Managing Work

In the article "Manage Your Work, Don't Let It Manage You: Tips for Managing Your Time and Getting Ahead" it suggested seven tips to effectively manage your time. The first tip is to Be Organized and utilize appointment calendars, To-do lists, having an organized working environment etc.  Being organized is extremely important to be successful. I have a planner where I keep all of my deadlines and meeting times to keep me on track with my workload and to avoid procrastination. I am a firm believer in getting work done in an efficient and organized manner. The second tip is to Plan Ahead and determine how long assignments or tasks will take you. If the tasks require multiple responsibilities, see if they could be broken up into smaller tasks. The next tip is to Prioritize. One should prioritize the tasks he or she needs to get done in order of deadlines and amount of time estimated for the task. The article suggests making an A-B-C rating for long term and short term tasks. It is also important to make sure no task gets overlooked. The next tip is to Avoid Overload. This is something I definitely struggle with on a daily basis. The article says to include time for rest/relaxation which can be hard to achieve at times. It encourages the necessity of breaks during study or work periods. Procrastination is a large factor for this tip because if you leave everything for last minute, you will become overwhelmed with duties and not enough time to finish them all. It is also appropriate to learn when to say no to taking on more assignments if you cannot handle the workload you currently have. The next tip is to Practice Effective Study Techniques. Similar to being organized, the environment is extremely important for successful studying. You should also make multiple goals and manageable tasks. You also want to get the most difficult work out of the way first and foremost. The next tip suggests to Be Flexible in Your Schedule. Things will happen that will throw your schedule off its course. You need to be able to account for mistakes, or unreliable people that will slow down your efficiency. The final tip is to Have a Vision or to know what you want to gain out of your responsibilities, long term. In order to have a vision, you need to know what is important to you and focus on that. You also need to stay positive because once you start to doubt your abilities, nothing good will amount from that.

With the Visions Film Festival it is important to understand all of these tips and how they can be useful when working with groups of people and also outside of Visions. Since we are all students, these tips can be useful when thinking about our lives in general. Knowing how to balance studying for a test, working at a job, preparing for a class presentation, and contacting companies to raise money for a film festival can be extremely daunting if your do not prepare for each task individually. It is extremely important to stay on top of the workload that comes with the territory of being a college student. At times it might seem like you are drowning in work but most of the time, it could have been prevented. Procrastination is a bitch and can have serious consequences if not taken seriously. That is definitely something you do not want to learn the hard way!