Balancing everything

[panda bear 16]

I'm just wondering how others balance every thing, right now I'm carrying 3 accidemic courses at school ( honors math 12, english 12 , and chem 12) as well as dancing 10 -12 hours a week, student council president at school and working 2 days a week, cutting things out is not an option how do others find time for everything?

[vrsfanatic]

panda bear 16, I apologize for my response to your question... ! I guess it really did not make sense. What the heck could I have been thinking. I wish I knew, maybe there was a distraction and I just misread it. Who knows.

 

Major Johnson has answered quite well.

[Mel Johnson]

But remember: Cutting things out is always an option, and is a tool of time management. As student council president, I see one out already. Delegate specific projects to your vice-president. Vice-presidents usually are underutilized by organizations. Delegation demonstrates managerial skill! Also, put the committee system to work for you. Choose chairs that you can trust to hold meetings unsupervised, then have them report back to you! Even though as president you are ex officio on all committees, you don't have to go to all the meetings. If you establish an effective committee system for your council, then that looks good in your portfolio, too!

[Liz Power]

Believe me, I hear you—I'm taking five major academic classes (AP Calculus, AP French Lit, Physics, English 12, and independent study), three minor classes (Chorus, Chamber Choir, Dance History), applying to an Ivy League university, doing a show that rehearses 1 to 3 times a week, acting as editor-in-chief of my school's theater periodical and dancing about 10 hours a week. It ain't easy, and with all due respect, Major Mel, it does often seem like cutting something is not an option. The things I can technically get rid of (i.e., doing a show or taking a rep class) tend to be the things I enjoy the most. College counselors make it very clear that taking a regular class rather than an AP or taking fewer academic classes is not a good idea when it comes time to fill out applications.

 

Panda_bear_16, all I can really advise you to do is write EVERYTHING—dance classes, homework, appointments with teachers—down in a planner or notebook, because otherwise, you will definitely forget something, and learn how to prioritize. I rank my homework every night, and I do it in order of importance: like, if I have a physics problem set and a French essay due, I'll do those before I do my background reading for English. In an ideal world you'd always be able to do all your work, but that just doesn't always happen. Dance class is the time when you don't have to think about all your other stuff, so enjoy that time that you get to clear your head and just focus on dancing!

 

Also, be very careful about staying healthy. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago that I thought was no big deal, so I went to school and dance as usual. Within two days it had spiraled into laryngitis, a fever, and an eye infection. Sometimes taking one day off will save you from getting sicker and missing even more.

 

Good luck!

[Mel Johnson]

...it does often seem like cutting something is not an option....

 

Ah, but there's that word "seem", which is key here. Did you know that there's a whole realm of study about how things appear, as opposed to the way things actually are? It's called phenomenology. Sometimes, the way things seem IS indeed the way they are, but sometimes not. And the tactical or strategic retreat (take one step backward in order to take three forward) is always an option. In the Air Force, we used to say, "Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down."

[Victoria Leigh]

Good quote, nutmeg, but this is the YD forum. Sorry, I had to take it away.

[panda bear 16]

I think I took on too much school stuff. One of my events at school is on the 30th but i ordered everything i need for that over the weekend. How do i tell my student council sponsors i'm trying to do too much right now? even the commities i don't cordnate i have to be there as my vice presidents are rather forgetful, is there a nice way i can tell them to do their job?

thanks

[Mel Johnson]

Well, the warm, fuzzy manner of the Real World is always available:

 

"Do your %^)#$*> job or you're fired!"

 

PS. Remember, Student Council is in part a training ground for developing management skills for that nasty old Real World. If sometimes you have to push to get what you want done, then you have to push. You are doubtless governed by By-Laws and a Constitution, whatever you may call them, but there are, in all organizational frameworks, methods for bringing pressure to bear on slacker officers.

[ChasseChaine]

I used to have problems with balancing things, but I got better at it. It helps to write things down and to work during every spare moment, like before rehearsals or during your lunch period if you have to. And try to stay calm

[Malaika]

You are not alone!

I am having a lot of trouble myself at the moment, balancing twelfth grade high school, daily ballet classes, being in charge of a youth-dance-group with five-to-seven-hour rehearsals every weekend (not counting choreography, organization..) as well as violin- and singing-lessons... (well, actually I already had to put singing on hold last season). With a heavy heart I've finally decided to drop violin after christmas, after more than nine years of lessons. I just can't seem to find the time to practice and simply the _thought_ of another thing I have to do stresses me out...

Hopefully that will give me a _bit_ more time.

*sigh* It is so hard. Wish there were an easy solution. I can only hope I will get better at balancing, as ChasseChaine said...

 

Hang in there.

Sorry for having hogged this thread for my own whining...

 

many greetings

malaika

[ChasseChaine]

The most important thing for me is to have a schedule that you stick to. That way, nothing sneaks up on you

[Clara 76]

ChasseChaine-

Check the dates of the last post on the threads before you post an answer. The last few posts you've made are basically all 'I agree' posts to threads that are from 2007, and the posters who started those posts have not had any interest in those threads since.

 

Please do feel free to add onto older threads if you have something substantial to ask or add that could be helpful for others. However, 'I agree' or "I have that problem too' posts don't necessarily fit into the "helpful to others" category, make sense?

[panda bear 16]

I seem to be getting everything more organized now, people are doing their jobs

[Mel Johnson]

Good, systems were built to work, and one of the jobs they do is to save one person from having to run everything. Granted, you can have an autocrat who tries to do everything herself but that usually ends badly.