Planning
The problem many people face is the anxiety of a workload that should have been done beforehand. It’s always the excuse of “I got time,” but this puts too much pressure on your future self. Sure, you have time to do it, but waiting till a day or two before something like a project or paper adds unnecessary anxiety that could have been avoided by planning out the workload. If you spread the workload out and follow a plan, then you can reduce the stress of a big project. I get it a big project can be intimidating to start with all the parts and the number of things that need to be done, but it’s as easy as finding the motivation to start.
The two roads
When you are faced with something big you have two ways you can approach it. Either in a few Big Chunks or a lot of small chunks. Both I have found to be great ways to get a project on and have different benefits. Let’s call them the Chunk and chip methods.
The Chunk Method
This method breaks up the workload into big pieces. For example, if you are given a big project to plan a road trip with 4 places you want to see. The way you would approach it is by looking at a place and then planning all the details than doing the other 3 places. The chip method would have planned all the locations details first overtime. This method is better for those with more hours available in a row like someone with long hours.
The Chip Method
In this method, we break the project up into much smaller pieces. For example, say if you had to plan a kid’s birthday party set up. The chip method would take the little things like supplies and tackle each one separately. After getting the supplies each item will be put on the spot separately. The chunk method would have taken the layout of the party first and then would have gotten all the supplies at once to then place them in their spot all at once. The chip method works better for people with small periods of free time like someone with short hours with maybe a couple of hours in between.
Gavin Schmitt
Student Writer - Spring 2022
