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Multi-tasking: Don’t Be Afraid, Everyone’s Doing It
by Adam Lawless
Utica College ‘08
Multi-tasking can seem like a four-letter word to the already exhausted college student. We roll our eyes every time we hear, "You need to learn to multi-task." I am here to take the fear and anxiety out of this so-called four-letter word.
The thing most college students do not realize is that we multi-task on a daily basis. Our generation has mastered this skill well before we got into kindergarten. Some just do not realize they are multi-tasking even though they talk on their cell phone, IM their friends, watch TV, listen to the radio, check out blogs on the internet, skim updates on sports scores, and write a term paper all at the same time. All of that energy needs to be focused in a new and more beneficial direction.
"Students today can handle the input from so many different forms of communication," Paul Lehmann, director of student activities and the strebel student center at Utica College said. "They are walking spam filters which is amazing and can be very good. They can sift through multiple items and communicate with multiple people but at times, just like any spam filter, they screen out important information as well."
Now that we have identified our problem, how can we fix it? The answer is simple, but unfortunately not too fun. A key multi-tasking problem can be found on the desktop of any college student’s computer, AIM. Although IMing your friends during the day keeps you updated on all the recent gossip, parties and fun going on around campus, it is best to keep that fun away from your homework. Just putting up a "do not disturb" away message is not enough. We all know those do not work. Instead, build up the courage and actually sign off for a while. I promise your friends will still be there when you are ready to sign back on. Signing off will help you to better focus on the task at hand. Try it out. A four page paper that would have taken you all night to write with all the distractions of AIM and other online fun will now take you an hour or two. Then you’ll have the rest of the night free to do what you want without the nagging feeling of unfinished homework.
Another key and yet sometimes necessary issue facing college students is balancing a full or part-time job while attending classes. As a college student, I understand the difficulty of going to school, getting good grades, and managing to keep your finances in order. That money we make over the summer and winter breaks does not last forever. Many students and faculty agree this balancing act is something college students could do without.
"I wish students didn't have to work while they attend college," Kim Landon, professor of journalism at Utica College said. "It would be nice if they could just immerse themselves in their studies and in intellectual conversation with their teachers and their peers all day long. But we live in a world where college is expensive and we have state and federal governments that don't support the costs of a college education the way they once did."
It is easiest to balance a job and school if you keep the two as separate as possible. Working on the weekends allows you to keep your weekdays devoted to school. I know it may seem like you are always working, but getting off campus or at least out of your room for a few hours will help you to recharge your mind.
In the end, multi-tasking is not about juggling an immense amount of work at one time. It is about knowing what to do and when to do it. Planning out your day in segments of work and play can help focus you mind and allow you to handle anything that is thrown your way. This advice may seem more like time management than multi-tasking, but any good multi-tasker will tell you one cannot survive without the other.
SUNYIT: Students take over
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