3.1Managing Your Time

3.2Managing Your Energy

3.3Managing Your Money

Jasmine Williams, 25

Business Major, Broward College–South Campus, Florida

When Jasmine Williams started college, she knew that she would have many competing obligations: work, family, and studying for her courses. Holding a job as a nursing assistant and taking care of her family were already demanding, and Jasmine was determined to pursue her educational goal of becoming a registered nurse. In the middle of her first term, she felt pressure from her job responsibilities, family members who needed her time and attention, and school assignments that were getting more complex, particularly a couple of the courses she was taking online that required more discipline. She did not have enough energy to do it all. “Sometimes I just got overwhelmed with school and just wanted to work or take care of my family and would put my schoolwork on the back burner. This happened more often with my online courses as there were no scheduled class meetings, and unless I logged into the system, they were pushed to the side. This had some bad side effects,” she explains. “Once I saw the drop in my grades in the online courses, I knew that I had to reprioritize and get back on track.”

Jasmine needed to work, but she realized if she put herself and her family on a strict budget, she could cut back on her work hours. Then she prioritized her time to maintain her busy schedule and her sanity; she made a calendar with all the exam and assignment dates, and highlighted the ones that she needed to submit online. “My main priorities are family, school, and work,” she says. “I find places in my schedule to fit them in every week and also find time to reenergize myself a little bit, too. All of these things are important and essential for me to be successful and happy. It’s like each part of my life is a puzzle piece. If I don’t keep making sure that each piece fits, or if any piece is missing, the puzzle doesn’t work and breaks apart.”