Welcome to College, Can You Juggle?

Managing Editor

   College.

   Sure, we all know it is the time we attempt to achieve a higher education and find a career path to follow. But did anyone warn you how busy you will be and how much you will be doing?

   If not, take this as your warning. If so, consider this a reminder.

   College is not all fun and games. While that is a good portion of it, there is an even bigger portion of hard work. Depending on the number of hours you take, the classes you take, the organizations you join, the jobs you have … it all can become overwhelming and hard to schedule.

   Here the trick.

   Buy a planner and learn to juggle. And by juggle, I mean find a way to balance everything you must do. If you want to learn to juggle actual objects in the air, go for it, but make sure you can juggle the time to juggle. (If you learn to do that, let me know, it might be interesting to write a story about the increasing number of jugglers on campus!)

   Seriously though, buy a planner.

   Write down everything you have to do. Write down assignments, when the assignment is due, when your organization meetings are, when you have to be at work, when you have to call someone, when you have to read, when you have to study.

   Allot time in there to relax too. Spend time with friends or family; watch television … do something to relieve the stress of school and work. But be responsible with what you do and manage your time. You do not want to schedule more time to relax than you do to focus on school.

   Putting everything in a planner will allow you to see what you have to do and when you have to do it. This keeps you from taking on more than you can handle.

   Harold Taylor of The Taylor Planner, suggests using a planner over “To Do” lists. He makes a good point by saying those lists tell you what you have to do but do they actually give you the time to do it? No.

   Many professors actually encourage students to use a planner so that they do not get behind in class. When a professor tells you that, listen.

   So, write everything down you have to do in a planner and write it in the time you can do it, then follow it. In the end, it will help you not stress yourself out as much.

   Take it from me. I am currently taking 16 hours and a member of six organizations or committees. If it were not for writing everything I have to do in a planner, there is no way I could juggle everything.

   Here’s another thing. You may not have to go buy a planner. Many cell phones have calendars or planners built in. Almost everything else is digital, so why not your planner? I know iPhones and Droids have apps that help you plan. Then again, isn’t there an app for everything? Maybe there’s a juggling app out there?

 Link the Taylor Planner to http://www.taylortimeplanner.com/articles/useplanner.html

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