Jessica- Task Management

As finals approach, managing my time and my assignments is becoming extremely overwhelming. It can be very hard for me to find a good place to study and do my work. When I try to study in my apartment, I'm always distracted by my roommates, the television, and I'm always temped to just lie down in my bed instead of doing my work. I decided analyze the many study environments I have on campus to figure out where the best place for me to study is. Throughout the semester, I'd been studying in the Goldstein study room, but now that finals are approaching, Goldstein is becoming more of a social scene than a study room. Every time I go there I'm distracted by friends I bump into and the people I see. I realize I need to find a study place where I can be all alone with no noise or distractions. After filling out the Studying Environment chart, I found that the basement of Bird Library is where I got the most productive work done. The cubicles in the basement prove to be the perfect place for me to avoid distractions and be alone to get what I needed done.

I've also been using my planner a lot more I had been earlier in the semester. I write everything in my planner, and break down the studying and reading I need to do each day up until my finals. My planner is much more packed with dates and assignments than ever before. Throughout the semester, I didn't take full advantage of how helpful a planner can be. I often just tried to remember a lot of my assignments, which was not always productive. By writing specific things I have to do everyday, I avoid forgetting any assignments. Using a planner is also helpful in breaking down my work. For example, in my planner I wrote a specific amount of pages I have to read everyday, for my EDU 310 book, which I have a paper to write due December 17th. On the days I have less work written down in my planner, I read more pages. This is definitely the most productive strategy I've used in CLS thus far. I wish I had taken more advantage of my planner throughout the semester. I would have been much more productive in many of my classes. I look forward to using my planner more next semester.