THE POWER OF OUR WORDS

Have you ever considered the real power our words have upon other people and have on ourselves? You may be like me, I forget myself and will say something without thinking. I don't mean to be insensitive or thoughtless, but I am at times. My words affect others and ultimately myself as well.

Let me give you an example of this. This goes way back, but this further proves how powerful our words are, that I still to this day think of this example often. Right before Halloween when I was in 6th grade (I told you this goes way back!), my neighbor and best friend who was a boy, Billy, was diagnosed with cancer. Billy and I, plus his brothers and sisters and my sister, would walk to school everyday and played together often. We all had been inseparable since 1st grade.
Now at that age, I knew nothing about cancer; all I knew was that Billy wasn't going to school with us anymore. Late in January, on a mild day, I saw Billy out riding bikes with another boy from school. I was mad that Billy hadn't been at school lately so I blurted out at him, "You don't look too sick to go to school to me!"

Those were the last words I ever spoke to Billy as he died February 20th. All these years later and I still haven't forgiven myself for that awful comment.

Conversely, sometimes we don't realize how a small but positive comment and smile of friendship or encouragement can help a friend, acquaintance, or stranger. You can make a difference in a person's life by diffusing potentially embarrassing or uncomfortable situations with a few well chosen words. And it costs you nothing! Try to make it a practice to be aware of the power of your words and make them positive.

TIPS FOR SCHEDULING YOUR CLASSES

One area that I spent a lot of time to figure out was how to schedule my classes to benefit me. In college, some people always seem to end up with the best class schedule. That was me. The time you spend ahead of time figuring out the best schedule for you, will benefit you all quarter/semester long.

Begin your search for the perfect schedule by getting the catalog listing the classes offered by your college for the upcoming quarter/semester as soon as it is available. Some colleges make this catalog available before listing the classes in their online registration program. You want to have this information as early as possible so you can begin to sort out what will be your most favorable schedule. Think of your class scheduling process as working a giant jigsaw puzzle where you need to pull all the pieces together.

What makes for a favorable schedule? One that more or less balances your work load. Don't overload your schedule with classes that all require you to write papers or have all classes that require heavy reading. You also don't want to take all your hardest classes at the same time, mix in at least one of the "easy A" classes. Review the requirements of your major and determine what mix of classes will give you the best schedule.

Next, find out how many sections each class has that you want to register for. If there is a class that you must get into that only has one section available, begin planning your schedule around that particular class. Then add the classes with more sections to chose from to your schedule.

The key here is to find a schedule that will benefit YOU and works for your strengths. If you absolutely cannot get up in the morning, don't schedule a class for 8:00 AM, likewise, skip on late afternoon or evening classes if your energy level dips at that time of day. Figure out what time of day you are best able to consistently show up for class, pay attention, take notes, and retain what is taught. Know how many classes you can manage successfully without negatively impacting your grades. It doesn't make sense to register for 22 credit hours and then fail several of those classes when you can't keep up with such a large workload.

Decide if it is better for you to bunch your classes to get large blocks of free time or scatter your classes to have small slices of time throughout your day. Also, would you rather be free Tuesday and Thursday, but be heavily scheduled on Monday, Wednesday, Friday? If you need to hold a job, that schedule may be best for you.

On registration day be at your computer, logged in, and ready to hit the keys at the moment you are first allowed to register. By the way, most colleges allow students who have verifiable learning disabilities or special needs to have priority registration. If this is you, make sure you have turned in the paperwork to entitle you to register first.

If any of your classes are full by the time you are allowed to register, consider "pink slipping" into those classes. I recommend registering for a less desired schedule for safety, but go to those full classes you can't get into and make a direct appeal to the professor on the first day of classes. Some colleges are real good about letting students into a class this way because they know a fair percentage of students will drop the class within a few weeks.

These posts may also be of interest:

• Is there really an "easy A" class?
• Can I graduate in four years?

HAVE A HAPPY FALL WEEKEND!

Enjoy your weekend but don't forget to check back with us come Monday! We will have interesting posts to help you get the most out of your college years. Thanks to all you readers out there. Now get your studying done early on Saturday so you can relax, kick back and enjoy your weekend!