Sydney Larrier

It’s easy to get caught up in the rush of committing to various activities.  We’ve all been there.  Many opportunities are attractive and you find yourself wanting to get involved with most, if not all of them.  The problem is that there’s only so much time in a day.  Commit to too many obligations and you’ll find yourself struggling to keep up. 

The other option isn’t necessarily more appealing.  If you leave behind some opportunities in favor of others, you may find yourself worrying that you’re missing out on exciting experiences.  Even if you have plenty of time for all of your activities and free time left over, that’s not a nice fear.  You can avoid this pitfall, at least in part.  Enjoying a balanced schedule requires planning and prioritizing to simultaneously sidestep over-scheduling and the feeling of missing out.  If you can properly craft a schedule for yourself, you’ll find you have time to breathe and still feel accomplished. 

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Before you commit to the first opportunity that pops up on your radar, sit down and map out your standing schedule.  It’s best if you use a visual representation of your schedule rather than just thinking about it in your head.  You’ll find it easier to recognize potential conflicts and the true length of your current obligations this way.  Whether you use a calendar app, your laptop, or a good old-fashioned daily planner doesn’t matter.  Next, write out all of your commitments as they appear over the course of a week.  These would be the times you’re in class, in rehearsal, at work, at the gym, or involved in any other ongoing activity.  Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a definitive representation of when you’re busy and when you’re not, which will prevent you from forgetting about an obligation and double-scheduling yourself. 

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Enjoying a balanced schedule requires planning and prioritizing.

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Now that you’ve filled out your schedule, you need to look at your free time and fill in the time you use for sleeping, doing homework, and traveling to and from your job (if it’s a significant amount of time).  It’s easy to forget about these things when putting together a schedule because they’re routine.  These are the things that can’t be squeezed between other activities, though.  They take up a significant portion of time and can easily eat into the time you might spend doing other things.  The temptation may be to allot a minimal amount of time to them, but it’s important to remember that there’s little you can do about your commute time, and you won’t have much fun in your other activities if you’re overtired and have a cloud of bad marks hanging over you.  Allow yourself the necessary time to take care of all parts of your life.  You won’t regret it. 

Alright!  Now you’ve blocked out your true periods of free time.  Don’t start signing up for everything yet; you still have some thinking and writing to do.  Get a full list of every role, activity, and job to which you’re considering making a commitment.  Rank them in order of which ones you’re most enthusiastic to do.  Once again, don’t do this in your head.  Type or write this list out so you have a concrete representation of what you want.  If you find you’re having trouble placing activities on your list, write up a pros and cons list.  It’s easy to be swayed in the moment when a particularly nice aspect of one activity pops into your mind.  Having a list to look at, where everything can be easily compared, will help keep you on track. 

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Shortchanging sleep or allowing a tight fit for travel shouldn’t be the norm in your schedule.

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Now that you’ve prioritized, you’re ready to make some commitments.  All of this work will have been for nothing, though, if you still go wild signing up for things.  Only commit to the activities you find at the top of your priority list and will fit into your schedule.  Yes, sometimes, you’ll find yourself shortchanging sleep or allowing a tight fit for travel time in favor of doing something you’re really excited about, but this shouldn’t be the norm in your scheduling procedures.  If you’ve done right by yourself, you should have time for everything you need to get done and still do things you’re excited about.  You should be pretty comfortably scheduled, ready to feel accomplished and not about to pull your hair out at the thought of what your day holds.

 

I’m currently a student in the Performance Studies major at Northwestern University.  I spend a good amount of time writing short stories and plays.  Learn more about me by visiting my blog Stylyistic Fuzzy.  

 

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