It has been yet another week (now six in total I believe) since I set three goals to pursue throughout my stay here at Paul Smith’s. I’ve gone through periods where progress came easily and I’ve also gone through periods where progress seemed to be more than lethargic. Now that the semester is already half way done, I’d say that my progress has actually outpaced the timetable I set for the goals. With this being said, on to the new progress.
I have already applied several new studying methods throughout the year, but this week I have made progress in my time management skills; especially when they apply to my schoolwork. It is pretty easy to manage homework and extracurricular activities when you don’t have much homework to do. This past week I found myself with a considerable load of homework, which had to be completed in one day. When I approached the work, I first had to prioritize my tasks. For example, I had to push the studying back in time because the homework took priority over it, due to the fact that it was due the next day. I then took the group of homework assignments and looked at the time it would take to do each assignment. I completed the assignment that took the most time first, because I prefer to get the tough things done first. After that, everything was pretty much downhill. The lesser assignments flew by quickly, most likely because they were much easier than the big assignment. I found this approach to a large amount of homework to be quite successful, and I will use it whenever I need to.
I have also continued with my goal of being more open to others as well as my modified goal of talking to someone new every day. Talking to different people has actually been quite easy because I don’t have to change anything about what I already do, I just have to be a little more proactive in my day to day social situations. An example would be when I go to workout. When my workout calls for dumbbells or a pull-up bar, I workout in my dorm room, because it’s much nicer than going to the gym. When I do workouts such as plyometrics (jump training) or kenpo (a mix of martial arts and cardio), I do them in the dance room. I have met several interesting people in the dance room, and it’s even more interesting to see the different things that people use the room for. I’ve talked to people who liked to use the room for dancing, martial arts, and some for listening to music as loud as they possibly can. The bottom line is that I have found how easy it is to talk to new people, and it has already made my college experience more enjoyable.
When it comes to my goal of clearing my mind of negative thoughts while focusing on the positive, I have also made progress. Lately my mind has actually been focused on positive thoughts partly due to registration for classes next semester. I really like my schedule the way it is, but I’m excited to take some new courses. With course-registration comes the realization that the year is coming to a close, which means that holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas will soon be upon us. As much as I love it up here, I can’t wait to be home celebrating the holidays with my friends and family. It’s surprising because these feelings would usually bring on feelings of homesickness, but instead they now bring me feelings of optimism. I’d say that this shows progress through my efforts since I set my goals.
It seems like every time I think that I can’t make any more progress on my goals…. I do. Thomas Edison once said, “Discontent is the first necessity of progress.” I completely agree with this quote because progress doesn’t happen unless something different happens. The difference doesn’t need to be big at all, but you have to be willing to do some things that may feel uncomfortable. Initially, talking to random people was uncomfortable for me, but it isn’t now; because I’ve made progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment