Tufts Blogs

Like any college kid, I have lots to do, not much time to do it, and too many distractions around me. I imagine many of you are just getting out of school for winter break, which means it’s college application season. Because I have a whole twenty years of life under my belt, I’m going to spend this post helping all my blog readers get through applying college!

I went to Time Management tutoring every week of sophomore year (yep, that exists in our academic resource center and it’s amazing), so I’ve really thought about this more than most. I realized that for me, the key to being productive is setting reasonable goals that I can achieve. It’s hard to set reasonable goals because all of my tasks take twice as long as I want them to, but I finally know myself well enough to set effective short and long term goals that are personal, academic and social. I’m no robot so being realistic is key.

You’re on a tight schedule, I like bullet points, here we go!

• Keep a specific rewards list (snacks, take a buzzfeed quiz) and treat yo self everytime you cross something off your to-do list – remember – is facebook really that cool that it is deserves a spot on your rewards list? Is it really worth it to procrastinate with a facebook break if you have a rewards list of things you actually want to do?
• Set small, achievable tasks in your to-do list (this is a personal fave, checking things off is great for personal confidence)
• If you are ultra-intense, make a schedule and set time limits on your tasks, but only if you will stick to it. Hint: follow the above two tips. Otherwise, just set daily goals.
• Double the time that you expect something to take – it feels great to finish early, and it’s better to be realistic.
• Go somewhere public – let anonymous people hold you accountable for doing your work.
• Draw it out! Writing on a computer encourages a linear progression in thought, and many of your ideas are not going to be linear initially. Don’t let Microsoft Word cramp your style so get out that pencil and paper.
• Take thinking breaks – Literally stop writing and think out your ideas - Don’t feel the pressure to WRITE WRITE WRITE. Good writing comes with a lot of thinking, so accept that and think hard.
• Feel good about yourself – I only like writing when I have something good to say, and you guys are cool people that get to write about things you like to do, see, and eat for 4 whole essays! If you feel proud of yourself and your topic, that will help you write a great essay. You all have something to be proud of yourself for – you’ve made it this far!

N.B. Since you all have a word count on your essays, I’m trying to keep to 500 words/ blog. I have a lot of thoughts so this is hard.

500/500