Digital journalism week 5 task

Week 5 task: Using InDesign for digital publishing

is the increase in stress due to poor timemanagement skills?

Are poor time management skills contributing to higher stress rates, and an increase in students dropping out of university?

I conducted an Interview with Andy Matthews who is currently studying Events Management at Leeds Metropolitan University to ask his views on his personal time management and what it means to him and his future career.

David Jex: How Important or relaxed would you say your time management skills are?

Andy Matthews: I would say, due to the requirements of my course and the career I want to go in to, my time management skills need to be very organized and important. I will need to be very accurate and will need to complete the tasks set, in order to do my job to its best ability, on a very strict time scale.

DJ: Would you like to have a more relaxed look on time management and have more time in completing the tasks set?

“Yes, I would love to have a more relaxed schedule” AM: Yes, I would love to have a more relaxed schedule. There are times where the work can be very stress full and non stop. It would be very nice to have weeks where I can relax a bit more and not have to worry as much about the time I have.

However, the nature of the job means that work has to be done by a certain time as to avoid more stress towards the end of projects.

DJ: How important are god time management skills to your university course, and in your future career?

AM: Very important. The career I hope to lead means that if I do not mange my time well and meet deadlines, the overall project we could be focusing on could be late and could even result in the event being cancelled.

DJ: Do you tend to manage your time on a day-to-day basis or do you plan your time and what needs doing over a longer period of time?

AM: It really depends on the project at the time to be honest. If we are on a big project that takes a long time to organize I will create a Gantt chart to help plan and organize my worl over the time slot we are given. I will still need to plan my time to maximize outcome, but the days normally organize themselves.

DJ: Do your curricular tasks and time management ever affect your social life?

“What would be the point in working and earning money if we have no time to spend it?”

AM: Yes, at times my social life does suffer. However, this is normally because I have postponed work at earlier stages due to a social event. I feel it is important to make time for social activities so we can have time away from our schedule.

What would be the point in working and earning money if we have no time to spend it? As long as we make up for the time we have lost I think this is a very important outlook to have.

DJ: What is it that motivates you to manage your time so well?

AM: The most important thing for me is that I get a job done to the best of my ability, without becoming stressed and compromising my health and mindset.

Its very important to me that I don’t let the work pile up too much as this can become very stress full and when someone becomes stressed, the work is not done as well as it could be and i have seen people who have become very ill and depressed.

I try my hardest to eliminate any possibility of stress so that I can continue to enjoy what I do and at the same time, have a life that I can live when not at work.

“The most important thing for me is that I get a job done to the best of my ability, without becoming stressed and compromising my health and mind set.”

I feel the answers that Andy has given are very good in reinforcing the idea of having good time management skills. It proves that not only do we need to manage time well in order for us to create the best outcomes from our work or jobs, but also we need to manage time well so that we can stay focused, happy and good at what we do. However, should we be prioritizing our work lives in order to have a normal life outside of work or should our home lives come first? This is a question that would be answered differently by different people dependent on their outlook on life. In conclusion it seems to me that good time management skills need to be developed at an earlier age in order to create a natural instinct of time balance throughout the rest of our lives. This interview and the answers given show that there is more to managing time than to meet deadlines we are set, but also to live the lives we want to live with the minimal amount of stress possible.

Week 5 Reflection: this week we looked at how we could use Adobe InDesign to create a 4 page magazine spread. this is the first time i have used InDesign and after a confusing start i found it to be very useful. i found the application and placement of text very easy however was a bit more confused by the graphics. i used the website http://tv.adobe.com/ watch/learn-indesign-cs5/gs05-importing-graphics/ to aid my usage of this programme and feel alot more confident with the tools and processes involved in applying images to the document. overall i feel this is a very interesting programme that when used more regularly i could become fluent in using and will enjoy using.