As the semester is winding down, I am faced with the task of closing the residence halls (my day job) while writing 25 pages for two different final assignments for my doctoral classes. I’m also in the midst of some job searching, want to go to a concert in Pittsburgh this week, and way too preoccupied with play-off hockey games (let’s go Pens!) and fantasy baseball. Sounds familiar to just about anyone working in higher education, right?
I’m a little stressed out, but my current juggling act illustrates the importance of time management and organization if you are going to be a doctoral student from a distance. I felt that I would be easily able to balance all of my responsibilities, but I forgot to take one major factor into account: I am a procrastinator. I get some sick thrill out of pulling a project together at the last minute, but this approach is doomed to failure in the context of grad school and full-time employment. This semester I have decided that in order for me to maintain some balance in life and conquer procrastination, I would need to make some changes.
One of the easiest, and most effective, tools for conquering procrastination that I have utilized is group accountability. A number of people in my cohort have formed a reading group, so we split up readings for class, outline them, and then discuss them. When I know that my procrastination will impact other people, I work ahead and get things done well before deadlines. Our group has taken this same approach for reviewing some of our papers and assignments. Basically, I’m piggybacking on positive study habits of other people. It’s timeliness by osmosis.
I have also become more and more dependent on technology as a way to keep myself on track. I had never been a to-do list maker, but I am now. I use the to-do list feature in Mail (the email app I use on my Mac) for work, life, and academic action items. I try to follow an inbox-zero philosophy so that I am on-top of communication that comes through my email. Our reading group also uses a Google Group to keep our materials organized and as a communication hub. Nothing terribly Earth-shattering here . . . but these have been important changes that have paid off for me in a huge way.
Perhaps the most important strategy for staying on-task is doing academic work that is rewarding, motivating, and interesting. Fortunately this has been the rule, rather than the exception, with my doctoral program thus far. Despite my propensity for procrastination, I am interested in my work and want to do well. At the end of the day, that keeps me going.
Bryan Koval
Bryan Koval holds two degrees from the Pennsylvania State University (B.S. Secondary Education 03, M.Ed. Higher Education 08). He has worked in Residence Life at Penn State for 5 years, and has made meaningful contributions to projects related to living and learning communities, cocurricular learning outcomes, and resident assistant training in the department.
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