Coast to coast: studying, working, and travelling

Hi Everyone,

My name is Amy Plant and I’m in my first year at CQUni. I’ve been invited to guest blog for the next few weeks, to share my travel and life experiences, as I’m off to New York thanks to a Global Voices Scholarship, supported by CQUni.

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself and also share a few of the life lessons I’ve pick up along my CQUni journey so far.

Even though I’m currently living in Mackay, in Queensland’s tropical north, I have been working at a non-profit based in Perth’s CBD and the Pilbara region for nearly ten years. Yes, that’s right Perth, Western Australia. This means I’m usually travelling from one side of Australia to the other and trying to keep on top of course work, assignments, multiple email accounts, projects, and all kinds of due dates.

I’m lucky that being in the workforce full time for over a decade has given me a little perspective and organisation skills with regards to my course work. Although I’m never exempt from that sinking feeling we all experience once in a while. You know the one where you feel swamped with work and deadlines and don’t even know where to start?

Something that has helped me is the saying don’t sweat the small stuff.

Don’t sweat your university and work tasks – organise them into a list, and as we say in my Perth office, “let’s just smash it out and go to lunch”.

Have you ever been told to write down everything you need to do on a things to do list, and then cross of each item as it’s been completed? There is actually a scientific and evolutionary reason for why things to do lists help us complete tasks. I’m not going to explain it because ethnographer and leadership expert, Simon Sinek, hits the nail on the head with this talk:

The talk goes for about 45 minutes but if you don’t have time, just watch the first 12 minutes or so.

The last 48 hours have been a little hectic: I went from installing an art exhibition at FORM in rainy, cold Perth; to starting on my Semester 2 course work, and flying back to Mackay’s bright blue skies and palm trees to pack my bags for New York. Luckily I was able to use some of my waiting time at the airport to organise my workflow for the next few days and make a things to do list. It was a list to make Simon proud!

Aside from the CQUni blog, I’ll be updating my Instagram and Twitter with news from New York. Feel free to follow me!

I look forward to sharing my experiences over the next few weeks.

Amy

PlantPress (https://cqunilife.com)

A creative industries project manager with nine years of experience in the Western Australian arts sector | Global Voices Semester 1, 2016 delegate to the UN ECOSOC High Level Political Forum | Sustainable Development Goals Australia Advocate | CQU Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Arts student | onthegrid.city Midland contributor