I was sitting in an airplane when I got the idea for this blog. Airplanes are probably my favourite places on Earth. They give you the opportunity to close yourself from the outside world and just be alone for a moment. They give you a break from your ordinary life, and to be more precise, they give you break from your phone, laptop and social media. During a flight it is allowed to relax. During a flight, I find it also very easy to relax. Why is that? It is the lack of time that gives you the ease. Before the flight everything is just about time. Long lines in the security control, last minute gate changes and something else that might disturb your schedule. Especially for us Finns, since we tend to queue ridiculously long times just in case the plane won’t leave without us.
My blog is not about the Finnish behaviour at the airports. I’m here to talk you about time management. What does it mean to me? What should it mean to you? I think the majority of students at our school can agree to the fact that they live a busy life. Defining the word ”busy” is always controversial. People are busy with school, work, extracurricular activities (which I guess, is the modest definition for being involved with TuKY) , training and other things in life. These areas of life tend to have a shifty balance in the daily basis. During the summer students work a lot and when you write your thesis you might want to spend a couple of extra hours in the library. And for some people, like me, it can be some organisation that keeps you busy. Doing TuKY related work 6 to 8 hours a day doesn’t even scare me anymore. Maybe it should.
Those who have watched or read the Harry Potters might remember the epic clock machine Hermione had in the third book. With the help of the machine she could travel in time and take all the possible lectures in Hogwarts. Oh boy, I’d need one! Someone has come up with the idea that we have 24 hours in a day. I guess the earliest forms of a clock go back to the ancient world of Egypt or something, so it is best to believe what we have been given. Anyways, these 24 hours are something we get every morning. The thing left to us is to decide what we want to do with these 24 hours? With this time machine life would be very easy. You could do every single thing you ever wanted and hurry would be no issue anymore.
Since I’m studying economics as my minor the term ”inflation” happens to be quite familiar. If we had the unlimited amount of time, wouldn’t it lose its charm and importance? It would indeed. Now that we have abandoned the idea of unlimited time, we are back in 24 hours. This is where the art of combining steps in. University students are the ones with the busy lives, as you might have agreed on in the beginning. We think that we come to the university just to learn our major, some IT skills, a couple of languages and make some friends. No. For me university is everything else. I do try to learn my major, but since finance and economics tend to be quite difficult, I’m starting to look at the other perks of the academic world. No matter if you’re working, being active in student life or a professional athlete, we’re all united by the struggle of combining the areas of life. And the struggle is indeed real.
During times like these, the state does not encourage us to have life beside our studies. The faster we graduate the more precious we are to the society. That’s why the skills learned outside the classroom are too rarely emphasised. You don’t need to go as crazy as I have gone and become a Chairwoman of NESU-TuKY. You can learn these skills in the daily basis, and that is why I’m writing this blog. Time management and scheduling are enormously important skills when you enter the work life. Proficient time management boosts you to the most efficient version of yourself but on the other hand, it prevents you from getting too stressed. Time management and careful planning are closely linked to eachother. It is said that succesful people tend to plan their days before hand. And aren’t we all succesful?
There are different ways to manage your time. The best form of it is a proper calendar. For me, there is nothing better than an old fashioned calendar with leather covers. My calendar is one of the most important things I own. It cost about 20 euros in a bookstore, but now that it includes notes, post-its and memories from 4 months, the value can’t be measured in money anymore. I like to use colors and to do-lists. Blue color is for school work, yellow one is for training and green one is for Skype meetings. This might sound scary, and when I first time marked my eating and sleeping times with certain colors I got also scared. But this is the way I manage time. I’m a visual person and I need to see my freetime so I know I can have it. It is important that one finds the very own way of managing time. Whether it is a calendar full of notes, setting alarms or just trying to remember you schedule by heart. There is no right or wrong way, but the word ”manage” is the key to efficiency and the fight against stress.
Spring is always a busy time and people tend to be tired and stressed. Maybe writing the blog about this very issue is a stress relief to me as well. During the hardest and busiest times it is important to look back and remember why you started. I study in a university because I want to understand the world better. I study especially difficult subjects because they might someday give me the proficiency to work at the European Central Bank. I’m in the TuKY Board because I wanted to make the best out of my student life. These are things that keep me busy, but they also keep me going. With this blog I want you all to look back and see the path you’ve come so far. And where are you going. Goals, they have one hell of an importance in life. Because no matter how busy lives we have, the only thing that matters is that you’re doing what you love. Even though you don’t passionately love your current work place, your maths teacher or your current gym, they are things that are taking you to the right places! All in all, the key thing in life is to remember that we all have as many hours as Beyonce.
Iina Lappalainen
NESU-vastaava
nesu-pj@tuky.fi
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