Reflection Of Time Use Studies

A time use study is a mechanism that allows individuals to analyze and allocate their time and activities. At the end of my time use study, I wanted to determine if I was occupationally balanced and then discover the activities I engage in most often. When a person is occupationally balanced, it does not mean that their time is divided equally amongst all occupations; instead, it is when a person is perceived to be under control. I consider myself occupationally balanced when I engage in contracted, necessary, and leisure occupations every day.
Throughout the study, I wanted to analyze the relationship amongst the variables of primary occupation, secondary occupation, habits of thought, stress, and focus. Before I conducted my time use study, …show more content…
When looking at this semester, I thought that I was in role overload. Role overload is when a person is not satisfied in all of their roles. However, after my time use study, I now see that I am occupationally balanced. One intriguing aspect of the study was the discovery that I am stressed out a lot. In the past, I never felt extremely stressed about school; however, this semester is different. Along with my coursework, this semester I added a part time job and leadership position to my schedule. Therefore, my free-time occupations have decreased and my contracted occupations have increased. Ultimately, the shifts between my types of occupations have resulted in increased stress. Another area I found intriguing was my low level of focus in the afternoon. Throughout my life, I have labeled myself as a morning person. Unlike most college students, I enjoy waking up and starting my occupations early in the morning. The results of the study showed that my level of focus decreased in the afternoon and I believe this is due to the fact that I prefer completing activities in the morning rather than in the …show more content…
As stated earlier, this semester is the first time I have felt constantly stressed. For that reason, I want to continue to track my levels of stress and see if they improve or stay the same. I hope that next semester will produce lower levels of stress, because I will have developed a schedule to complete all of my schoolwork, alongside my extracurricular activities. M-time or monochronic time is seen as linear, arranged by specific agendas, and is based on punctuality. In order to reduce high stress levels, I can attempt to adapt my time use from polychronic to monochronic time. Ultimately, if my stress levels remain high, then I have the ability to take this data and look into techniques that reduce