The book that I chose was Organizing Tomorrow Today by Dr. Jason Selk. At first glance or skim-through, the book seems focused on various sports and contains many athletics related references. However, with more careful examination, you realize that the suggestions presented by the author are adaptable to situations people face in life. When I set out to find a book for this course project, my intention was to find a book that offered some assistance in thinking through my career goals. I was aware of the frequently mentioned resources such as academic counselors, videos online, and career help websites but what I really felt was lacking were my own skills at organizing. For me, this book provided just the right amount of motivation and tools that I need to get myself on a better path.
My goal was not an abstract ideal such as to become a better person (although I do believe in self improvement). Rather, it was a clear cut and focused goal; to obtain an internship in the field of engineering. I had some idea of where I needed to look to get myself on the correct path, however I conceded that I could use work on discipline. Organizing myself better would provide me with the discipline I need.
My Way vs. the Book’s way: What Needed Changing
From the onset, I had been using my own organizational techniques that were proving ineffective. For example, making a list everyday for tasks due for the next day. This didn’t prove as useful because I didn’t hold myself accountable. The book explains that holding oneself accountable is important and that requires monitoring of progress and documenting. The amount of tasks that is completed is less of a priority than the importance of the task actually getting completed. Knowing what needs to be completed daily and being mindful of what is the most important task can help to stay on task and feel accomplished.
Strategies I Got From the Book:
Rule of 3
The first strategy I used involved writing down the 3 most important tasks that needed to be completed. In this list the tasks would be ordered from most to least important. This is important and also fairly easy for the average person to keep track of because in my book it explains that a person can only remember up to 3 topics or things at a time. With that in mind, it involved me having to improve prioritization & use time maximization. This called for ultimately using two lists, one for major goals (rule of 3) and one for small tasks that can be completed during downtime space. When I began my day, I would begin with my list of the major 3 tasks, and whenever I found spare time throughout the day I would work on the smaller tasks.
Success Log
The next strategy I used helped me to evaluate my daily progress without focusing on results. A success log evaluates based on process and how one is performing in their tasks, major or minor. This is a more balanced evaluation method because process is much more important than results and credit is given where positive tasks have be done.
Staying Up-to-date With My Progress:
In order to keep track of my daily routine I utilized google and also a Word document template that put the above strategies into practice.
Lessons Learned:
During this semester I practiced using both of these strategies by keeping the list up on both my laptop desktop and on my iPad for the time period (usually a week) until my next session. I found myself relieved after marking off each task throughout the day. Tracking my progress in this way has really kept me productive especially during times when I usually may be tempted to lose focus on what needs done. It also helped me prioritize, so that I found myself more successfully attacking the most important tasks of the day with the majority of my time. Having a shorter list of priorities also reduced the intimidating feeling that can come from a large workload.
Reflecting on my work for the day using the success log helped me understand what I am doing correctly. In this way, I was able to avoid the negative self-evaluation that can come from only focus on failure or that can arise due to non-success and instead reinforce the positives of the day. Listing out possible changes helps towards continuous improvement.
Organize Tomorrow Today has taught me that when following a detailed list, keeping up with all the effort toward any goal, you will have times of real uncertainty and slip up terribly. This can and will hinder with the routine you’ve set up, but if any of that happens you have to find a way to regain control and adapt. Sometimes, this will involve breaking the norm you’ve already adapted to, but in any case it’s still important to maintain control when you can, not make any excuses why you can’t get back to work, and not use up time and energy on a meaningless problem.
As my first year of college, this year has been a true learning experience despite the small, constant setbacks. Aside from learning how to be a college student and adapting to all the changes that come from freshman year, the abrupt closing of the campus due to the current global health crisis really presented a bigger challenge. I consider what I had learned in the first half of the semester in this course and the motivation presented in the book to have helped me through such a trying time.