Back to School Series #4 - It’s Prep Time!

Time to get Organized with

Balancing School and Work

This section will be broken up into several categories. For now, this is strictly about how to effectively use a calendar. I found that the more I looked back at my college materials, the more organized I was with setting my eyes on the goal ahead in small steps, which was to finish school.

School Supplies

I know it sounds a bit silly, but when you were a kid, did you ever get excited about going school shopping? Some kids did not (cause they had to go back to school!) but I LOVED it (I also loved school!) I loved the idea of getting a new backpack, lunchbox, new pencils, pens and erasers because I was the first one to use them! It was special because I was about to create something new. Even as a child, I was doing something I did not realize would be a critical point in my life now. I visualized my success. Well, this is also a mental step you can do. Get new supplies for yourself. New pens (even if it is fancy) and maybe some new paper in a nice binder or as a journal. You could even go to the dollar store to get the same materials. There is something about having new supplies that also makes us feel good. Using fresh supplies can indicate a fresh start. Stationary can symbolize that you are creating new and fresh ideas to complete awesome work assignments! The materials you get don’t need to be expensive.

Schedules

When I first started attending college, then working… well it was just crazy for me because I had no schedule. Nothing written down to say, “I have this scheduled for this day ….at this time…”

Having some sort of calendar will benefit you. Whatever you can handle, if it is electronic or paper (I have both!), you will be able to reduce your stress significantly

The most important method I want you to use is the KIS method.

Keep It Simple.

That’s it.  Nothing you do needs to be complicated. Stay with simple methods that you know you can accomplish. We are thinking long term. A system is not of any use if it causes you to feel discouragement and give it up. Feel comfortable with a system that works for you. It can be a regular paper calendar. Anything that you have scheduled for school that is due, write down the date and time. Any function that you need to attend not related to school, write it down with the time. I cannot stress this enough. I know. It is simple but also easy to forget, especially if you have a lot of activities taking place. I too was a victim of this.

Anytime I started a new year calendar in the year, which is in July, I would get a huge desk calendar. Then I would write every holiday down for my working school district and for my kid’s school. I also wrote down any events that I need to attend, my kids football, dance or baseball games, doctor appointments and any other events. Feel free to use that fancy pen to make it happen. Don’t want to spend money on a paper calendar? You already have this feature available in Microsoft word. When you click on “new” (for creating a new document), there are choices for you. One choice is a blank calendar. You can use this for your own wall calendar!

That is the easy part.

Getting Everyone Involved

While looking at the calendar, I would speak with my spouse about upcoming events (a month in advance) to help him to know what changes to expect for that day / or week. I did this with my kids too (in case they knew about an event I did not know about). Then I would talk about the calendar to get them in the habit of looking at it and asking: what do we have planned for tomorrow? It helped them to remember what events were taking place. It helped me to remember. This calendar was also placed in a central location for the entire family to see. You can do this with other family members or friends. I also used Google calendar. You can send an invite of an event to someone else for dates to remember. This feature will even allow you to place a reminder alarm on it by email to help you to remember. This is also a great time to start discussing with each other planning family vacations, three-day weekends or just scheduling day trips with your family and friends. If you’re with a significant other, boyfriend/girlfriend, this is also a good time to create date nights with each other. Making the time to plan these dates out with each other shows you care and will help foster the relationship you have. While you are scheduling those days, make sure you plan a day, JUST FOR YOU. Yes. It can be an afternoon pedicure. Maybe having coffee with a friend (or by yourself, reading a novel). Either way, it is critical to place on your calendar time for yourself too. You will see in my next blog post why!

Routines

With my kids, I made a daily schedule. I have been on the same schedule since they began school. Expectations are clear and they know that when expectations are not met, it could mean they will miss out on an event (family time).

Here is an example of a schedule I have my kids on:

4:00 – Wash hands, get a snack. Watch a 30-minute show.

*Usually cooking during this time OR taking a 10 minute “quiet time” break for myself.

4:30 – Begin Homework and Read for 30 mins.

5:30 – pick out clothes and pack your lunch

6:00 -Dinner time (Yes, we all eat together. Gives us the opportunity to talk)

6:30 – Clean up, Bath time

7:00-Family time (TV, books...)

8:00 – Books and Bedtime

I cannot tell you how well having the same routine for them has helped me. As they got older, they knew the expectations and did it. They knew that having this routine, they could complete tasks independently, therefore freeing up time for myself to prepare dinner or make my own lunch for the next day. You must be wondering, okay, what is a 10-minute quiet break for you? It’s a time where you are not working. You can reflect, pray, nap or just close your eyes. If you choose to nap, studies have shown short naps (no more than 30 minutes) like this will make you more productive (National Sleep Foundation, 2017). This quiet time is needed to help me focus on the next tasks that I had to do later that evening and I had more energy to complete the task. The breaks are for the kids too. Everyone, young and old needs a break. Scheduling in those breaks assisted with productive homework time with less interruptions. They immediately got the materials they needed and got to work.

Okay Melody, what is the point of what you’re saying if I don’t have kids? There is a point. You need a routine. A reliable routine. Form that habit of doing things at a certain time every day. This will help with a BIG problem of procrastination. Accomplishing the same task at that scheduled time will help keep you focused. If it is on the calendar and it is not complete, it might help you think about finishing the task.

The next post, which will be longer, will be about “Saving Time on a Dime”.

How to save time or money to focus on school.

In the meantime, get some rest and have a wonderful weekend!

Melody

Sources Cited

National Sleep Foundation (2017). Located at:                                                                      https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/napping/page/0/1