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Taming The High Cost of College

Late Stage College Planning

cena block

TTHC54 – Organization through the College Experience Interview with Cena Block, Organization and Time Management Expert

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Cena Block shares how she came to be a productivity expert and business coach:

  • Focuses specifically on moms and business.
  • Helps people get better systems and time management.
  • Took time off herself to be home with her kids.
  • Started as a professional organizer and realized she wanted to be a coach to other moms who wanted to start their own businesses.

Managing Time While Planning for College

“One of the things that really helps with time management is creating routines,” says Block. Create routines for anything and everything, especially things you have to repeat.

Start with planning. Begin with a quarterly plan and start with holidays or time off, then layer in the school calendar of concerts and other extra curricular activities. Other things to consider:

  • Plan meals
    • This leads to planning a shopping list.
  • Have laundry on certain days
    • If kids know they need something clean, it is their responsibility to get it in on time.
  • Make lunch before bed.
  • Create different locations in the house for different activities.
    • o Have the downstairs bathroom be for doing your hair and the upstairs bathroom for brushing teeth, for example.

Keeping Track of How Long Things Take

Time passing is concrete, but because of the digital age kids don’t understand what time passing feels like. “It is a matter of maturity. Kids under estimate everything. It’s not their fault, they just don’t have the wisdom or experience,” notes Block. Most teens struggle with planning how long something takes.

Block suggests helping teach this skill:

  • Timing activities to see how long they actually take.
  • Start soon with helping them practice.
  • Time map in blocks of time.
    • Use what they know, like a favorite show, to make time more concrete.
  • They have to own it and be part of planning it out.

Some kids will plan things out, but most won’t. It is a learned skill.

Managing School Work

Start the school year out with an organized approach. “Kids don’t understand that there is a life cycle to paper and they aren’t given authority to put things in the trash,” notes Block. Parents keep a lot of things. The need to keep things isn’t there as much because of the digital age.

Block suggests creating criterion for what to keep and creating a filing system for that. Things to possibly keep:

  • Service hour logs
  • Awards and recognition
  • Some sample work showcasing their best

Scanning things and storing them digitally is a common system for today’s youth. Talk with your child and work paper by paper to clear the clutter and teach them a system for storing what they want and will use.

Time and Space Style Inventory

This is an assessment tool that is 84 questions online. Block explains, “I call it your flow finder. You will get a response in your results of what you are dominant in for organizing.”

Some of the areas considered are:

  • Making decisions about items
  • How you arrange things
  • Can you tolerate disorder

It gives people who struggle with time and organizing a place to start. This is written in a way that is very appropriate for college and high school age students. Taking this online test provides access to many other tools including a Download with already marked file tabs to help keep high school work organized.

Tools and Techniques to Help with Managing Time

Block recommneds:

  • Time and Space Style Inventory
  • Time Timer
    • It is a timer watch that shows time passing away
  • Wall calendars
    • Apps that go with wall calendars
  • An app called “ToDoIst”
  • Google Suite of Products

Apps only work if you use them. Some people are better with paper and pencil.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

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