I like to blame my chronic lateness on “Gay Time,” or as the professors at JaCob University would define it, the extra ten or fifteen minutes that it takes gay men to get ready before they can leave their houses to go literally anywhere. This crap does not fly anywhere though. It has not been an acceptable excuse when I served tables at Uncle Julio’s, and it especially has not been an appropriate excuse here at the University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL), where just like at any job I’ve worked in the past, promptness is essential to being successful in the workplace. And yet, here we are, chronically late.
The Challenge
My tendency to be late is something that I’ve struggled with my entire life! Even though I’ve “learned my lesson” time and time again, from being late to anything like call times to work shifts, it’s a terrible habit that I’ve fallen into throughout my life. When it comes to getting places now, often times my drive is always about an hour or more, so leaving my house in the morning is what makes or breaks my day.
My struggle with my job here hasn’t only been getting here though, it’s also been about managing my time while I’m here too. Watching the time and making sure that everything that needs to be done in an appointment gets done is 90% of what we do here, especially since when it comes to tutoring in writing, we’re the only ones who are up to the task here. I’ve run out of time in written feedback appointments, face-to-face, and online realtimes, especially when they’re only thirty minutes long and my writer has brought in an eight-page rough draft.
What I’ve learned to do in short face-to-face appointments, is that it’s about quality rather than quantity. It’s always better to go through the higher order concerns that you’re finding in the first few pages, and make sure that your writer knows how to fix them on their own in their revisions, then to get through the entire paper fixing subject-verb agreement and misspelled words. While half of what we do here is help our writers revise their work, the other half is to teach them how to become more independent writers!
What about the opposite? When there’s too much time. I think it’s fair to say that all of us here have had the dreaded two hour face-to-face or online realtime appointment. It can be daunting. Personally, I’m always concerned that I’ll run out of things to talk about with my writers, which (A) almost never happens because there’s always room for improvement in any work of writing, and (B) If we do “run out” of things to talk about, it’s because my writers are usually ready to continue their work independently.
Either way, what I have learned to do at the start of my appointments is to get on the same page as my writers (pun very intended) and ask them exactly what they’re concerned about or struggling with, and what they want to work on. I like to give my writers the freedom to choose what they do with their time with me and I feel like letting Jesus take the wheel like that has always lead to a great outcome.
That’s about all I’ve got to say about time management during tutoring. As a reward to those of you who made it this far, here are a few pro tips that I’ve learned to leave my house on time:
Wake Up on Time!
I’m not trying to whine here, but my days are long. So, so long. What happens is I’ll leave my house at ten in the morning to go to school and study all day, but by the time I get home at ten, eleven, or even twelve at night. I think of myself as Cinderella when I get home this late: A complete mess and emotionally exhausted.
So instead of going to bed right away like I should, I’ll indulge in all of the pleasures that I don’t get the privilege of doing during my busy day as a computer science student in Chicago. This almost exclusively includes binge watching Netflix (my current flex is Orange is the New Black) and eating free food; emphasis on FREE.
Anyway, my habits of staying up late enjoying some down time at home which I don’t get throughout the day is what hinders me from waking up at the peak of dawn, like I’m supposed to. My first tip is to go to bed early. Honestly as dumb as it sounds, my most successful days are the ones after a good night’s sleep get up to get started on my day, and out the door as early as possible.
Budget Your Time in the Morning
Another part of managing my time so that I can jump out of bed and be at the writing center, ready to help writers write, is to set up a morning routine, and stick with it. My routine is nothing glamorous like you would find on YouTube. I don’t wake up at 5 AM to work out, get some morning studying in, and drink warm lemon water. That’s unrealistic. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet because NO ONE does that, and if they do, they’re probably lying.
My routine is simple. Eat breakfast, shower, and leave. If I have time (which I usually don’t, or I wouldn’t be writing this) I’ll do some cleaning. I’ll tidy my room and actually wash the dishes I used to make my breakfast. I used to think that I could shower and eat breakfast in a half hour, but that has always been a miserable failure with every attempt, and I wouldn’t recommend this strategy to my worst enemy. There is no greater luxury in life than being able to take your time on the way to work or school. It gives you some time to actually decompress and enjoy the world around you, unlike if you were in a rush. Whether your commute is five minutes or five YEARS, like mine, it’s great to take your time to get places, and it reminds you that there’s more to life than that midterm your stressed about or even the work you do at the UCWbL.
Always, Always, Always Check Traffic
Yeah, did I mention that I have a long commute? It always makes me chuckle when my fellow writing tutors complain about having to take the 15-minute train ride between campuses. Oh, tell me, poor you, about how difficult it is to walk to the train station and play sudoku while someone else moves you from point A to B. I’m not gonna go off too much though. I chose this life because I love the city, and believe it or not, the red line. And as painful as the drive can be to make every day, it’s worth it, especially when I get to help such enthusiastic and passionate writers to improve their work on a daily basis. Anyway, checking traffic has helped me make sure that I take the best route because with the Kennedy you could leave hours early, but if you hit that rush hour traffic, you’re guaranteed to be thirty minutes late, as I have experienced firsthand.
Moving Forward
Hopefully with this advice and methods at staying on time you’ve tried, I can help you get where you want when you want. I certainly know that’s what I’ll be doing!