Final Reflection

What now?

Throughout this process, I think I learned quite a bit about how I like to work and tackle the various responsibilities in my life. Actively reflecting on my actions was eye opening. My work is so overwhelming for me at the moment that I don't feel that I have time or want to spend my time reflecting. This connects with my "how might I..." question as well.

How might I improve my work life balance?

After talking with my mom and two friends, I heard lots about time management and finding ways to balance life and work. Initially, I thought my best option as a prototype would be creating a list of brain breaks that I could complete while I was working. Along with tracking the time I spent working versus taking these breaks, I thought I might be able to shock myself into spending more time on task. Sadly, this did not work and I realized that a more effective question would be how to break up my time and assignments to be less overwhelming and less scattered in my head.

Refining my prototype and overall question

With this new question in mind, I decided to use one of my other prototype options: scheduling out my time with what I would be working on or doing when. In my planner, where I write my to-do lists and assignments, I created a little section where I would draft out a schedule for the day.

This was surprisingly helpful. I was actually tackling my tasks at good times and not immediately getting distracted. Almost unknowingly, I was creating goals for myself and setting expectations that were flexible and achievable. The chunks of free time I did have were being used to actually make my life less stressful and my assignments less looming. I was able to break down assignments into manageable chunks and reflect on how much time I was spending on them.

Impact on me

Overall, I became less stressed and felt more comfortable with how may days were going. I was keeping up with assignments and felt so much better overall. Looking back, it seems like my problem was not the work life balance, as it was time management and feeling overwhelmed with what I had to do. This prototype helped me to stay organized and to feel like I had a better planned life. Moving forward, I want to stay on top of making schedules when I feel overwhelmed or need it. When I wasn't as overwhelmed, I wouldn't plan out the day, so I think I need to make sure that I am not letting things get out of hand. I liked having the schedule in my planner as well. It was easy to see and have with me at most times.

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