By Portia Bode
Daily Titan Staff Writer

As the deadline draws closer and closer, you feel confident in your ability to complete the task on time. You’ll finish your task after you check your e-mail, eat and maybe floss your teeth. The time has come – your moment of glory.

Your mind goes blank. Your heart starts racing. Panic takes over. Moments away from your deadline, scrambling to find what you need to accomplish your task, you promise yourself you will never procrastinate again. You barely make it in time. The process starts all over again.

David Chen, professor of kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton, teaches his students that time and stress management skills all depend on identifying goals, creating a plan and exercising self discipline.

To define goals, Chen suggests identifying what your true values are. He said that if someone doesn’t have clear values, then they will have difficulty defining their goals. He recommends writing your goals down, or “thinking on paper.”

Time management can also be guided by long-term goals, like finances, career and family.

Once this is clear, take action to prioritize. What do you want to accomplish? What can you say “no” to? Chen suggests planning ahead by taking 10 minutes each day to plan out how you will spend your time.

“The more you plan in advance the more creative you will be,” Chen said. “Write a list of the things you need to do before you go to sleep and you will sleep better.”
Plan for the unexpected, Chen said.

Chen defines discipline as a person’s ability to make himself do the things he doesn’t want to do. He believes that stress and time management are a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual discipline.

Chen teaches KNES 342 – Stress Management. He recommends adding exercise to your daily routine, if one is not already in place. By practicing self-discipline, your muscles of willpower will strengthen, and you will gain emotional control which is character building, Chen said. “It is the hardest thing to do.”

Grad student Helman Lukite said time management is about efficiency. “Plan … accordingly, focus on what you do. Don’t let anything fall behind. If you do, catch up very quickly.”
Business major Jenise Espinosa struggles with time management because she constructs her own schedule now that she is in college, something she did not do in high school. She has learned to become more aware of her time management so that she can prevent becoming overwhelmed.

Currently, she must make time for homework, her sorority and her job, all while taking six classes.

To relax, Espinosa sets aside 30 minutes of quiet time.

“I give myself a grace period of relaxing before studying,” she said.

For more tips for success, the Student Leadership Institute offers a workshop on time management.

SLI Workshop Coordinator Kyle Herbertz explained the workshops provided by SLI help with time management and many other areas that prepare students for leadership roles. Students must apply and complete an orientation in advance in order to take workshops.

Herbertz encourages students to join even if they only take one workshop. The workshops typically run an hour and a half and are easier than taking a class, Herbertz said.
After completing ten workshops, students receive a certificate signed by President Milton Gordon.

“It’s a great resumé builder,” Herbertz said.

According to the SLI’s fall 2009 calendar, one time management workshop is still available this semester on Friday, Nov. 6 from 2:15 – 3:45 p.m. in the Titan Student Union.

For more information on SLI, go to Fullerton.edu/DeanOfStudents/sli.