As an engineer, managing my time is extremely important! With classes, extracurricular activities, and work, time management is key in my life. As a freshman especially I had to get use to having all the extra time that I didn’t have in high school. I’ve established a decent way of balancing my life and here are some ways I try to stay balanced:
1. Planner: For me, I have to have a planner. I carry my planner everywhere, and write everything down. I like to carry extra sticky notes with me to make notes with my homework, or other things I need to do. I’m the type of person who likes to schedule out my life hour by hour. It doesn’t always run that smoothly (in fact, it hardly ever works out how I plan), but I like to have an idea of what is going to happen in the course of a day. Don’t get me wrong, I love a little spontaneity. Sometimes it all feels a little overwhelming, but having it written down really helps me out. I prefer the moleskine hard cover weekly planner in bright red. I’ll have to get a new one for January! It has a lot of stickers for planning and I could not live without it!
2. Make goals: I like to have weekly, monthly, yearly, and longtime goals in order to get things done. Weekly goals are really easy to make. For me they typically include homework and studying as well as working out. I like to plan ahead and making goals really helps me out.
3. Have some fun: Life as an engineer can be pretty busy, and I could probably spend all of my time working on homework. In order to break up the monotony of homework and studying and sleeping, eating, etc, I have to do something to destress. Sometimes for me going for a short run or simply playing the piano is enough of a break for me. Watching an episode of modern family or the office is also a good break for me. The weekends are the best time for me to have a lot of fun and I really cherish them.
Those are just a few of my time management tips, and the things that work out best for me! Each year has been a little different, but I somehow manage to squeeze everything in!
Ari
