Balancing Online Studies With Work and
Family Demands: Pre-Writing.
Thesis: Although like many people I deal with a variety of everyday
stressors involving commitments to work, school, and a fiancé, I have found
dealing with these things to be more manageable with the aid of a step-by-step scheduling
process.
Part 1: I face many different
stresses in my everyday life, such as work, school, and a committed
relationship with my fiancé. Work can be stressful, as I am owner of an online
store that buys and resells clothing. There is always much to be done, with
checking for orders, communicating with customers, filling orders, shipping
orders, informing customers of tracking information, and ensuring that delivery
has been successfully completed. Work seems to be a never-ending prospect, as I
can continually be checking online for status updates. I need to be fairly
consistently available, as well, to tend to customer problems or complaints. I
am very driven by ultimate career goal, which is to make an established success
of my online store in a relatively short period of time.
Another stressor I face daily is school.
I am currently taking classes in fashion merchandising, which will be very
helpful in continuing maintain my online business and improving it. Fashion
merchandising is teaching me how to combine my personal sense of style and
fashion with business acumen, which is will be really important for the future
of my business. Fashion merchandising is important, even as it takes a big
chunk of my time, as it is teaching me so much about fashion
marketing, product development, and fashion management.
A third stressor I face daily on a daily
basis is my committed relationship with my fiancé. Any kind of committed
relationship takes time and effort, whether it is a family with children or
simply that one person you have pledged the best of yourself to. I find it difficult at times to juggle spending
adequate amounts of time with my fiance when I am pulled in different
directions by the demands my responsibilities at with school and work place upon me.
I cope with the stress of these demands
in a variety of different ways. I do make time for simple things, such as listening to music, chatting with my
fiancé, watching movies, going shopping, or going for a walk. It is not always
easy to carve out time for these activities, but because they are critical to
keeping my perspective on what is truly important-family, friends, and life
itself-I am careful to prioritize
them. Good study skills have also been essential in helping me manage my
stress, particularly school stress. Being organized, and knowing that I have a
big project due on a certain date and that I need to be working on small
increments of it ahead of time has helped keep things manageable.
Lead in to paragraph 2: Another thing
that has always helped manage these stressors has been careful scheduling. Perhaps the most important thing, though, that has helped me manage
these stressors is the aid of a step-by-step scheduling process. Finding balance
between work, school, and my relationships is important, but it is difficult to
see if that balance actually exists until commitments are set down on a
calendar and weighed one against the other. For that reason, I have picked up
the practice of maintaining a calendar of obligations and responsibilities in
all areas to assist me with prioritizing and keeping everything straight. Although
the process can be challenging if you are not particularly organized; once you
are in the habit of keeping a routine schedule, anyone can achieve balance
through scheduling.
PART 2 Accomplishing
the Process
Getting started with the process of scheduling my work, family,
and school activities and demands balancing the demands of online studies
with work, family, and friends was not particularly easy, because I am not a
terribly organized individual. I knew, though, that it was something that
needed to be done if I was to maintain balance and organization in my life, and
still manage to find enjoyment in it. The first step in the process of
achieving this balance was to find a scheduling method that worked for me. I
began by searching out and testing various methods.
I tested a written calendar, because I
like the kinesthetic process of writing something down. This, I have
discovered, helps to solidify information in my mind, and most of the time I am
able to remember dates and facts without really needing to glance back at the
calendar to begin with. There are times, though, when I am overloaded, and I
definitely need the written reminder. The written calendar is also helpful
because I can record dates and information for work, school, and relationships
in a different color. This helps me to see at a glance which area of my life is
taking up the biggest chunk of time, and
adjust accordingly. I also tested an online calendar, Yahoo! Mail, which I
discovered to be difficult to work with and time consuming. Finally, I tested a
third option, the calendar on my smart phone. The alarm function for this
scheduling method was excellent, but I felt the calendar was a bit limited in
the amount of information I could record.
The second step in this process was to
decide, after all of this testing, upon the scheduling method that was best
suited to my needs. I discovered that the best way of scheduling my work,
school, and relationships was to use a combination of a written planner and the
alarmed calendar on my smart phone for important events.
The third, and absolutely most important
step in this process of achieving balance in my life, was to actually use these
scheduling methods. I discovered that it was all too easy to have my calendar
sitting on the counter, buried under a stack of magazines, and neglect to write
an appointment between its pages. In order for this method to benefit me, I needed
to use it.
Lesson 5 Examination:
Process Analysis Essay
OBJECTIVE
To prepare a process analysis essay of 1,000–1,200 words
incorporating narration and description, and using elements
from the Prewriting for Process Analysis Essay assignment.
Note:
You may
not
submit this essay until you’ve received your
grade and instructor feedback on your prewriting exam.
While you’re waiting for your prewriting feedback, you should
■
Review the reading assignments for Lesson 4.
■
Study the sample Process Analysis essays and review the
Guided Writing Assignment in Chapter 14 in your textbook.
■
Prepare a rough draft of your process analysis essay so
you’re ready to revise your essay when you receive feed-
back on your prewriting.
TOPIC
The topic for this essay is the same as that of the prewriting
assignment: Balancing Penn Foster studies with work and
family demands.
WRITING YOUR ESSAY
Using your prewriting, merge your description and process into
an essay of 1,000–1,200 words (approximately five paragraphs)
that would help other students understand the stresses they
may face when taking online courses but also give them hope
that they can accomplish the task. Use the comments from
your instructor and your textbook information on editing and
transitions to merge the two segments into one document.
Essays must be typed, double-spaced, using a standard 12-point font and left justification. Use 1-
inch margins at the top and bottom and 1.25-inch margins for the left and right sides of the
document. Each page must have a properly formatted header containing your name, student
number, exam number, page number, mailing address, and e-mail address (see page 6 for an
example). Name each document using your student number first, then the six-digit lesson num-
ber, and finally your last name (for example, 23456789_050177 Doe). Save each as “File Type:
Rich Text Format,” regardless of your word-processing program
