Management

For the last blog, I wanted to write about something I think I have improved in from CLS. I really feel that I have improved a lot in managing my time. I used to be terrible with time and could never plan ahead when to do each of my assignments. I never used a planner and always relied on my memory.

I first used the THINGS-TO-DO list strategy. I made a list of all the things I need to get done! I then made a list of the things that are my priorities. These are the assignments I am going to do first. I did this for CLS, WRITING, HEBERW, and HUMAN SEXUALITY. I liked this strategy but decided it wasn't enough to help me manage my time.

I tried using a WEEKLY MANAGER. This allowed me to combine a weekly calendar and my to do list. I wrote down the different assignments I have to do for that week and on the calendar I wrote when they're due and when I am going to do them. I used this strategy for COLLEGE LEARNING STRATEGIES, HEBREW, WRITING, AND HUMAN SEXUALITY. This was a very helpful strategy because I am a visual learner and was able to see all of my assignments out in front of me. I saw what my things to do were and when I was going to do them.

Stress Management

Dealing with stress management is an ongoing struggle but there are several ways to cope with your stress. I've learned what really stresses me out through the Stress Diagram and five minute escape.

When looking at my stress diagram, it was clear to see that school work is my main stressor. It consumes most of my time and while at school is my priority during the days. Because I am an art student I am in long studio classes during the day and use breaks to do other work I need to complete. It can be challenging to juggle but handling my stress and realizing that everything that needs to get done, will is an important thought I try to maintain.

This visual chart is a great way for me to realize my priorities and organize my thoughts.

The 5 minute escape was another strategy that I tried this week. While preparing to go home I realized how much I still had to complete. The stress and anxiety towards finishing so many things to make a deadline made this week hectic yet exciting to know that I would soon get a week off. After getting out a long studio class I used the 5 minute escape in order to clear my head from what I had just accomplished and then pursue the next thing on my "to-do list". It was extremely helpful to utilize my breathing in order to calm myself down when I felt that I had too much to do in too little time. I also tried this technique before going to bed in order to relax myself and have a good night's sleep.

Overall, being able to focus on stress management this week was great because it is something i find myself fighting with and had a lot of stress to deal with before the long week.

Managing Stress

Although college is hyped up to be the most fun four years of your life, which it is, the workload is a big stress to get through, especially when finals are coming up. So to try to relieve some of the stress I am experiencing, I tried a couple of techniques I learned about in CLS 105.

The two techniques that I tried are the Stress Diagram, and the Five-minute Escape. The Stress Diagram was not for specifically any classes, but for almost everything, and other stresses I am going through. Since I am a Visual learner, this was pretty helpful. I started out by listing the sources of my stress that I am experiencing, rather than letting it sit in the back of my head. After I wrote them, I made a Visual chart to see how

much each thing is really affecting me. I knew this already, but getting into Whitman is easily my biggest stress. After that came finals and essays, and then my readings after that. Staying fit was a bit off topic from the others, but it is a big concern for me as well. This stress diagram was helpful, but a bit counteractive as well. Listing them initially made me stressed, about how many different stresses I had! But once I accepted it, I was ready to move on and take all of these tasks on.

The past couple of days, I have tried the Five-minute Escape when I am feeling at the peak of my stress. I have never tried any kind of meditation technique, but have always been pretty interested in it. The first time I tried it, it didn't do too much for me, probably because I was with my roommate in my room. During the middle of the day when I was really stressed, I tried it alone in my room. I actually loved it!! I love how I am initially starting with breathing, getting my loose. Once I start rotating my shoulders, I am already starting to feel better. The best part is towards the end when I massage the top of my back. I'm not sure if I am going to use the Stress Diagram technique again, but the Five-minute Escape is something that I can use through college, and even in the future!!

Stress Management

This week we learned about stress management! This is a good thing for me to do because I am stressed out a lot! I let stress get to me and get very over whelmed with school.

Stress is something that you can't always control. Its hard to stop yourself from being stressed out if you have a lot of work. We can try to minimize the stress by doing things to avoid it. Although we may not be able to eliminate it, there are definitely different strategies to avoid some of it.

I chose to use the strategies STRESS DIAGRAM and A DAY AT A TIME. For STRESS DIAGRAM, I made a list of the different sources that cause me stress. I then made a chart of the different sources and separated them into sections with sizes that were based on how stressful the sources are for me.

I used this strategy for WRITING and CAS 100. I am a VISUAL LEARNER and this strategy was very helpful. I could see what was stressing me out and how much it was stressing me out.

I then used the strategy A DAY AT A TIME. I wrote down a list of five things that were stressing me out and the next day I checked off a few of them that weren't stressing me out anymore. I used this strategy for HUMAN SEXUALITY and CLS.

I will definitely use these strategies whenever I am stressed and want to know whats causing it!

The Art of Procrastinating

Anybody in college is familiar with procrastinating. Whether it is music, Facebook, sports, or video games, you are most likely to procrastinate. But there ARE ways to work around it.

Personally, I am a huge procrastinator. It is so simple to open the internet to my top sites, and just click Facebook. I find myself on it for a long periods of times, and then I get frustrated that I am not getting anything done!

Since I am a visual learner, seeing what I am doing wrong is almost a slap in the face, and makes me realize that I'm not making the right decisions when doing my work.

For my first strategy to evade procrastinating, I tried the Time Was

ter technique. You do so by separating your activities that waste your time, and than offer solutions to these. I found one of my best decisions was NOT bringing my Playstation to college. Also, I consciously knew that rewarding myself was a little immature, but it still gave me that extra push to f

inish what I am doing without procrastinating. I found this pretty useful.

After seeing that the 24 hour Technique was successful for Courtney and Layla, and we have similar problems with procrastination, I thought I would try these strategy myself. I had multiple readings for History that I have to get done in about a week or two, and I have my History class on Tuesday. I thought it would be a great idea to get started on this, and knock it out of my way since my homework load is currently not to heavy. I knew that I would be able to get this done, since it is only reading and not too many regular assignments. I would go to the library, not even bring my backpack, and only my two books for that class.

With Thanksgiving break coming up, I am confident that I will complete my readings, and Thanksgiving break will be much more stress free! This way, I can complete my other necessary tasks without the readings hanging over my shoulders.

HIS 101

Paper due Tues Nov 29

- Read Civil Disobedience

- Read Confessions of Nat Turner

- Read fredrick douglas and mary prince diaries

These is my homework for History class. I have those readings to do, and I will get them out my way, so that during Thanksgiving break, I can break my Paper up into pieces, and it needs to be only 3 pages long too!

Procrastinating

This weekend I procrastinated a lot!

My boyfriend came to visit and instead of doing this blog at the beginning of the weekend, I waited until Sunday. The blog

is due today and I have to do it the last day he's here.

Procrastination is a very common thing. Most if not all students procrastinate. Although most people end up doing their work, they push it off till last minute. This not only causes stress, but it also makes the work you have to do a lot more complicated!

I tend to procrastinate a lot. I go on Facebook daily, sit on my computer, talk on the phone, or video chat with people I love. I always try to think of something that I can do instead of doing my work.

For this blog, I tried the strategy TIME WASTERS. I filled out a chart for this strategy.

I made a list of things I do to waste time and a list of tasks I try to avoid. This helped me realize that almost everything I do to avoid my work is on the computer and if I hide my computer for the time I need to do my work, I can get everything done.

I then used the putting it all together chart in the procrastination section! I wrote about a class MATH I need to do work for. The task I need to do, the materials I need to complete the task, when I'm going to do everything and what strategies I'm going to use to complete it without procrastinating.

I found this chart really helpful. I planned everything out and got to see what I needed to do and when I was going to do it. I definitely want to use this chart again for my other tasks. I am a VISUAL LEARNING and its easier for me to see everything I need to do in front of me.

I lastly tried the 24 HOUR strategy for my WRITING and HUMAN SEXUALITY classes to stop myself from procrastinating. I wrote down what I need to do and when I'm going to do it. Giving myself 24 hours will motivate me because I know that I "have" to finish the task in 24 hours or else "I won't succeed." Giving myself a fake dead line will definitely help motivate myself to do all my work before its due. I won't have time to procrastinate! I will use these strategies a lot!

Procrastinat-....

Procrastination is something everyone is very familiar with at some point or another. There are definitely certain tasks that lead me to procrastinate over others and drag out a process I anticipated would be long and torturous anyway.

Because I am a visual learner, when working on a project for an art class I can spend 6 hours and not realize the time that has gone by. However, when I have to write a paper, it can take me just as long when I know I could have gotten it done in half of the time.

There are major Time Waster's that I always go back to when I am writing a paper. Initially, I'll go online. Facebook and Twitter are my biggest weaknesses but after that gets boring I end up calling my mom. She can talk for hours and its a perfect excuse to stay away from that blank page I know I'll have to fill eventually. The last thing I usually procrastinate with is organizing my room. I can convince myself that everything is dirty or out of place before I am able to sit down

and write.

In order to avoid these procrastination methods, I chose to experiment with the 24-Hour Rule. By creating a new deadline for anticipated essays it would psychologically force me to have these papers done a few days prior to when they are due. This way, I would write my essays due for the week first, and then be able to finish other work that is quicker or less pain-staking more efficiently without knowing that unwritten essay is there in the back of my head for me to accomplish.

The middle of my week gets extremely busy and sometimes I am overwhelmed with the work I have due. So, in order to fix this I made deadlines that were at the beginning and end of the week in order to have the middle of it free. My writing 105 presentation was not actually due until thursday but I knew that if I did not complete it the weekend before it would be gradually getting revised throughout the week and never fully done. My design history readings were due on Wednesday so by completing them a day ahead I was free to go to the studio tuesday night and work on a project instead of doing my readings. My Design history essay is also due november 16th, not the 11th. However, with only one class on Friday's, I have the entire day free. I knew I needed to spend it wisely so chose to get my essay done instead of lounging around for a few hours.

This technique worked really well for me and allowed me to plan my work around my schedule. I think I will definitely continue to use this when I see myself procrastinating or know that I specifically have a paper coming up.

Motivating Myself

This week, since our class is focusing on motivation, I used exploring rewards and academic fears to find out what motivates me. For anyone, getting themselves motivated is not easy. It is much more appeasing to stay in bed for a little longer, play some video games rather than do homework, or go out late at night... at least it is for me. So I used these strategies to help motivate myself to succeed.

Finding out what motivates me relays into any class that I participate in, though the two classes I found it most useful in were my hardest two, Philosophy 192 and Earth Science 105. Succeeding in these classes would lead to my ultimate goal, what motivates me most, which is getting into Whitman. If I am able to get into Whitman, I will be able to engage in the major that I want most, entrepreneurship. A no-cost reward I get from doing well on a test or essay, or even getting into Whitman would be pride, for my first, legitimate accomplishment in college.

My biggest fear, if I did not get into Whitman, would be disappointing myself, and not being able to pursue the major that I would want to. This would fall back to not succeeding in my classes, by not doing well on a test or essay. My biggest college fear is not getting into Whitman. Knowing what motivates me, I feel that I have a better chance at succeeding, and reaching my ultimate goal.

External Motives Internal Motives

-Making parents proud -Boost of confidence than I will be able to succeed

-Getting into Whitman -Gaining interest in what I want to do, rather than completing what I need to for the sake of it.

-Being able to pursue the major that

I want to

-Making $$$$$$

Motivation

While focusing on motivation this week, I had a lot to consider because I know that I am not only an extremely motivated person, but fear the consequences if I do not maintain my motivation.

As I am preparing for my major, which is Comm. Design next year, I know that this year is my opportunity to prove to myself that I belong in this major and I have the ability to pursue it. I have a personal drive to keep my confidence up and persist in doing my best.

When looking at Exploring Rewards and Academic Fears I considered my interior and exterior motives.

As I did Exploring Rewards I found that in my foundation studio classes such as 2D Processes and 3D Arts, I am motivated to succeed the most in order to prove to myself, my family, and friends that I can eventually build myself a satisfying career through this major.

A no-cost reward I find out of a achieving a good grade or completion of a project is the praise from my parents. They are both in the art field and their opinion is extremely important to me.

When I then looked at my Academic Fears, I listed my top three general fears. Failing an exam was number two on the list and brought me to realize these fears applied to some different courses because in project based classes I wouldn't be likely to fail a project, but in an art history class that is a possibility on an exam.

Considering my internal and external motivators allowed me to focus on what I really care about and how I will now achieve my long term goals.

Motivation!

This week we learned about motivation!

Motivation is the driving force that helps people achieve different goals.

Motivation is an interest

ing term because to everyone in means something

different. To me motivation could be knowing if I ace a test, I am going to treat myself to a large piece of chocolate cake. However, to someone else motivation could be knowing they are going to go to Mexico if they run a mile a day for a month straight. Everyone has different ways to get themselves going but as long as we do it, it doesn't matter how.

This week I tried the strategy ACADEMIC FEARS and EXPLORING REWARDS. I wrote down my biggest academic fears for my MATH class. This helped show me what my biggest fears were, what the worst possible outcomes were, and what the best were.

This motivated me because I was able to push myself to reach the best possible outcomes and see what I needed to do in order to get there.

I then tried the strategy EXPLORING REWARDS for CLS. This really motivated me because I wrote down something I could reward myself that costs nothing, something with a low cost and something thats expensive. I was able to show myself that if I do well on the tech assignments, I will get to see my boyfriend, my family, and my friends. This motivates me to work extra hard on these assignments because these people are very important to me. I was then able to push myself to work hard on the projects because I knew that if I did well on the proj

ects, I would treat myself to a nice meal. In addition, if I did well in CLS

overall, I would go a nice vacation!

This strategy definitely helped me motivate m

yself to do my work this weekend! I wrote down a separate list of things I would treat myself to if I did all my work and succeeded this week in all my courses!

- Insomnia cookies

- Go home this weekend

- Get my nails done

- Get my hair done

I will definitely use these strategies again when I am anxious about classes or want to push myself to succeed!