Tag Archives: organization

Passion Planning My Way Through Life

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Coming back to school after break is always bittersweet.

It is always nice throwing all of my stuff in the backseat of my car and driving the hour back up to Claremont. As I get off on exit 47 for Indian Hill, it begins to settle that all the work is going to start piling up along with the usual stressors and fun of college. I am really excited to see all of my friends again and rev up for all the wild adventures that the semester has to offer. On the other hand, it is hard not to think about the huge piles of reading and papers waiting to be written that lie at the start of the semester.

Think about it:

The blissful experience of that first week of classes. For each class, your professor passes out the syllabus for the semester and once that’s over you can leave. You and your friends are pretty rested and think about how difficult the previous semester was while laughing about all of the free time you have right now. The campuses are all bright and cheery as everyone continues riding that after vacation high.

Suddenly, the first assignment is due.

Somehow all of the study tips that you perfected at the end of last semester seem to have flown out of the window. As much as I tried to convince myself that I was completely ready for this semester, it certainly proved me wrong. This is not something that should make anyone feel bad about themselves. It takes time to get back into the semester and reflect on what worked and what did not work in the previous semester.

One thing that I am really focusing on this semester is my productivity. I started reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg when it was given to me over winter break. Duhigg confirmed everything that I learned in my Organizational Studies class from the fall semester, specifically about the ways that habits appear in institutions. However, this time around I focused on the individual level of how habits and productive strategies impact your entire life. Procrastination is an enemy of mine and this book really shows how you can turn your bad habits into good ones.

Hopefully, I can apply all of the lessons from that book into the second semester of sophomore year because so much is expected of you.

  1. Turning in your coursework
  2. Applying for more scholarships
  3. Applying to Internships
  4. Declaring your major
  5. Extracurricular Activities

SO much to do and so little time.

Don’t have time for extra reading. I get that because anything separate from my Mount Everest stack of articles is not happening anytime soon.

BUT

Good thing there are free events on these very campuses. This last Monday I went to an event at SCORE about Time Management where passion planners were given out to the first 30 people. Time management is something that seems self-explanatory, but it is actually really hard to apply to your life. Aranya Huour, the academic coach at Scripps, told us that we just have to start.

Nothing is going to happen if you don’t just start making the changes or practicing the habits you want to have in your life. I’m ready to take on this semester geared with my google calendar, passion planner, and my intentions for this semester.

May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Overcommitting and Learning to Say “No.”

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This past week I have felt particularly overwhelmed with scholarship applications, cover letters for summer jobs, and choir performances coming up, all in addition to keeping up with my classwork, which included writing papers, finish problem sets, and preparing for the last exams before finals.

I am normally pretty good at organizing myself, keeping track of my assignments and projects in my planner, but recently I have not been doing as good a job at keeping up with it. Generally, I do better when I write things down so that I can refer back to my list later, but I have been feeling like I don’t even have enough time to write everything down that I need to do.

I called my mom to talk to her about it and the biggest things she noted were that I had 1. Overcommitted myself this semester, and 2. That it was a result of me having a hard time saying “No.” I have had this discussion with my mom multiple times, because I often overcommitted to activities and clubs in high school. But I have also talked about it with my friends at school, because I know that I am not the only one who suffers from this problem; many of the students at Scripps, and the 5Cs more generally, have a hard time saying “No.” In many ways, I think it speaks to the large number of interests most students here have. I know many people who are tutors, who are on a sports team, and are also science majors. Others are activists, members of multiple clubs, and students abroad. That was one of the first things that drew me to Scripps, but I also think that it can be a detriment to mental health and the ability to enjoy our time here.

My parents always remind me that college should be fun, and that I should be giving myself time to be with my friends and have time to myself. Oftentimes, I feel like I need to be doing something productive all the time, and I am realizing, as more and more time goes by, that, not only is that nearly impossible, but it is so important to have time where you’re not worried about being productive. If you are worried that you might be overcommitting by taking on a new responsibility, here are several things to ask yourself when you are making your decision:

  1. Will this activity make me happy? Is it something I enjoy doing?
  2. How much extra time will this activity require of me, and do I have that time to give? Even if I technically have the time to give, will it use up time I was planning to use for studying or relaxing? Will it create a back to back list of things to do on a certain day?
  3. What part of my overall health is this fulfilling?
  4. Is it something that’s necessary to my overall wellbeing?

If you answer no to any of these questions, it would be worth it to reevaluate why you are considering taking on this new responsibility and really think about what it will add to, or take away from, your life.

Have any other suggestions, or have your own experiences with overcommitting? Share and comment below!

Paperwork, Paperwork, and More Paperwork

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Coming back from spring break, in addition to over the break, I have found myself filling out so much paperwork for so many different applications and programs. Whether it’s been applying for scholarships, filling out paperwork for study abroad programs, applying for summer jobs, or registering for summer classes, the stacks of paper keep getting higher and higher.

I decided that I needed a system to organize myself and make sure that I remember important deadlines. Here’s what I have proposed for myself:

  1. Highlight deadlines and key dates on information sheets that are giving you a lot of information all at once. It’s likely that most of what’s written is important, but by highlighting the main info, you can glance at the sheet and remind yourself of what’s coming up.
  2. On that same note, place these papers in a visible place, somewhere you walk by regularly, so that you will pass by often enough not to forget what the paper is even talking about. I often place them on my bulletin board so that I can see them on a regular basis and refer back to them when making plans or trying to schedule meetings or weekend outings.
  3. Get a calendar or planner and write major dates and deadlines down so that you can plan around them and ration your time. Writing it on post-its is also an option. I recently wrote about keeping a planner to organize yourself, and that helps so much when it comes to these larger deadlines because it can help you manage your time better. If you know you have a large exam coming up, in addition to a job application deadline, you can start the application earlier so that you can spend more time focusing on studying for your exam.
  4. Don’t wait until the last minute to start applications or to start paperwork. Oftentimes, questions arise while you are working on an essay or filling something out, and you will do yourself a favor if you have not waited until the last minute because it means that you have time to contact someone and ask them questions about what to do. In addition, it will alleviate more stress in the long run. Getting stressed about these sorts of things is inevitable, but you can reduce the amount you feel by taking the work in chunks. That way, you’re not trying to it all at once, which is always a recipe for stress.
  5. Make sure that you are still having enough time to get all of your schoolwork done outside of your paperwork. Although it may seem like solidifying summer plans is the most important thing, but it is also very important to remember that you are a student first and foremost. If job applications are stressing you out because you need the money to help pay for Scripps or are stressed for other financial reasons, reach out to those in charge of the hiring process. Letting them know that you are interested is something they will view positively. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, there are many resources on campus (including CP&R!) that are here to help you navigate these exact situations. If you are worried about applications or paperwork due for study abroad programs, reach out to either Neva or Patricia in the SAGE office. They are very accommodating and are wonderful to talk with.

Paperwork can be overwhelming, so it’s good to have a system in place that can help keep you organized and on top of things. If you have any ideas that I didn’t list, comment below! Here’s to the second half of the semester!!

PERMs, Scheduling, and Coveted Classes

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At the beginning of the semester, everyone is frantically trying to get into the classes they want, rearranging their schedules, and PERMing into classes they want to be in. This process is chaotic, and can be one of the most stressful times of the semester.

Sometimes, you’re trying ot get into classes that you need for you major, or are trying to get into a class with a certain professor. All of this organizing and reorganizing of classes can be overwhelming, but I had a friend once tell me that you should go to the schedule you want, not the schedule you have. What I’ve learned is that this could not be more true. In all of my experiences as a student at the 5Cs, I have learned that if you want a class, showing up is the most important step to getting in. PERMing into a class you want is the first step, but it takes the extra step of actually going to the class on the first day to solidify, in the professor’s eyes, your desire to take it.

This semester, there was a class at Pitzer that I really wanted to get into, but it was only open to Pitzer students and I decided that the best way for me to get in was to PERM as early as possible. As soon as I read the course description, I knew that the class would be a great experience and PERMed right the and there. Even though it was very early and arguably too early to PERM, as no one had even registered for the course yet, I knew that I would show as one of the first PERMs and knew that that would help me secure a spot in the class. A few days after registration had opened up for all students, the professor emailed everyone who had PERMed into the class and asked us to come to a meeting so that he could discuss some of the details of the class and give us more of a feel for what we could expect. Only about fifteen people showed up to the meeting, which my professor later noted made his decision about who would be in the class a lot easier, and there were only ten spots open in the class. The professor did tell those of us who were chosen to be in the class, that having a meeting, seeing who actually showed up was the biggest factor in how he chose the ten of us who are now in the class because he didn’t pick anyone who didn’t show up at the meeting.

Last semester, there was a history class at CMC that I really wanted to take and was one of over twenty PERMs, but I emailed the professor and made a case for myself, asking if she thought there might be room after the first day. When I showed up to class that day, there were only about fifteen people, and she ended up accepting my PERM because I had come to class.

Long story short, emailing professors, PERMing into classes, but most importantly, showing up to the classes you want on the first day is so important if you are not registered for a particular course and would like to be. It’s worked for every class I wanted to get into but wasn’t yet registered for. Best of luck to you all!

Organizing Your Days, Weeks, and Months…and Staying Sane

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It can be really hard to maintain the multitude of things going on in your life. With classes, clubs, sports, labs, and friends, it can often feel like there’s not enough time for everything. Here are my tips for maintaining your sanity amidst it all.

  1. Be diligent about writing down your assignments, meetings, doctors appointments, and other important events down somewhere. It helps to have a planner so that you can organize yourself by day, week, and month. This also makes it easier to look ahead and see what events you have coming up that you may need to prepare for.
  2. Make sure to take careful note of events that are not usually a part of your schedule. These are often the hardest things to remember because they are not a part of your daily routine. If you think that that will not be enough, you can highlight it, write it in a pen so that it stands out from your writing in pencil. That way, there is a much smaller chance that you will miss it and then forget about it.
  3. Color code things! This helps me so much because I know that when I see a certain color, it means a specific event is coming up. For example, I write all my upcoming quizzes and tests in bright blue. That way, when I leaf through my planner, I know that I have a test on the days with bright blue.
  4. Plan out what you need to do over the weekend before the weekend starts. I often find that if I try to plan my homework for the weekend on Saturday, it overwhelms me, and I often don’t end up getting as much work done. If I can write out everything I need to do before the weekend hits, I have a better chance of getting everything done. It is also important to note that there are always lots of fun things going on over the weekend, so when planning everything you need to do, it can be helpful to decide what time of day you want to accomplish certain tasks. That way you can also schedule time to spend time with friends and relax.
  5. Check things off your list! Personally, I find nothing to be more satisfactory than crossing something off my list of things to do. If you write something down in your planner or on a piece of paper, it means it was important enough that you didn’t want to forget to do it, which means that when you’re done with it, you get to say farewell to that task and definitely cross it off the list.
  6. Be realistic with your goals and the amount of work you hope to get done in a day. I oftentimes find myself writing down too much for the time I have in the day, and that often leaves me feeling disappointed that I didn’t get more done and, maybe even, behind on my assignments. That’s why being realistic is so important. If you can set realistic goals for yourself, you are more likely to reach them and feel content at the end of the day.         
  7. Schedule time to be with friends and to relax. I often find myself only writing things down that are related to my studies or meetings, but self care is so important and for many people, that involves spending time with friends or being alone. It is easy to forget how important it is, but writing it down will not only remind you to take that time, but also remind you of its gravity.