FIU Psychology Coach Breaks Down Time Management in Workshop

Felipe Cisternas/Contributing Writer

Juggling school work, part-time jobs and a social life while in college can be difficult. 

This is why learning how to manage your time effectively is so important, according to Elsa Carrasco, a psychology life coach working in the Student Academic Success Center.

On Tuesday, Feb. 18,  Carrasco hosted a time management workshop in the Graham Center as part of the FIU College Life Coaching Program.

This program helps students handle and balance the responsibilities of school work with personal duties.

The workshop began with students making a checklist in which they were told to analyze their commitments, prioritize their tasks and formulate a plan of immediate and long term action. 

“What is your source of motivation? A to-do list is personal,” said Carrasco. “There is no right or wrong way of executing one.” 

Carrasco focused on having students differentiate between what their fixed commitments were, such as studying and finishing assignments, and their flexible commitments were, such as working out.

Daniel Cruz, a junior Honors College and computer science student went to the workshop for honors points. 

 “I want to learn to manage my time. I find it hard to keep up with all the responsibilities of the semester,” said Cruz.   

Marilyn Pimentel, a junior majoring in psychology, also attended the workshop.

 “I attended this workshop because the knowledge gained here will help me write a research paper due in my honors psychology class,” she said.

Carrasco then had her audience formulate a planner. The main purpose of this was to see if students can use their time wisely each day.

Throughout the duration of the workshop, she emphasized how students need to learn how to value their time. 

“There is a lot of value thinking in chunks of time compared to thinking it over in a long range of time,” she said. “Really, you should start valuing your time.” 

Carrasco went on to discuss procrastination, something students often partake in. 

“Many students like that thrill of last minute work,” she said.    

According to Carrasco, there are a few reasons why students choose to procrastinate on an assignment or a semester project.  

“They may feel overwhelmed or intimidated by a task,” she said. “Sometimes students tend to over or underestimate the difficulty of a task. It’s the fear of a failed or successful outcome and not having enough time.”  

She mentioned that in a regular schedule or day planner, there are plenty of white spaces left between classes and work that could be used as valuable time to focus on other tasks. 

The best way to deal with procrastination is to evaluate why it’s happening in the first place, according to Carrasco.  

“Evaluate why you do it, how often you engage in it and who or what makes you procrastinate from your tasks,” she said. “Ultimately, it’s about finding the right environment to get work done.”

Apps such as Remember the Milk, Any.do, and MyHomework can also be used to organize your daily schedule and help manage your time.