Multitasking or doing multiple tasks at the same time is a valuable skill not only as a professional but also in your personal life without even noticing it. Over time when job searching, it is very common to see in the requirements that the candidate needs to be comfortable juggling with many projects which sounds really stressfull and draining. In my experience working as an writing advisor for different clients and fields, teaching English and being a full-time Venezuelan, multitasking is not an option: is a lifestyle.

And reality is that most of the people don't know how to be multitaskers stress-free and at the end of the day are tired, hopeless and dreading starting all over again the next day. But believe it or not, it is way easier than you think. You just need to apply little tips that will get you a long way towards your goals.

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List your activities 

Sounds pretty obvious, but hold on and listen to me first! When say list your activities, one might think that are the ones refering to work but no, I mean everything that you have to do in the day (excepting, of course, going to the bathroom).

 Think about it like this, how much time do you spend cooking and eating your breakfast? Washing your hair? Walking your dog? Drinking your coffee?

Those are things that when tend to overlook when thinking about our schedule for the day, but trust me, they add up and at the end of your day you just ask yourself why I couldn't do what I have to? Now you are aware of the issue! It is stressful to do your projects on a rush since you didn't include your daily needs in your schedule.

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Now what? Do your listing of activities the previous day or dedicate some time on the weekends to do it. It'll help you enormously to have more track and a realistic notion of what you actually have to do.

My recomendation: If you prefer having everything on your phone, use your notes app or my personal favorite: Notion  App (I might have to write something about this app, because it's been so helpful I could be selfish not sharing it!)

 

 Prioritize

 Now that you have your pretty list with everything in it. It's time to prioritize: what is more urgent to do? what can be done at last? Remember, if you are working in different project at the sametime, you need to meet diverse deadlines and let's face it. Some activities can be done quick and easily while others take more time in the thought process, preparing what you need for it or executing them so you must take that into account!

If you find yourself procrastinating one specific task, do it first! There is a great, great probability that it will take you more time to finish it since you are unmotivated to do it so the early you start, the less probable it that you'll end up rushing and suffering in your deadline.

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My recomendation: Color code will save your life. You can either code it by projects (i.e blue for Academic papers, purple for content writing, etc), difficulty, time consume or deadline.

Set realistic deadlines

Another common issue we tend to have when multitasking is realizing that the deadline you set has come and you haven't finished half of the task. That always lead to rush, stress, desperation, self-doubt, I mean, we've all been there and done that, right? 

Now you must be asking yourself "but how do I set realistic deadlines?" When thinking about your tasks you have to take into account what that really involves. As I mentioned in the previous points, every task has hidden steps that you need to follow in order to finish it succesfully, some take less time, some more that regardless that adds time that you might not be taking into account that ends affecting the delivering of your project. 

I'll set you the context of a student writing an important paper for the university: They calculate that will spend a week in the process of writing the paper since it is a difficult, easy, they could think as they will have a lot of time between writing, revising and submitting the paper. But in the actual process of producing the text they underestimate or just didn't take into account how much time researching and organizing ideas would take and now they are almost late for the sumitting and won't have time to even revise it! All because when setting the plannification of when it should be done, the pre-writing process was overlooked (believe me, that happens more times that you would think).

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My recomendation: When listing and prioritizing your projects, take into account the actual time it will take for you to finish it. That's how you will have a realistic overview of your schedule, otherwise, you will be setting yourself for failure and stress.

Take breaks

 So far we have covered, about doing things but what about not doing things? You can look it up if you don't believe me, but... It is known that taking scheduled breaks in your working time can, in fact, increase your productivity! 

Think about it. When you spend a lot of time doing an activity specially if it is in front of your computer, you will encounter yourself getting easily distracted, wanting to check your phone or even trying to clean your office because you are tired of the activity and that is completely normal. 

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The good news here is that you can avoid very simply! Set your timer for work-time and break-time. For me, a cicle of 40 minutes of focused work and then 15 minutes of break helps a lot. And I know it sounds like too little work and too much breaks, but trust me, when your mind is rested you can do extensively more in those 40 minutes than in 2 hours of ininterrumpted work. 

But, remember, don't exceed your break time because it would have the contrary effect. That is why the timer is very important in this tip. Once you get used to this type of work, you'll thank me when looking at the results.

 

Enjoy the process

 After all this, one last thing that you should to keep in mind when multitasking is that why you enjoy your projects and your goals. Cheesy, right? But having something in the horizon always helps remembering why things are worth it. 

 

What are your goals for your multiple plojects? How proud are you going to feel after finishing them? We only live one, and it is not only about the result but also about the journey getting there and what it implies. 

Now, what do you think about this tips? What others do you know?

You can hit me up at me Socials and take a look at my Pinterest, I love pinning stuff everday!

 

Originally written to be part of my internship report 

As a requirement to opt to the Bachelors Degree in Modern Languages in the University of Los Andes

 

 

“I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message”

Steve Irwin

Education is considered to be one of the most important pillars in the development of an individual within a society.Some authors argue that education, indeed, is vital in the first stages of childhood. In this sense, Loveless (n.d) asserts that children enrolled in early school programs usually tend to have less behavioral issues as well as finishing highschool and pursuing a higher degree diploma (para. 5). With this, one could claim that education, above all, the educational system plays a fundamental role in many aspects of the formation of individuals. Similarly, Loveless argues that one of the most prominent benefits of the education system in individuals is the development of interpersonal and social skills. (para. 3). In this sense, the benefits of education could be taken as an example of the impact it has not only on his childhood but also on the course of a person's life.

Thus, the education of an individual is also important in other aspects besides his personal development. At the collective level, the education system is affected and has an impact, as well, on society and the economy of that society. Bharat Kumar (n.d), explains that the benefits that educational systems bring to society are innumerable. Within its broader objective, it argues that education seeks to complete the process of implementing the values and rules that society requires in its individuals. Moreover, he argues that at some point schools complement the knowledge imparted by the family from the early stages of the infant's life. “The school devotes much, of its time and energy to the matter such as co-operation, good citizenship, doing one’s duty and upholding the law.” (para. 3). However, this does not only extend to these aspects. Kumar (n.d), declares that among other things, the educational system also teaches social identity as well as confers status and "class" within the social organization since it is organized according to the type of education that an individual has had.

Similarly, as Nobel Prize winner T.W Schultz states, education rather than a disbursement is an investment. (as cited in Patrinos, 2016, para. 7). Since, as Harry Patrinos (2016) explains, investing in the education of young people would report profits at an economic level since it would be invested in the human capital of future generations that will be part of the new labor generation. Nonetheless, the price of education and its accessibility has an important aspect in this equation due to the price of education in many countries has increased over the years, the United States being the best known for its exorbitant educational costs, especially in higher education. Ripley (2018), explains that the United States spends on college more than almost any other developed country, “including the contributions of individual families and the government (in the form of student loans, grants, and other assistance), Americans spend about $30,000 per student a year—nearly twice as much as the average developed country.” (para.4). For this reason, throughout the decades in the United States, has emerged a remarkable contrast in people's perspective towards higher education, especially the importance of continuing studies beyond high school to obtain a better future. In this sense, this dilemma of perspectives highlights the vision of the Baby Boom generation and Millennials (Generation Y) who stand out for their varied opinions regarding the feasibility and need for higher education.

With this, the purpose of this paper is to explore the economic and social context of each generation taking special focus on university higher education to finally have a deeper knowledge about the role education plays according to generations and what this could mean for the evolution of educational systems for future generations. 

 

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Generation labels. Baby Boomers: an insight

First, it would be necessary to define what is meant by generational labels or cohorts. Story (2014) defines this term as a group of people born in a period of time that share certain characteristics or behaviors and beliefs that, taken together, are different from other groups (para. 5-6). Moreover, Kakasa (2019) explains that these labels began from the generation that lived during World War II, which was named the Silent Generation. After that time, another one of much more prosperity began in which there was a notable increase in the birth rate. This generation would be called “Baby Boom.” With this, it could be said that Baby Boomers or people belonging to this generation comprise people born between 1944 and 1964 although it would be important to emphasize that these criteria are not strict since there is not an exact rule to define the end of one generation and the beginning of another. Thus, in terms of characteristics of such a large group, it is quite controversial to delimit the general thought or features due to the fact that these criteria may not describe every individual belonging to this generational cohort. However, the events and bakground of importance could be mentioned in order to seek to have a more accurate perspective of this generation.

A relevant important factor on the social level would be the activist character of this generation such as the hippie movement which constituted an opposition to the materialistic values of the dominant middle class of the time (Britannica.com, 2020). As a fact, this movement was originated in the colleges as a form of merely social protest against the mainstrain consumerist culture. Nevertheless, consumerism was common due to the privileged economic situation the US was experiencing in the momento this meaning, Baby Boomers were considered a richer generation compared to other generations.

London in November 1967. (Photo by Rolls Press via Getty Images)

 

With this, it could be posible to debate that the context of a generation has a considerable impact on the perspective they have on many aspects of life. In this form, education being an important pillar in life, could not be exempt from this influence. Thus according to Census data (as cited in Ness 2013) only 26, 8 of the Baby Boomers obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher. However, taking other data into account, this information would provide a clearer approach as to what these statistics would mean for the general perspective of this generation about the importance of higher education. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (2012) points that Baby Boomers with Bachelor's degrees or high were estimated at 84% (men) and 71% (women) employed from the age of 18 to 46 years. In addition, BLS explains that individuals with university degrees tended to have a 2.9% increase in their income annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019, para. 1). Futhermore, the Barron’s website (2019) explains that in 1990, the Baby Boom generation held 21% of the country's wealth (para. 3). Nowadays, it is also argued that this generation currently holds 57% of the nation's wealth, which represents a high percentage compared to later generations (para. 5).

All this established, this information in conjunction could point to a fairly positive perspective regarding the importance and vital aspect of higher education for a better future. However, there is no general consensus on the perception of education for this generation other than the interpretation of the data. In other words, this data could lead us to interpret the view Baby Boomers have on education as an achievable step to have a more prosperous career.

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Millennials, underemployment and student loans: Is it worth it to keep educating us?

In contrast to the clear perspective that exists regarding where generations begin and where they end, there is no general consensus on the years in which the Y or Millennial generation ends and the next one begins. On the one hand, authors as Howe and Strauss in their book Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069 (1991) indicate that Millennial generation starts in the year 1982 and ends in the year 2004. While on the other hand, Dimock (2019) considers that individuals born between 1981 and 1996 belong to generation Y. For the purpose of this paper, this perspective will be taken into consideration over the one indicated by Howe and Strauss since, in constrast, Dimock uses recent and considerable events to highlight an important point in the history of society that could differenciate the point of view of Millennials and their subsequent, generation Z.

With this, “Millennial” generation is considered as a optimist generation, raised with the “follow your dreams” vision (Rouse, 2019, para. 2) despite the fact of being considered a generation that will be less economically fluid than the previous ones. In addition in the technological environment, Millennials grew up with computers which makes them more familiar with interfaces and new technologies. Thus, Rouse describes Millennials as comfortable with social life on the Internet (para. 7). This added to its optimism is evidenced in the aptitude that this generation has for self-promotion, especially in social networks. Also, Rouse argues that these traits result in unreal expectations when entering adulthood and the labor field. This is reflected in the high rate of underemployment of this generation. As Rouse explains, “[Millennials] find themselves employed in unrelated fields or underemployed and job hopping more frequently than previous generations” (2019, para. 3).” In fact, in contrast to this optimism, this generation faces a strong challenge in the workplace. Dimock (2019) states that Millennials bear the consequences of the economic recession to such an extent that this is the factor that has adjusted their decisions, especially in the United States (para. 10). In this regard, Stahl (2016) in his article states that in 2013 in the United States, 41% of Millennials reported being employed in jobs that required less or no qualification (university degree) although these figures have been increasing to such point of reaching a percentage of 51% (para. 2). In addition, Lutz (2017) also states that this employment problem in this generation is little treated by the public, partly due to the shame on the part of the individual of not being fulfilling a job at their educational level and since the attention towards Employee versus unemployed problem keeps being more relevant making the issue less important because in the end, the individual is still employed (para. 2).

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Similarly, this employment issue has as consequence various aspects such as in medical insurance, real estate acquisition and payment of student loans. This is reflected in an article by The Guardian (2016) in which the 56.5% generation of Millennials in 2014 were considered working class (para. 5). Thus, he also states that this happens in the case of young adults of this generation because they embark on university studies acquiring student loans and upon graduation they are caught in debt.

“I’m definitely scared, mostly because I’m paying so much for myself and for my student loans, so I can’t put that money into a nest egg,” she said. “How will I ever be able to put down money for a house? How will I be able to afford a wedding?” (The Guardian, 2016, para. 11)

Hoffower (2018), explains that, in fact, the life of this generation is more expensive than previous generations because the cost of housing. It is up to 39% more expensive than it would have cost previous generations to buy a house in the United States in addition to general rental costs that have increased up to 46% compared to 1960 (para. 13-17). Despite these significant problems in the lives of individuals, educational costs have taken center stage in conversations about the general discontent of Millennials. The StudentLoanReview website explains that the cost of the semester in a university has doubled since the time of previous generations such as Baby Boomers (para.3). Some authors, such as Hoffower, claim that the costs of higher education increased 129% based on the cost of an undergraduate degree in a private school (para. 22). In fact, the Investopedia website estimates that in 2019 the total debt of a 1.41 trillion dollars which represents a progressive increase compared to previous years (para. 4). As a point of comparison, in previous generations an estimated 43% of Americans took student credits while currently about 54% of students need student credits to be able to finish their studies. 

 

Via Pexels

Although the situation facing Millennials economically is more complicated than their predecessors, they tend to be a more educated generation. A study conducted by Bialik and Fry (2019) states that in the Y or Millennials generation, 39% have a Bachelor Degree or higher compared to the Silent Generation (15%) or the X generation (29%). Hence, as the demography of this generation that has studied university is wider, the perspective on the importance and future of higher education is more diverse. On the one hand, authors such as Selingo (2016), many factors such as lack of information or education costs cause many students to abandon their studies which could lead to less educated generations. In his words, this could be solved with more exposure to the different work options so that the young person has opportunities to know the field beforehand before deciding what to study (para.13).

On the other spectrum of perspective, other studies indicate that the increasingly expensive cost of university education might be worth it. Dowling & Yahnke (n.d) conclude that according to the study of Bialik and Fry (2019) the payoff of a person with a university degree is much higher than that of a person with highschool diploma. Likewise, statistics show that the average salary of a university graduate in 2018 was valued at $ 105,000 annually in contrast to the average $ 49,000 annually earned by an individual with no higher education degree. With all this, pointing out a fixed perspective on higher education is complex since although the income of a university graduate is greater than that of a high school graduate, student credit and underemployment rate weigh on the arguments of those who point that maybe higher education and its costs need a reform to better adjust to current times. 

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Gen Z: Where is higher education heading? Final thoughts

At present, the role of the new generation is beginning to take on more importance in the field of higher education since the individuals of this generation are entering the college. Due to this, there is a divided perspective on what path this generation will take when starting this new stage. Although many young people are beginning college, it is considered that the Z generation has a clear memory of the examples provided by the Millennials. In this sense, Craig (2019) states that the university's affordability crisis, student loans and the underemployment problem that the previous generation has experienced has greatly adjusted the perspective of many on taking “Faster and cheaper pathways” (para. 5) in order to obtain a better opportunity in working life. Similarly, Jenkins (n.d) agrees with these reasons and adds another highly important “Sixty-one percent of Generation Z who are still in high school and 43 percent of Generation Z who are in college say they would rather be entrepreneurs than employees when they graduate” (para. 23). Therefore, all these factors could mean a significant decrease in university attendance however despite this, many authors point out that the Z generation, like its predecessor, consider education as a fundamental element in the formation of their goals. Meadows (2019) asserts that 80% generation Z’s young adults recognize the value of higher education against 20% who claims that it has no value or influence (para. 3). With this, we could infer that despite the obstacles, the Z generation is interested in continuing their education beyond high school. Thus with the evolution of education and technology, new alternatives have emerged to make education a little more accessible for new students, among them, the most prominent is online education. Etherington (2018), explains that online education is turning higher education into more affordable since among its benefits, it allows the student to eliminate certain costs such as housing or transportation, in addition to having the possibility of obtaining prestigious degrees at lower prices compared to the traditional education. This allows many students to continue to the next stage in their training.

With all this described, we could finally understand that with the changing times, the necessities, possibilities and responsibilities of individuals have slowly mutated to what they are today. In this sense, previous generations such as Baby Boomers firmly believed in education as the only means of having a better future and, in fact, statistics show that they were mostly right. However, in later generations such as the Millennial, raised in many cases by the Baby Boomers, the dream of higher education was even more alive but at a cost that was progressively escalating and that in addition to causing them debts, having a different economic situation In previous generations, they were faced with completely different challenges in the workplace. To conclude, higher education has also had to evolve to better fit these new dynamics along with a generation increasingly interested in learning more and changing forecasts. beyond affirming, we can only conjecture that it will happen in the future of higher education, however, it is possible to visualize how traditional education will be adjusted more to the needs of today in order to continue to remain valid in the dream of future generations.

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Reference:

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Bialik, K. & Fry, R. (2019). Millennial life: How young adulthood today compares with prior generations. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/

Britannica (2020). Hippie. Britannica.com Retrieved 20th January, 2020 from https://www.britannica.com/topic/hippie

Craig, R. (2019). Will a Bachelor’s Degree Matter as Much for Gen Z? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/10/will-a-bachelors-degree-matter-as-much-for-gen-z

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Meadows, J. (2019). Millennials and Generation Z Favor Higher Education. Thrive Global. Retrieved from https://thriveglobal.com/stories/millennials-and-generation-z-favor-higher-education/

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Rouse, M. (2019). Millennials (Generation Y). What is. Retrieved January 23th, 2020 from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/millennials-millennial-generation

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Stahl, A. (2016). New Study Reveals That Millennial Underemployment Is On The Rise. Forbes. Retrieved January 6th, 2020 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2016/05/18/new-study-reveals-that-millennial-underemployment-is-on-the-rise/#28af47486e5f

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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic (2012). Labor market attachment of baby boomers by educational attainment. BLS. Retrieved January 12th, 2020 from https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20120807.htm