What College Taught me About Life

College. It seemed like a great idea at the time!

For those of you who don’t know or have simply forgotten, for the last year and a half, ish, I have been going to college. Though ‘going to’ might be the wrong word when it is online… But whatever. I am getting my degree in Elementary Education. Which includes classroom observations and student teaching on top of a boatload of classes.

Has it been fun? Kinda. I like learning new things, and the first few months of school were all giddy happiness as I learned and wrote papers and took tests.

Then I started working full time.

Word to the wise. Do not start full time work after starting full time school. Don’t even start full time school after starting full time work. Do you like your brain cells? So be kind to them. You might need them later.

I guess I had to completely swamp my schedule to learn the one thing that has been eluding me since I can remember. Time management. Otherwise known as how not to procrastinate.

Procrastination has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. I probably wrote a 1 or 5 blog posts on it. I struggled with not putting things off for years. And then one day here recently, I realized something. I didn’t even think about it anymore. I rarely, if ever, feel like I wasted a day on just doing nothing. My to do list gets done on time, every time. I don’t even think I can say that procrastination is my greatest flaw anymore. *enter shocked staring into space*

I am almost completely sure that it is all because of college. In college, I have to get assignments done on time, or else. There is no room for putting it off till another day. I get it done, or I get a penalty. Since I like good grades and for all my teachers to be happy with me, there is no other option. I get it done on time. So I learned how to schedule my time to get the most school done possible. There was only one catch. I had a house to clean.

Since I had a house to clean and meals to prep, I did those things too. I learned what I could possibly get done in the morning before work, and what was impossible to get done. I learned how fast it took me to clean the bathroom, sweep a floor, and make pack my lunch and then I stuck them in where ever they would fit.

College taught me how to manage my time so that everything would get done when it was supposed to get done. It taught me how to focus on one thing until it was done. Or how not to watch a movie while writing a paper. (Spoiler, the paper doesn’t get written.) College taught me how to distribute my work over time so that I don’t end up reading an entire text book in two days. College also taught me how to take breaks to rest my brain so that I can come back refreshed and ready to tackle the project. (Pro tip, the paper always looks less scary in the morning)

It was simple, and it was hard. But eventually I just did it. I woke up in the morning and got myself ready for the day. I ate my meals, did my work, and wrote my papers. One day I woke up and realized that I can do it all, because I am doing it all right now. My teenage self would be so proud of me.

I would not recommend spending thousands of dollars on school just to learn time management. It was a nice add on to the degree I am already getting. And dang, why couldn’t I have learned it the easy way?

Shaina Merrick