Don't Divide... Do and Due!

As the semester wraps up and project, test andpaper deadlines creep closer and closer, all of the work can be overwhelming. This past week's topic of task management came at the perfect time. To be totally honest, CLS 105's homework has started to become more and more of a chore. I can respect why it is that we have to do it and try out the strategies, but I just feel like I could be doing something better with my time.

This week I tried out the "divide by 4" task management strategy. I used it to plan out studying for my last NSD 225 exam and writing my PSY 205 term paper. To divide by 4 you must break up the task into: 1) prepare, 2) start, 3) continue, 4) finish.

For my NSD 225 exam I used prepare as my daily things I do to get ready for the exam. That includes 20 minute test prep at the end of each week and preparing and answering test questions. I used start to go through all of the test questions and figure out which ones I don't know. Continue is used to make graphic organizers and other ways to remember the questions I had trouble with. Finally, with finish I re-review all of the test questions.

For the PSY 205 term paper I changed the prepare, start, continue and finish to work for a paper. Using research, outline, first draft and edit as my key steps to completing the work.

To be totally honest, I don't really find this strategy especially helpful. At the beginning of the semester I was a strong supporter of D's Do and Due. To me that made sense. You have a month calendar with major assignments on their due date and then during the weekly calendar they're broken up to tell you what part of the assignment you should be doing each day so the task is MORE MANAGEABLE. Just listing what I should do, and limiting it to four steps doesn't do anything for me. I need the organization of D's Do and Due with the long term and short term assignments listed and organized. I will not be Dividing by 4 again.