practice better time management.

I get very bored at university (it’s winter and my university is way away from anything, it’s possible to catch a bus, but it’s annoyingly cold), therefore I finally convinced my parents to get Netflix. I’ve decided to use this to my advantage, so I’ve decided to use it as motivation to get this done. As a result, I set out daily goals to accomplish, and I can’t watch anything until they’re finished.

To make it more effective, I also have started cleaning up before bed so there’s no distractions, and I can get ready quicker in the morning and get straight to things rather than fiddle around. I was doing really well for a while, but I’ve been slipping lately. I had been getting antsy when not doing academic things even if there was nothing to do (which is probably hardly better than avoiding them), but that passed and now I do occasionally put things off, but I’m doing far better overall. I’m actually ahead in my reading for some classes, for the first time, which is way better than not finishing some in time or having to stay up until two thirty in the morning to do it.

Succeeding at university requires a hell of a lot of learning time management skills, and really good ones at that. As an arts student, I have tons of reading, usually multiple full books (that you can’t find on spark notes because they’re obscure local publishers) plus several articles that I’m to read over the course of a week in addition to all sorts of essays and research projects, and stuff that needs to be done for lectures and seminars. I’m only in first year, so it’s only going to get worse from here. I still procrastinate, especially on things that I know of a long time in advance, because I always think I have time. Therefore, I write lists to make sure I at least get the little things done fairly on time. It’s still a struggle, and the procrastinating is going to take a while, but I’m getting there! For instance, right now I have a week left of winter holiday, but I’m already doing the reading for my first week back to get it out of the way.
Cheers to baby steps!