Problem Solving Blog #2

Problem solving has always been an extremely difficult task for myself to deal with. I feel like I am always stressed out about something and I am terrible at figuring out ways to cope with so many things on my plate at once. Last week especially I had two exams, a paper, and two quizzes. On top of all my school work I also had sorority business I had to take care of, I had places I needed to be, meetings, and going to class in general always takes a chunk from my day. Furthermore, I really like to work out when I have a lot of things going on so that I become more relaxed, however with the whirlwind of events going on I barely have time to exercise.

Therefore, the problem solving strategy I used last week was Ranking Priorities. I really enjoyed working with this strategy because I have always been a list person and I always write down what I need to accomplish each day. I am a visual and kinesthetic learner so ranking priorities helps me actually see what needs to be done and in what order so that I know everything will eventually wrap up. For Ranking Priorities you can set up the list by week, month, day, or any creative way possible. Taking things by week often overwhelms me, so I chose to zoom in on a particular day, which was last Tuesday.

Like the first step that's stated on page. 227 of our textbooks, I created a list of everything that needed to be accomplished for that day. I wrote either an A, B, or O next to the task to determine which is the most important and so on. I then grouped within the A, B, or O's and decided which I needed to conquer first and what can potentially wait for another day or time. At the end of creating my list I wrote checks next to what I finished and then usually one or two of the optional tasks I left alone.

This strategy taught me that I need to try and focus on the most important tasks first and get those done and out of the way. Ranking priorities is awesome for me as a person because I am so scattered everyday that looking at the list as a reference for what I need to do and when helps me stay focus and gives me structure in my day, which I desperately need. Whenever I have problems I write them down and in the order I need to finish them, hopefully Ranking Priorities will help me in the long run and allow me to be successful in the classroom and outside in my everyday life!