Cameron and Michelle: Making Positive Changes
Cameron was very active in extracurricular activities while
studying for her degree in criminal justice. She volunteered two days a week at
a local agency, worked 25 to 30 hours a week at the mall to earn extra money,
and was vice president of a national student organization on campus. She felt
she was on a good path to building experiences to help her compete for the job
she wanted at graduation as a case manager with the local courts.
Her high-energy personality and eagerness to be involved in
meaningful work and activities were an asset. Cameron believed that the more
she did, the better qualified she would be. Cameron was really passionate about
everything she did, but found she had difficulty getting things done. Her
grades were very good. Cameron put her studies before her work and other
activities. When Cameron was promoted to assistant store manager, she was
required to stay to the store closing four nights a week.
She began running late for her early morning classes once
her work scheduled changed. She had to cut corners on the volunteer and organization
projects she was committed to. She knew she had to make some positive changes,
but wasn’t sure where to start.
Her roommate, Michelle, was also involved in several
activities on and off campus, but seemed to get major projects done on time,
keep up her grades, and even have a small amount of free time every week for
herself. Two nights a week, Michelle had a routine of keeping two hours open in
her schedule.
Although she was involved in a lot of things, she spent
those four hours a week working on her business plan for her entrepreneurship
class. Michelle planned on opening her own catering business after graduation
and was using this class project as her actual business plan with the help of
her current boss and her teacher. Part of her project was building a financial
plan to include starting small, regularly scheduled investments in a retirement
account. Michelle’s grandparents advised her to do this after retiring and
realizing that it was possible that they could outlive their retirement money. Michelle
was grateful to learn how important this one positive change to her business
plan would be. While Michelle kept a pretty busy schedule, she decided to hold
back from making any extra commitments of her time until she was finished with
her business plan.
Discussion Questions
1. How were Cameron and Michelle different from each other?
2. What could Cameron do to better manage her time and still
accomplish her work?
3. Was Michelle’s business plan realistic? Why or why not?