Achievement Series

In beginning your membership with Delta Chi, there are several skills you will need, not only to be a success within the Fraternity, but also as a student, a leader, and as a gentleman.

The first Area of Mastery will provide you with a solid foundation on which all other skills will build on, as well as, ensure a more meaningful and productive fraternity experience.

One of the most critical skills of effective students and business managers is the management of one's own time and work efficiently. Time management skills will help you balance your class work, volunteer responsibilities, job, fraternity activities, personal life and, daily tasks.

To accompany this Mastery, setting personal and scholastic goals will give you a specific target to strive for during the term. Having a mastery of organization and planning will also help you become a better prepared leader and scholar. The skills you will acquire through this Area of Mastery are:

• Time Management
• Goal Setting
• Future Planning

To achieve mastery over this area, complete the following four activities. Below each activity you are provided with sample options that you may utilize to fulfill the activity. Remember, these are only sample options, you may choose to come up with your own options that may better suit you or your chapter's needs. Follow up your accomplishments in your Learning Journal. Finally, once you have completed all activities within this Area of Mastery, finish the area by answering the concluding Critical Reflection questions within your Learning Journal.

Learn how to manage your time effectively.

• Read How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein or another book which covers the subject of time management. Write a brief review of the concepts presented in the book in your Learning Journal. Other books include: Getting Things Done: The ABC's of Time Management by Edwin Bliss, Commonsense Time Management by Roy Alexander, and The Time Trap by Alec MacKenzi.
• Visit a campus reading and study skills center. Ask the staff to highlight key time management resources such as educational materials, workshops, personnel, and other helpful programs available in their office. Collect these materials and compile a list of everything you have found. Share your findings at your next chapter meeting.
• Attend a personal day-planner seminar given by either your school, your chapter, or a private organization. Walk through the materials provided during the presentation. Then review the concepts of time management presented with other members in your chapter.
• Invite 2-3 very experienced campus leaders (Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic, National Pan-Hellenic Council/Black Greek Council, Student Government, etc.) to provide a workshop on time management skills and how they balance all of the responsibilities in their lives. Community leaders, student affairs staff, and business leaders are also appropriate presenters. Ask that they provide a one-page worksheet with recommended time-management practices.

Practice your time management skills.

• Purchase a personal planner and block out times for classes, fraternity activities, papers, exams, extracurricular activities, recreation, etc. Utilize this personal planner and recommended time management practices that are included with the calendar system. Continue with its use for the whole school term.
• For one month, assess your personal responsibilities and the time you have available on a daily basis. Using copies of the Things To Do Worksheet and the Weekly Time Management Schedule, make a list of all the things you need to do during your day. For one school term, log how you spend your time. Make sure you compile the time for the number of hours spent studying, reading, class, working, attending meetings, volunteering, fraternity activities, television, sports and recreation.
• Many times we get so caught up with our daily activities that we forget how little time we have. Take a moment to figure out the people in your life that you may have been neglecting. Write them a letter, give them a call, or even go visit. Finally, make a list of people with whom you wish to keep in contact and maintain relationships with. Determine important dates for these people like birthdays or anniversaries, so you can plan for these dates as a reminder in the future.

Establish and meet scholastic goals for this academic term and beyond.

• Write down your personal academic goals for each class. Put your goals in terms of your college/university's grading scale (4.0, 5.0, 100.0, etc.). Submit your academic goals to the chapter scholarship chairman and his committee. Review these goals at the end of the year.
• What do you want to have accomplished by graduation? Research your chosen profession or graduate program and identify the academic record that you will need to have to move into your field of choice. Then determine the academic goals which you wish to obtain by the time you receive your diploma in order for you to enter your chosen field. Map out the steps you need to complete in order to obtain these goals in your Learning Journal.

Set individual goals for yourself based on a personal plan.

• Meet with some of the men in your chapter. Together, discuss some of the things you wish to accomplish in your life. Then ask for suggestions for a plan which will move you toward these goals. After this discussion construct a timeline which describes where you want to be, on a yearly basis, as you attain what you want in life.
• To get a good look at your overall ambitions in life and what you deem important, imagine it's fifty years hence and you've just died after an extremely successful life. Write an obituary for yourself in the manner of a New York Times obituary - in depth, and with special attention to the characteristics and events that made a difference to others. The job you describe and the life that you led should be your "dream" job and "dream" life.
• Sit down and define some of your own values, using your Learning Journal or some other ledger. These values may be something you desire in life or something you may wish to dedicate your life to. Using these values make some long-range goals which are in accordance with what you value in life. Now divide these goals into steps which you can insert into your daily life.