When I started high school I was told that I’d have to prioritize my life. I was handed a planner (along with the rest of my class), I sat down with my academic counselor, and I was repeatedly told that I needed to keep track of things better than I ever had before. So I dutifully wrote down my assignments in that planner and completed them as they were assigned, right? Well, partially. I sort of worked out my own little system and made it all work. So I moved on to college.
When I started college there was an even bigger group of people in the room. We were told that we’d have to prioritize our lives better than we ever had before. We were handed bigger, more complicated planners that included more space for assignments, commonly misspelled words, and hyperlinks to this relatively new tool called the internet. So I dutifully wrote down my assignments in that complex planner and completed them as they were assigned while managing my many extracurricular activities, right? Again, sort of. I found my own way (part planner, part email, etc.) and got by. I made it work. But instead of moving into the workforce I moved onto graduate school.
When I started graduate school I entered the tiniest room with the fewest number of people yet. I was told that much would be expected of me. I was told that if I didn’t prioritize and keep up with all of my work that I’d fall behind and be kicked out. This time I wasn’t handed a planner. Instead I was handed a handbook, some operating procedures, and treated to a day long seminar in a slightly larger room with slightly more people where I was told that if I didn’t prioritize I would fail. So what did I do? Check back tomorrow.