Life Skills Portfolio - Assignment Example

Assignment Sheet Module Five Life Skills Right Now Module A133SLL Assignment Number: One Assignment Life Skills Portfolio Module Leader: Ashley Toogood Date Submitted: Total Number of Words: 1,527 Life Skills Portfolio Task One - Project Management Exercise The task one identified to be planned and undertaken in comprehensive detail is pursuing a simple volunteering program with one’s local community during summer vacation. Currently, one is earmarking a community service program to be included as one of the youths in charge of keeping the environment green and preserving the natural resources within the local community setting. There are different crucial factors that need to be evaluated and considered when planning to join a community service program as a volunteer, such as time involved for volunteer work, the tasks to be undertaken, any costs involved, and physical and mental skills to be applied and further developed. In this regard, the project management exercise aims to develop a project plan based on the identified task of volunteering for community service during summer break. The plan would hereby include details such as budget, if any, and a conclusive date; in conjunction with pertinent information that includes aims, objectives, project information, budget, timetable and skills to be developed. Project Plan a. Task: The plan is to join a community service program as volunteer for the coming summer break. b. Date: The planned date of joining as volunteer is August of 2012. c. Budget: Since this is a volunteer program, no eminent costs or expenses are projected to be involved; except daily transportation expenses to the local community office and small allowances for meals; which could be projected to be about £20 per day or £600 for the whole month of August. Aims and Objectives The objective for earmarking joining a community service programs is to increase awareness on civic endeavors and those that would be consistent with social responsibility projects that would benefit the members of the local community. As I searched on community service volunteering programs within the UK setting, one got to be interested in Community Service Volunteers (CSV), a registered charity in England and Wales and located at 237 Pentonville Road, London N1 9NJ, UK (Community Service Volunteer (CSV),2012). Project Information The official website of CSV provided pertinent and comprehensive details on the diverse options for volunteering, such as opportunities to “mentor a young person in care, provide advice and friendship to a troubled family, help a child to read at school, or empower a person with disabilities to live independently” (Community Service Volunteer (CSV), 2012, p. 1). For my age group, the philosophy that “its about giving you the power to make things happen… Youll meet new people, learn new skills, improve your CV and feel great from knowing you made a big difference” (Community Service Volunteer (CSV), 2012, p. 1) make this endeavor a potentially productive experience. Budget As initially disclosed, a projected budget of a meager £600 would enable one to expand personal experiences and enhance social responsibility and civic mindedness. Timetable For one’s purpose, since the available time is on summer break, the proposed time for volunteering at CSV is on August of 2012. Skills to Be Developed In addition to social responsibility skills, the skills that are planned to be developed through volunteering are leadership skills, teambuilding, developing deep concern for environmental protection and preservation, and meeting new people who could be instrumental in one’s future career. Task Two – Evaluation: Time Management The short essay aims to present reflecting and evaluating one’s time management and identifying what advice one should be aware of to better organize time and keep a balance in life. Personal Working Methods One has been trained to create a regular schedule of activities and to prioritize tasks depending on the urgency and importance. For example, the Gantt Chart below would be a normal schedule for complying with academic and personal activities: TASK NAME TIME FRAME March April May June July August Life Skills Portfolio xx Leadership and Entrepreneurship xxxx Dental Check Up xx Medical Check Up xx Final Requirements for A133SLL xx Summer Volunteering xxxxxxx As shown, the initial task of complying with the life skills portfolio was prioritized and complied with at an earlier date to meet the March 8, 2012 deadline. Other activities included a leadership and entrepreneurship project in another course which is due by April; a dental checkup by the end of May and a medical checkup by June. Likewise, academic requirements for the current course module are due by the end of June to July. And finally, the planned volunteering program for community service, as indicated in the project plan is earmarked for the whole month of August. Guidelines for Time Management The relevance of managing one’s time is recognized as a crucial factor to minimize stress and to achieve identified goals and objectives. First and foremost, I strongly believe that goal setting is the most crucial element for time management. When one has identified goals, objectives and aims, such as defining the aims and objectives in project management, strategies could be effectively designed towards achieving these goals. Likewise, one has proven, through experience, which time management approaches have been effective based on one’s personal choice and purpose. As emphasized and advised by Shellenbarger (2009), “the essence of good time management is sticking to rituals that make you more productive, and rituals are largely a matter of personal preference. ‘The only system that matters,’ says Luke Iorio, president of iPEC Coach Training, Shrewsbury, N.J., ‘is the one that works for each individual’” (Shellenbarger, 2009, p. 1). For one’s personal working method, sticking to Gantt charts or clearly and explicitly detailing deadlines and target dates to comply with defined activities and tasks have been proven to effectively work. Another relevant guideline is prioritizing. By taking time to evaluate the tasks and activities and defining their relative importance, one would determine which tasks need to be done in successive order. I share Shelenbarger’s (2009) techniques, as averred, “I settle down for a half-hour planning session, a weekly focus requirement, to think through my values, identify the roles and goals most important to me, and block out time in advance to pursue them. I enter other tasks day-by-day on my calendar, prioritizing them based on their importance” (p. 1). Task Three – Essay: Stress Management Stress can significantly affect people’s performance in terms of decreasing the effective ability to comply and conform to identified tasks. Some stress management approaches focus on ways where individuals are taught self-meditation and stress relieving techniques; while other approaches utilize group stress management exercises. In this regard, after participating in a group stress management exercise that provided opportunities to simulate the process of responding to various work place scenarios, the current essay hereby aims to proffer pertinent details of one’s understanding on how stress can impact on personal performance, including the need to identify ways where one can better manage stress levels. How Stress Can Impact Personal Performance One realized that stress impacts personal performance through diverting thought, processes, and abilities to other trivial matters other than focusing efforts towards identified goals. For instance, in terms of students like me, pursuing diverse academic programs, stressors could significantly reduce effective performance and lessen productive outputs. This was validated in a study conducted by Womble (n.d.) who disclosed the stress factors in the academic setting as “time management, financial problems, sleep deprivation, social activities, and for some students even having children, (which) can all pose their own threat to a student’s academic performance” (p. 1). Concurrently, from one’s personal experience, and as validated in a study by Womble (n.d.), stressors were confirmed to include “exercise, nutrition, sleep, work and class attendance” (Womble, n.d., p. 3). When I lack enough sleep, for instance, there are tendencies to commit more errors and to shorten the span of attention. This fact was corroborated by Kelly, et.al. (2001) who averred that “sleeping shorter amounts of time has shown to increase factors such as anxiety and stress, which have been associated with academic performance” (cited in Womble, n.d., p. 2). On the other hand, the need to balance time for work-related activities, in conjunction with complying with academic requirements also contribute to higher stress levels. The number of responsibilities and the schedule within each work and academic tasks need to be achieved add complexity to one’s daily life and achieving more tasks, especially of the same time frame would result in mistakes, substandard work, delays, and missing the deadline. Finally, health condition, family issues (sickness in the family) and lack of physical fitness activities or proper nutrition exacerbate managing diverse responsibilities and accoutabilities which add more stress through being absent from work or school and contracting diverse illnesses. Ways to Manage Stress To manage stress, the group management exercises provided effective social support from techniques such as participating in group meditation, exercises, yoga, or contributing in group discussion through brainstorming and dynamics (Stoppler, 2012). As emphasized, managing stress and determining the best technique to address it actually differs per person and could necessitate an interplay of various techniques and stress management methods. For me, managing stress through group management exercises helped, in conjunction with meditation and maintaining a positive outlook in life. Likewise, having confidence in one’s strengths and the skills that were honed during the course assists in addressing stressful situations. Bibliography Community Service Volunteer (CSV). 2012. Volunteering can change lives, including yours, [Online]. Available at: http://www.csv.org.uk/volunteering. [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Shellenbarger, S. 2009. No Time to Read This? Read This , [Online]. Available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704538404574541590534797908.html. [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Stoppler, M.C. 2012. Stress Managemen Techniques, [Online]. Available at: http://www.medicinenet.com/stress_management_techniques/page3.htm#tocf [Accessed February 29, 2012. University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). 2009. Stress - Treatment, [Online]. Available at: http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_general_guidelines_reducing_stress_0000 31_5.htm. [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Womble, L.P. n.d. Impact of Stress Factors on College Students Academic Performance, [Online]. Available at: http://www.psych.uncc.edu/Womble.pdf.[Accessed February 29, 2012). Read More