Plans for less procrastination(5b)

The time study showed me a lot. I didn’t realize how much free time I actually have. I dedicated about 20 hours to working and studying when I had 30 hours of free time. Also I spend about 24 hours every week working. If I could cut work down one day, I would have an extra 6 hours every day to study. Also, Sundays I relax almost the whole day. Because football is on, I normally can’t focus on anything but it. I plan on cutting out an hour of football and adding studying into my Sundays. I’m sure I can even cut an hour off of sleep per night to add to studying. The problem isn’t that I don’t have time to study, it’s that I procrastinate too much. I set time out every week for studying and homework, and somehow I never get it done. I try to work hard, but I get distracted very easy. I try to find quiet places that I can work but sometimes I still get distracted. It’s something that I need to work on.

                Commuting also causes me to lose hours throughout the week that I wouldn’t have if I lived at college. I spend about 45 minutes every day getting to school and back. Which in one week ads up to almost 4 hours. There isn’t really much I can do about that. It’s just one of the down falls of commuting. I think that eventually I will be able to work without procrastinating or without getting distracted. It’s just something that comes with time. Once I get used to the amount of work, I will be able to get the timing down.

Time managment (5a)

So far, college has been better for me than high school. I think because I’m paying for college, I have a better mindset to work. My time management skills have changed the most. So far, I have been able to stick to a schedule that I set up each week. Writing out my schedule has helped me in the first four week. Being able to see what I need to get done helps a lot. Having a schedule helps, but being able to understand the material is much more important. But it’s something I am having trouble with. My pre-Calc class is by far the most difficult class I have. I’ve shown up to every class, done almost all the work, and studied very hard. But I still can’t seem to understand the subject. Last week we had our first test. Immediately when I looked at it, I knew I was going to fail. The material that I had been studying for the past 4 weeks looked like a foreign language. But I tried to push through it, but in the end I got a 16 on it. So it’s been a rough start to my college math course. I think that I am going to have to study a lot more if I plan on passing the course. Its, hard to do when I see certain problems and just give up because I don’t understand. But it’s something I can improve on.

I think setting week long goals will be the key to success. Long term goals are good, but I think that long term goals are harder to accomplish because they can take a lot of time an effort. Short term goals would help me improve without a strong dedication. I can accomplish them within a week as long as I put in the hard work.

Writing center (5I)

This week, I went to the writing center for help in English class. I am writing a paper on something that I believe in. I was having trouble brain storming ideas. The writing center helped me very much. They helped me come up with ideas, and helped me put it on paper. I was getting stuck trying to describe events using the 5 senses. But they help I got in the writing center allowed me to put my thoughts into words. I would definitely recommend it to others who are having trouble writing. I plan on going back for my next essay as well.

Agency (5v)

Agency is defined as a business or organization established to provide a particular service, typically one that involves organizing transactions between two other parties. But what we need to look at is the part about organization. Organization is what an agency truly is. Organization is defined as an organized body of people with a particular purpose, such as a business, society, association, etc. That’s what a university like southern is. We are a common group of people working toward one goal. Agency is very similar to community which is defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Downtown New Haven (4I)

 Yesterday I went to green in downtown New Haven. I walked around with friends, got some food, and had a good time. We went to a place called orange side for breakfast. They had great eggs but even better donuts. After breakfast we parked near the green and walked around. We went to a couple of cool stores and ended up at a hookah lounge. It was cool seeing downtown on a Friday during the day. It was cool to see how alive it was even during the day. I’m thinking about going back again next weekend.

Marshmallow test. Fact or Fiction? (4B)

 Can we really determine how a child will perform in school based on a simple test? A simple test on patience, can’t determine how a child will do in their later years of school. The marshmallow test didn’t appeal to me. I think that people can change over time. Some kids who start off very impatient can over time learn to become patient. It all depends on how that child is brought up. Some kids just don’t have the patients to wait for a marshmallow, but that can’t determine how they will score on their S.A.T. Also the study showed that only 98 people were tracked down after they took the test. So out of 400 participants, only 98 were tracked down. For all we know, it could have just been a coincidence that the kids did well on the S.A.T.

Another question I have thought about is, how can we motivate ourselves to go above and beyond our required amount of work? This is something that will help greatly in college. If you can motivate yourself to go above and beyond, you will find that it will better you for the college life. Being able to motivate yourself is a great thing. If you can use that skill to help learn more knowledge, you are better off. Motivating myself for school work is not an easy thing. If I could motivate myself for work, I would be in a great position. It’s one thing to do the required work, it’s another to do more than the required work.

A waiting game(4a)

We as Americans hate to wait. All though it is tough to admit, we hate waiting. I think that technology play a huge role in our inpatients. We, as young adults, were brought up with everything at the touch of a button. We have cell phones that can give us any answer, news feed, weather report, or status update in a matter of seconds. We have fast food chains that promise your food in two minutes or less. We have services that offer repair in a matter of thirty minutes, and even that is too much time in Americans eyes. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, the internet at our house went down. Without warning it just shut off. It was ridiculous how impatient my family got without having everything at the click of a button. I called Comcast and they said they would come over and fix it within the hour. About 55 minutes went by and they hadn’t showed up. I thought my sister was actually going to kill the repair man if he didn’t show up within that hour. Luckily he showed up with about a minute to go. But that just proves my point. Because we were brought up to have all of this speed we don’t know what to do without it. We are a culture set on instant gratification. We chose not to wait for better rewards. We think that we need the Iphone 5 so everyone goes out and buys it. But if they waited 6 months, they could’ve gotten the Iphone 6. Patients is a virtue now a days. If you have the patience to wait for something in order to get a better reward, you have a better chance of surviving in this world.

Delayed Gratification(4v)

Delayed Gratification is the ability to resist temptation for an immediate reward and wait for an award later. This goes along with the marshmallow test. Delayed Gratification relates to temptation, and control. For some reason, as Americans we can rarely wait for better rewards. We are a culture that doesn’t have delayed gratification. We require new things every day. It relates to temptation because that’s something you need to conquer in order to have delayed gratification. It’s defined as a desire to do something. Control is defined as the power to influence or direct people’s behavior.

Good or Bad? That is the question.(3a)

To me, this quote means that things are what we as individuals see them. We are all individuals so we see things differently from others. What one person see’s as good another may see as bad. This quote reminds me of the quote “one man’s trash, is another man’s treasure.” Everyone is different in their own way which is why this quote makes so much sense. This quote represents a growth mind set. This quote is saying that everything in life is neutral. Everything we see and think is neutral. It is not until we as people judge something that makes it what it is. Its people’s perspectives that draw conclusions are things in our world.

This quote also represents intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation from within. It is self-discipline and is self-drive. As individuals we need to motivate ourselves from within. We make our own choices on what we do or how hard we push. We can make our own outcomes by how hard we work. I could do no work one week and have a bad outcome or do a lot of work the next week and have a good outcome. But that is only my opinion. But that is what the quote is saying. Personal experiences relate to outcomes and relate to how we judge things.

Motivation (3v)

Motivation means “the reason one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”. To me motivation goes along with the words, self-discipline (the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses), and self-assurance(confidence in one's own abilities or character). All three need to coexist together. Even if the motivation is extrinsic, one still needs to have a self-drive to accomplish the task at hand. For example, I work at Burger King. I absolutely hate my job, but I know I need to make money to pay off my car. So I have an extrinsic motivation (making money), but I have the self-discipline to get the job done even though I can’t stand the job.

Involvment Fair(3I)

On Thursday, I went to the involvement fair in the center of Southern. I looked at many clubs, and many sorority’s. The one that interested me the most was the environmental club. I was really interested in what they do. They help clean up the campus, they help with recycling, and they organize cleanups of the New Haven area. I am probably going to join because I like taking care of our planet. I also like the intermural sports activities. I hopefully will be playing dodge ball and 3 on 3 basketball for the intermural sports. And I may even join the hockey club sports team.

Music:my escape (3b)

Something that I have fallen in love with is playing music. It’s something that I picked up a while back starting with the piano. I loved sitting at the piano playing songs like “don’t stop believing” and “Home Sweet Home” or John Lennon’s “Imagine”. It was just something I could do without really practicing. I could hear the notes and without even practicing, play the song. The same was not so easy with guitar. Guitar is one of those instruments that take years of work to perfect. I have been playing for about 8 months, and still have trouble with simple chords. I can play songs by Sublime, Led Zeppelin, and Tom Petty. It’s a hobby that I can always find time for. It has gotten to the point where I sometimes sit in class thinking about how I can perfect my playing. I kind of get lost in the music. I will sit down and say that I’m only going to play for twenty minutes, and when I’m finally finished it would be closer to an hour. Drums are another instrument that I love to play. I could play them for hours at a time, or until someone in my family tells to too shut up. My three friends and I also play in a band. I play the drums and occasionally the guitar for one or two songs. It’s one thing to play by yourself, but when you have other instruments playing it’s a great feeling. All of the instruments work together to create one harmony. Playing music is something I hope to continue to do. It’s something that take my mind off of a long day. Hopefully once I star work again, I will be able to afford a bass guitar. But until then I will have to stick with what I have.

Planning ahead

To me the most useful thing I got from the education blogs was the tip about scheduling. Scheduling is a very important part about getting ahead in school. You must plane ahead of time, and you must give yourself extra time just in case. I made a schedule right after I readhttp://www.deliverfreedom.com/blog/work-hard-or-work-smart/ .I believe that the key to success is to plan ahead. I plan my week out on Sunday. I write down all of the classes I have and when I have them. I also factor in my softball schedule, times I have to wake up, and also down time for playing guitar or just watching TV. Writing out my schedule helps me see when I have to complete assignments. This blog is a great example of that. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to write out my blogs on Wednesday or Thursday, so I started to write them on Tuesday, and finally finished them on Saturday. So far, it’s working well, I haven’t missed an assignment or a deadline yet. So I hope to continue my streak throughout the year. Another thing that helped me was in the blog http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/opinion/06collegeadvice.html .It said that as students, we should choose our teachers. We should look through teacher reviews and talk to older students who have been through the classes. It also said we shouldn’t just pick teachers who are fun but we should pick teachers who are actually good at teaching. Someone who will help us learn throughout the semester. These blogs helped me a lot. They gave me great ideas that I can use to help me achieve great things in college.

Making the initiative(2V)

To me the word initiative mean the ability to initiate things independently. This is a good word to have the second week of college. Because people are finally becoming accustomed to college, they can begin to meet new people, and try new things. And with that, people need to be able to independently, start new things. Like for me meeting new people and beginning conversations is hard for me. So I need to make it my initiative to go out and meet new people on the campus. College is all about being independent which is why initiative is such a good word to describe college.

Relaxation inside Buley (2I)

On Friday, I had a class inside the Buley library. I couldn’t believe how nice it was, and how quiet. I mean, I know it’s a library but even with all the construction, it was quiet. Especially on the third floor. I plan on using that as my studying area for the next semester. Because I have a three hour break on Thursdays, I can go there and get a lot of my work done. I can’t wait to see what it will look like when it is finally complete in 2015. I can imagine it will be a much more relaxing place.

College goals(2b)

This week, I set a goal to put my school work before anything else. All though the week was incredibly boring, I can say that I accomplished that goal. In high school I rarely put my school work before anything. I would hang out with friends, or watch TV, or even sit around and do nothing before I did my work. But I still passed every class with mediocre grades. But I know that college is much different. I know that is I put TV or hanging out with friends before my school work, I’ll probably come close to failing. The difference between high school and college, beside the amount of work, is the responsibility that comes with being a college student. As college students, we have to put certain priorities before others. And for me school is now my main priority. So far, I have turned down friends, my softball team, and even my job just so I could get my work done. And I have to say, it is a very boring lifestyle, but a necessary one. I’m looking at college as a new start and a new chapter in my life. I want to start out on the right foot and allow nothing to interfere with my chosen path. I’ve learned that you can’t substitute anything for hard work. My first couple of grades in college are better than any grades I got in all of high school. The reason I had low grades in high school was because I put other things before my school work. The only thing I plan on putting in front of my school work is my family. Besides that, nothing will interfere with it. I figure, I’m paying ten thousand dollars a year for it so I might as well make the most of it while I can.