Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
Time will Tell
Wherever you find yourself in your educational career, you may discover, from time to time, that you need support to achieve success. As a student with a learning difference, I’d like to share with you my standouts for success, which emerged during my first quarter as a PhD student. It is my hope that my vulnerability will provide you with a gem that resonates.
As someone with dyslexia I find that reading, writing and speaking in public, all things I now enjoy, takes me double to triple the time of the average student. As a young child this became painfully obvious, as I would peer over my sweat softened paper at classmates that seemly finished their tests before I even got started. So, it probably comes as no surprise to you that my most significant standout has to do with time management.
Time became my most valuable commodity this quarter, and scheduling time to study and time to play is essential to a healthy approach. Too much work and no play can make one miserable, but too much play can yield the same results. Making a schedule also prevented the feeling that I was working all the time, which can cause burn out fatigue. Pay attention to the time of day or night you work as your personal best and your personal worst. I learned starting anything after dark proved unproductive but beginning at dawn increased my success rate tenfold.
Speaking of time, make time for physical exercise, even just a few minutes, your body and brain will reward you. This may sound completely unrelated to your academic success but let me assure you that body and brain performance both need to be at peak, or at least a soft peak, to support the academic rigor we have committed to. Commit to avoid being committed.
Reflecting on your journey with time management, what are you learning about yourself as a student? How can you use that information to propel your success? Stay tuned for the next Blog in this series, Navigating with Learning Differences.
Susanmarie G. Oddo
BFA, M.A., Ph. D. student in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership
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