By Chris Hassay ’17
Dana Dunn, professor of psychology and assistant dean for special projects, in his most recent blog post “Time Management 101” has been listed as an essential read by Psychology Today. Dunn is an avid writer and frequent poster to the site. “I've been writing a blog at Psychology Today on teaching psychology and related issues for the past 4 or 5 years. I often write about issues that relate to whatever I am teaching about—in this case, time management,” he says.
“I developed the project for my Human Adjustment class because we spend the first several weeks of the semester frequently discussing how best to adjust to the freedom and demands that college provides” Dunn says. The work highlights the struggles many have dealing with effective time management and budgeting time in useful ways.
To aid his students, Dunn established a basic time log system. Before long, the value of time became apparent as they noticed how much was ‘lost’ in naps and procrastination. “Distractions abound,” says Dunn. “Many of them have to do with social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the like).” But social media is not the only cause of time loss: “Many students also have part-time jobs which, while important, also reduce the amount of available time for study and recreation.”
The professor of psychology did not only highlight student’s wasted time, Dunn worked actively to suggest solutions. “Some prioritizing is necessary,” he says. “Pick one area that you want to spend more time on, like studying or exercising, and one area that you wish to spend less time on, whether that be watching TV or videos, playing video games or social media. In order to do more of the former you have to work to cut back on the latter.” He also suggested a rule of thumb that is beneficial for any Hound, regardless of distraction: “Work to get a solid 8 or so hours of sleep regularly.”
While the piece is based off a class of his students, Dunn stresses the value of the information to all. “I think anyone who is concerned about how their time is spent (or lost) should want to keep a log in order to see what can be done to use the available time more effectively.”