourself that you aim to get an A in speech this semester or that you want to end the semester with at least a 3.0 GPA, something that you can measure your performance against and make adjustments for next time. 3. Set short term goals. Without short term goals, long term goals are impossible to achieve. How can you get an A in speech class if you didn’t do the interpersonal paper and you failed to turn in several portions of your speech packet? Those are the short term goals that are necessary to make the long term goal of getting an A in speech possible. Even though you may have trouble meeting all of the short term goals, following through on most of them will help you achieve your long term aspirations. 4. Set social, personal, and academic goals. Academics is only facet of our life. You should set social and personal goal, as well as academic ones. For most people today, socializing is high on the priority list. Live life while it’s fresh and happening. Social ambitions may include dating, getting along with your peers, or becoming more culturally aware. Personal goals, on the other hand, may consist of balancing your checkbook each month, exercising regularly, or eating a balanced diet. Things that affect yo...