Welcome! Unit 2 Seminar Time & Stress Management

General Questions & Weekly News Please share your weekly news! Post any general questions you have as well!

Rules of the Road “Listen” carefully and read along as I cover important reminders and course information. Strive to stay on track with the discussion; do not carry on side conversations. Please try to hold all questions until I open the floor to questions (I will ask for questions frequently throughout the seminar).

How you are doing at navigating your way around the classroom and the Discussion Board? Are you finding that it is not so intimidating after a week's experience?

Weekly Reminders & Announcements Communications Assignment Task List Grading Schedule Late Assignments Gradebook Comments

Discussion Tips Many students find it a bit difficult to respond to classmates' comments. This takes time and practice! Remember, “I agree” or “Good point” are not considered meaningful comments. Strive to EXPAND the discussion in some way--add to your classmates' views, share your own examples, ask questions, show your interest. Explain WHY you agree or disagree.

Let’s Hear from YOU! What are some things you can focus on as you strive to respond meaningfully to your classmates' postings?

Questions?

Unit 2 Overview Plan, organize and prioritize your school-related activities by assessing your time management skills and setting goals. Understand what causes stress, how time and stress management are connected and what you can do to manage stress effectively.

Unit 2 Time Management Assignment Select the Unit 2 tab on your Course Menu and then select the Assignment icon (to the right) to access the Unit 2 template. All assignment instructions are included on the Unit 2 template; review all instructions carefully. For the Unit 2 Assignment, you will be setting up a two- week schedule for yourself and reflecting on several items related to time and stress management.

Proofread! Make sure to carefully PROOFREAD your work. Check for spelling, punctuation and complete, clear sentences. Try reading your work out loud as you proofread—your EAR will often hear mistakes that your eyes miss. AIM FOR QUALITY!!

Time & Stress Management Effective time and stress management will be critical to your success here at Kaplan and in other areas of your lives as well. In order to effectively manage time and stress, YOU must have a good, strong self-awareness, which means you must be able to take a close look at yourself and see both your strengths and weaknesses and you must be willing to make changes/improvements that will help you to reach your daily, weekly, monthly and lifelong goals.

DID YOU KNOW: Time and stress management are often listed as the #1 problem experienced by adult learners. It’s hard to combine school with an already busy life…but it’s not impossible! That’s why we are focusing on both of these skills here in Unit 2!!

You are the Key… Time and stress management, just like physical fitness or good health, are lifelong pursuits. They don’t just happen: YOU have to make them happen!

Let’s go ahead and focus on an analogy here to get us thinking about time and stress management----our cars! How and what do we do to maintain our cars? Just throw out a few ideas here.

What happens when we don't maintain our cars well?

Poor Maintenance = Poor Performance

How Does this Relate to Time & Stress Management? Poor maintenance = poor performance! When we don’t plan well and fail to manage our time effectively, things start overwhelming us and stress levels generally go UP, UP, UP!!! When we don’t plan carefully and, therefore, don’t accomplish our daily tasks, we create STRESS for ourselves.

How Does this Relate to Time & Stress Management? Good maintenance = good performance! YOU must plan and prioritize in order to manage your time well and keep your stress levels down.

Stress: Pro’s & Con’s We all deal with stress to some extent. It’s important to realize that stress is actually a natural part of our lives; it can motivate us when we keep it under control. It can also overwhelm us when it gets out of control.

Sources What are some of the main sources of STRESS in your lives right now?

Self-Awareness & Stress Why is it important to KNOW what it is that is causing stress in your life?

What are some EFFECTIVE ways of dealing with the stress you have identified here?

Take Charge!

Time Management Tips Time management does not just happen - YOU have to make it happen! Start right now to increase your own self- awareness by evaluating where and how you use your time. Ask yourself: what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses? This is the first step…

Strengthen Weak Areas Find ways to STRENGTHEN your weak areas! Our Unit 2 readings, “Time Management” and “Stress Management,” will both provide you with several important time and stress management tips and strategies. This is the second step…

Key Elements of Effective Time Management Plan your schedule each week—if you want to get it done, make a PLAN or a to-do list and stick to it! Be realistic as you create schedules and to-do lists. Keep your goals in mind—remind yourself of what you want to achieve. Schedule downtime--take time off for relaxing, family events and personal interests. Learn to say no when “No” is necessary-- say no to extra responsibilities when you have a full schedule. Allow flex time—build a little flexibility into your schedule; don’t let the slightest little change or setback throw you off balance. Avoid procrastination—plan to get your work done; don’t put things off! Reward yourself--when you complete a task or an entire to-do list, reward yourself in some way!!

Apply Your Learning The kind of thinking you have been doing here during this presentation is important, but it must be followed by ACTION. Identify where you need to make changes or improvements and ACT!! If you don't ACT, nothing will change. This is the final step…

The Case of Brent Brent is a full-time office manager, and is married, with two children. He has just returned to college after taking a break for five years, and is taking two courses in his first term. He attended college right after high school, but dropped out for a number of reasons. Brent currently works 8-10 hour shifts, and is actively involved in his children’s extracurricular activities and as a soccer coach for the community recreational league. Due to his busy schedule, Brent often has to struggle to find time to complete his school work and he feels as if his time is spent on everything else. He works on his assignments late into the night, missing his sleep. He’s tired all the time, little things upset him, and his assignments are always late. Brent feels overwhelmed with school, his job, parental responsibilities, and coaching. Nothing seems to be going right for him and he is considering dropping out of school.

Reflection Questions What are some of Brent’s sources of stress and what kind of impact is all this stress making on Brent? How could Brent use some specific time management strategies to help reduce his stress levels?

"Time Management” “One sure way to improve time management strategies is to critically evaluate your strategies from time to time. If something is not working, get rid of it or change it! If you’re not accomplishing what you need to in order to reach your goals, it’s time to make some serious changes.” Source: Kaplan University Academic Strategies Course, Unit 5, “Time Management,” October 2005.

The idea is to find something that works. "Critically evaluate your strategies..." Change what’s not working! This ties in quite well with what we just said about TAKING CHARGE!

There is one KEY element here in all of this discussion, an element that can make all the difference in the world… What do you suppose that element is?

YOU! Take charge and make great things happen for yourselves this term!

Final Questions?

Thanks for attending!