(Super Girl, as in this Super Junior-M song, possibly)
Cough. Anyway.
Current Music: “Pills” by The Perishers. Beautiful, heartbreaking song.
My automatic response in job interviews (and let me assure you that I’ve had my fair share just this past summer), upon that dreaded question of “What is your weakness?” is always this: I take on too much work. Constantly I’ve had to just sit back and realize what my top priorities are, and drop and keep things from there. My planner is my constant companion, where events and due dates and most importantly, weekend to-do lists are jotted down. The past few weeks, my to-do lists have grown quite a bit.
It’s safe to say that yeah, I’ve piled a lot on my plate for the year, and I feel that once again I’m arriving at the stage where I have to realize what my values are. It’s one of the important things I learned during CLASS- really know the things you value, and make them the base for everything you do- how you spend your weekends to which clubs to join.
However, knowing this, I still have questions:
1) Values-wise, what if I’m not really sure? And, well, the key thing is to try out what works for me? I know that I want to play a key role in one of the charitable clubs/organizations in campus, but I still don’t have a clear idea of the cause I really, really want to work for. I haven’t found that certain passion yet. Right now, I’m a member of the Dollar Project, which doesn’t aim for one specific cause- just for heightened “individual social responsibility”. I love it right now, but I still feel like there’s something missing.
2) How exactly does the “get involved” mantra work if you’re a commuter student? I love being involved, but I’m striving to fit in studying time whenever I can, and it’s difficult when I barely have time to eat dinner and go to sleep on time once I’m home. People recommend reading on the bus/Skytrain, but my body doesn’t like that and instead makes my head go dizzy if I dare read on the 99.
(And you know, I believe this is quite the issue with commuter students. They just want to go home, and so involvement is not really much of an option. This makes me very, very sad, but I digress for now)
And such are the questions in my mind as I tackle on having an on-campus job, volunteering, being an active member of 3 clubs, helping out in Event Committees, spending time with my loved ones, starting revision for finals, and remaining sane, among other things?
Another question: What if I’m overloaded, yes, but I love all that I’m doing? Is that enough justification? There’s some things on the list that are not as high up on the priority list as others, but that positive side of me always finds something in the activity that is beneficial to my personal growth that I can’t help but stick to it. Should I be less lenient anyway, and drop a thing or two?
Maybe. We’ll see. And to think, I keep forgetting I have a birthday, and it’s coming up in two weeks. All I know is I have “un quiz factuel sur Huis Clos” the same day. Heh.
SO. What do I plan to do about all this that I rambled about?
- I’ve downloaded the blank weekly timetable over at LEAP, and filling it out accordingly. My main goal with this is to find a couple of hours in my week to study for every course I’m taking.
- I have a MS Word document, listing each priority from highest to lowest. There’s a list of positive and negatives about each activity. As I reflect, the order will change. Once I find an ordering that really suits my capabilities, I’ll be applying said list.
- I vow to never lose my planner, and to write every piece of homework that needs to be done asap. It pays off to have a pretty planner- you’d really want to write in it and look through it.
- I’m also trying to figure out ways of being productive while commuting. Someone, please suggest some ideas, for I can use them.
- Remember self, you have a birthday! Honest to goodness take time to do something nice for yourself.
Halloween is tomorrow, and for the first time, my family’s decorated the house for the trick-and-treating kids that are sure to come (my neighborhood is mainly consisted of young families- so cute kids and babies galore!). I have a Hogwarts uniform to wear, and a Supernatural marathon is planned in the midst of handing out candy. Shall be good.
Ever the to-do list obsessed being,
Jennine
Let me know if you have any suggestions for the Dollar Project and I’ll see if I can do anything about it.
As for making more time, I have no real suggestions because I’m in the same boat as you ;)
Though, as a suggestion to save paper, Google Calendar is free and let’s you have that weekly schedule as well. I use it to schedule everything. (It’s replaced my agenda)
Jennine,
I’m so glad you’re using planning timetables and everything – hopefully they work for you!
I struggle with the same thing as a commuter student (mind you, my commute is not as brutal as yours). Now this is DOMI THE STUDENT talking: I do use my fulfillment as justification for my over-involvement. Consistently sleep-deprived? Yes. Stressed out? Yes. Do I regularly second-guess my commitments to all these projects? Oooooh yes. But at the end of the day, it’s what makes my week, my year, UBC, more than history class or poli sci papers. You just need to figure out what your ‘threshold’ is – that is, how much you can take on while still getting everything done well relatively on time. I just realized my threshold was last-years workload (aka. I’m drowning at the moment), but it’s ok – you need to figure out your balance eventually.
I can never read on the bus either. My recent crackberry purchase allows me to answer some emails enroute. I also get lots of random paper-brainstorming done on the bus. ;) Most of the time though, bus time is me-time. I don’t really watch tv or have blocks of ‘free’ time, so transit is my time to listen to music and crawl back into my little introverted shell.
Oh my, I wrote a novel. Sorry! Have a great last last four weeks (can you believe it?!)
-D
P.S. Your birthday is in two weeks? Mine is in two and a half! We’re like the same person! (slash not really, but just go with it….)
OMG JENINE, I KNOW THIS IS AN OLD POST…
BUT OMG,
it’s like you are IN MY BRAIN.