Katie Phail | ’20-’21 Director of Fundraising
HEY BEE-UTIFALS!!! I hope you’re all not too stressed with everything right now (my heart goes out to all the seniors <3)!!! I know that I, personally, have been increasingly busy over these past few weeks with all of my deadlines coming up, but I have been trying to manage everything as best as possible, so I thought that I would share some tips with you guys to help you stay organized and focused as well as help you manage your time well without feeling too overworked or stressed. The main method that I use is called the Pomodoro technique, which I first learned about in an Officer Training Conference that was hosted by Key Club (which is why you guys should try to attend them if you can, they give you a bunch of good tips that don’t just pertain to volunteering). The first step of the Pomodoro Technique is to make a list of things that you need to do. I usually do this the night before and check on Google Classroom for any assignments that are due as well go over anything that I have to do for clubs and other extracurriculars. While it may seem like a hassle, it really helps me sort which things are the most important and need to be done first, so I would really suggest making a list the night before. The next steps are to set a timer for 25 minutes and work for those 25 minutes uninterrupted. By setting a deadline for myself with the timer, I feel more of an urgency to get my tasks done, which helps me become more productive with my time. I usually set my phone on nighttime mode during this time so I won’t get distracted by notifications and just focus on getting my work done. I sometimes listen to music while doing homework, but if I do, I listen to music that’s on a playlist so I don’t have to think about changing the music and breaking my focus. At the end of the 25 minutes, stop and write down everything you did and take a five minute break without thinking about your work. This will help you relax a bit and let your mind take a break and freshen up. After the short break, get back to work and repeat the previous steps with the 25 minute work interval, recording your progress, and the short breaks. At the end of the fourth round of repeating these steps, take a longer break for 15-30 minutes instead of five minutes. This is just to make sure that your mind won’t get too overworked and let you unwind for a longer period of time. If you want to, you could get other chores or tasks you need to do at home during this time to further increase your productivity, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to or don’t have anything to do at home. Continue repeating these steps with the longer break every four rounds until you either finish your work or it’s the end of the day. This method has been really helpful for me these past couple of weeks since I’ve gotten a lot busier with both school and extracurriculars, so by being able to have allotted time for different tasks and things I need to get done, I’ve been able to become more efficient with my time and be able to spend more time on more important things like my college apps. I hope this method works out for all of you and that you’re able to be a little less stressed by using this method!!!
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