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July / August 1998  Page 2 |
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Opinion Every MBA has something to say, and this is the place to say it. Send us your opinions by e-mail [email protected] or drop them into Benjamin Ang's mailfile in the MBA Lounge. The opinions expressed in these columns are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spreadsheet. |
Why Don't You Have Free Time? I was asked recently how I can have so much free time, how I can be relatively unworried by what seems like a tremendous amount of work. Many people make false assumptions about my time management skills - assuming I already know the material being taught and therefore, do not need to study. I thought I would contribute some of what I feel to be effective strategies for obtaining the free time that we all love and cherish. The first and most important thing that you need to do is to decide what you want. Do you want perfect 4.0 grades? Do you want to barely pass? Do you want to achieve a reasonable level of scholarship and balance that scholastic work with an outside life? What do you want? The second step is to look at the way you live your life right now. Examine all of the major and minor things that you do in a daily routine and assess how they are contributing towards your goals. For example, if your goals are to maintain a 3.0 average and run 4 miles per day, every other day of the week, is eating fast food during classroom breaks helping or hindering you? Is your apartment neat or messy, and does this affect your productivity? Do you spend too much time in front of your PC, compiling C programs, and not enough time outdoors, jogging along the Charles? Once you've assessed what you have, look at the things that are on the "not so helpful" list, and look at the "goals I want to achieve" list, and start to swap things out. For example, set up a dedicated time to work on schoolwork. Stick to that time religiously - don't work "until I'm done" or "until I solve this problem" because your levels of productivity, creativity, and energy fluctuate and dissipate as time draws on. Eventually, you reach a point where you're being unproductive, and you succeed only in frustrating yourself and wasting time that could be used for other goals. Once you've set out specific times, periods of accomplishment, give 100% to those time periods. As I recently told a friend, if you go running for 30 minutes 3 times a week, run during those 30 minutes with the intention of running and focusing on your running. Is your back straight? Is your stride even and paced? How's your breathing? Don't be thinking about compiling C routines while running. You won't solve the "for loop", and you might get hit by the "T". Set aside time for schoolwork and during that time do as much as you can with intensity. If you're working on a C program, and you find yourself stuck at some point, skip over it and work on a different part, a different function. Go back when you've finished everything else that can be finished. Don't forget that time exists everywhere. If you take the T to and from school, take a book or some reading material, or use the time for reflection. (more on this in a moment) Even more important is to shut down self-defeating habits, thoughts, and routines. One way to waste an incredible amount of free time is to worry. Shantideva said, "If you can fix the problem, what is the point of worrying? If you cannot fix the problem, what is the point of worrying?" The fourth and most important step is to set aside some time for reflection, re-centering, and relaxing. No one can go full blast all of the time. Such is the stuff that induces a burnout. Pick a time interval each and every day to reflect on what you have accomplished, what you are going to accomplish, and to re-affirm your goals and your beliefs in yourself. This last part is most important. Spend time each day visualizing success, in every sense of what success means to you. If that means having a Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car, then visualize that success and the steps you need to achieve success. An important part of this visualization is to make it as real as possible. If you dream of owning a nice home, imagine yourself standing in the front hall of your home. See it in all the rich and full detail, smell the food cooked in the kitchen, listen to the sounds of a gentle rain on the roof. Make it so real that you cannot imagine any other outcome except to have that dream fulfilled. In future posts, I'll take a look at addressing specific topics such as stress relief, steps towards achieving success, and other topics that you can apply towards making yourself a little happier and healthier. Christopher S. Penn is an MS/MIS graduate student at Boston University's School of Management. Mr. Penn is a practitioner of Tendai Mikkyo Buddhism, and has authored ten publications on topics ranging from personal self-protection to mind sciences and personal self-development. He may be reached at [email protected] for comments, questions, and suggestions. The opinions expressed in these columns are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spreadsheet. |
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