Time Management – make life easier on yourself

March 26, 2013 at 4:53 pm (Uncategorized) (, , , , )

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Sue Wiers is a family nurse practitioner and started the DNP at OU Fall 2012. She has been a guest lecturer and preceptor for OU NP students for years and served on the OU NP Committee. Her non-professional interests include reading, painting, gardening and quilting.

This is my third time around as a student; each time has been equally challenging albeit different.

As an undergraduate student, I had to learn how to manage academic demands, live with new people in a small space, and take responsibility for mundane tasks such as paying bills and tracking my bank account balances. I had a lot of energy and dedicated long hours to studying. For the most part, the focus was on me and school.

In my master’s program, the demands of my family and home life were more substantial; I juggled care of my home and children with the educational requirements of graduate school. I was fortunate enough to have been able to take a break from work while attending graduate school. However, most of classmates successfully met the demands of school and family while continuing to work; it is doable.  

With the DNP program, my primary concern was about keeping up with the rigors of academia as an older and less energetic student in light of other responsibilities such as a demanding job, wife, homeowner, and daughter of an elderly parent. I no longer have the time or energy to study for long hours as I did in my undergraduate and graduate programs. However, I have mastered the art of time management. I start large assignments early and work on them almost daily.

During my commute to work, I spend my time contemplating assignments. I use my periods of insomnia doing literature reviews, reading, and working on assignments. In a nutshell, I seize the moment. I can no longer rely on long periods of time to dedicate to school and now capitalize on spending the non-traditional study time that I have. The end result is that I efficiently use my time and my work is better thought out and I am less overwhelmed.

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