I Learned About My Own Work Habits

Soon, I discovered a method to avoid the potential of feeling insubstantial, if only for a few more hours or days. Thus, allow me to introduce you to an old friend, procrastination. My way of thinking soon became, “If I’m not going to get an A, then why even put the effort in?” and consequently, innumerable assignments were put off until five in the morning where it would be due in two hours or it would never reach my teacher’s hands at all. I’m sure most teachers believed the cause to be laziness or a lack of ambition, however I strongly believe that if they’d known the constant stress, self-doubt, and exhaustion that I

I was working part time, striving to excel in track and field, and working to maximize my high school experiences. Now a job absorbs a great deal of time, not only in terms of work hours, but also in terms of hours spent thinking about how to improve one’s efficiency at work. Similarly, track and field is a jealous sport. It demands attendance at late and sometimes distant meets and practices. Due to these valuable, but time consuming, activities, I did not have sufficient time to study for the physics task. Once again, I called upon my inner strength for analysis. I educated myself on time management techniques and identified how I could be more efficient in my athletic training and work, so that I could have more free time to devote to the physics class. Furthermore, I used my astute talent for prioritizing to come up with a plan for success. By focusing on different activities on different days, I could not only accomplish, but also excel in the most difficult of

I’m proud of my accomplishments thus far in my academic career as a result of making the right decisions in the challenging courses I take that have all been possible through organization and paying attention to my teachers. Through cross country and track, I’ve been able to meet amazing people who share the passion of running and are focused on making the best future for themselves. I’ve benefitted from being a self-motivated student to continue working hard in and out of the classroom. An essential skill I learned was how to manage my time better. As I continue to add activities to my schedule, I use a planner to make sure I am dividing my time evenly to academics and

In order for me to get all of that momentum toward completing my work going, I must walk into my home and go straight into my study zone. I have to have all of those things going for me to have a successful study time. If anything is missed like turning off the television or not going straight into that room then the chances of me doing any work go down drastically. Procrastination is like an addiction for

My project began when I was first handed the self-change contract and had to ask myself “What do I really need to improve.” After a lot of thought and self-reflection, I thought that to boost my grades, improve my work ethic, and make things easier for myself I needed to improve my procrastination in regards to my studying and dedication. The first step was to identify everything about the problem. I took some time got a sheet of paper and made essentially a mind map without knowing what it was at the time.) I broke procrastination down and discovered that at least for me the two big things that were causing my procrastination were the “I can do it later” attitude, and the perceived difficulty of tasks. So after identifying the main issues, I had to figure out what I was going to do about it.

As I began my junior year, I found myself juggling a rigorous academic schedule, varsity tennis, a social life and a new job. At first, I figured I could balance all of these activities. However, I became humbled by a 32% on an early Physics test triggering sheer panic regarding future applications to college. Knowing my grades needed to trend up as a junior, I dug down and did everything possible to improve my grades. I committed myself to a nightly study regimen consisting of intermittent on-off study blocks. Diligent removal of all distractions, including my I-Phone while studying was a major key. Also, I reduced my hours at work and often went to school early to meet with my teachers to review material. This action plan ultimately led to the improvement of my grades in all classes, culminating with a “B” in Physics and meeting my overall goal of a 4.0 GPA. Yes, I had failed a single test, but the real failure was not prioritizing and planning my activities proactively. The lesson I learned from this

My first goal in this class will be to work on my bad habit of procrastination.

More and more students are piling on mountains of stresses and strains on their bodies but more so on their minds by choosing to procrastinate. According to Dr. Ferrari associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, he suggests that the “stress or anxiety we feel over long periods of time can lead to more serious situations such as depression and other forms of mental illnesses... that will make our lives much harder to cope with.” The true ramifications of delaying or stalling assignments is putting one's mental health on the line. Students may gain anxiety, and or depression problems because of the exceeding amount of stress and pressure they put themselves under when students defer tasks. Another effect of procrastination is building up unnecessary amounts of stress.

With many distractions around us, students across the nation struggle with procrastination daily and it is on an upper spiral. Both men and women students are struggling with putting things off such as work, school, and tasks at home or in their dorms. Unfortunately, 20 percent of males and females are labeled as chronic procrastinators in the United States (Ferrari). Those who are known as “procrastinators” are not born this way, however, their upbringing is what creates this habit. Parents that have high expectations counteract the want to complete tasks among young adults. This is because demanding parents prevent children’s ability of development that allows them to regulate responsibilities (Marano). On the other hand, there are several different types of procrastination according to J. Ferrari, Ph.D. One type is known as the arousal type; this includes people who wait to do homework or tasks until the last minute because they enjoy working quickly under pressure.

One of the biggest challenges I faced as a brand new Running Start student here at TCC was overcoming the inefficiency of my work habits. I had never been in an environment where my time was not structured. At first, I felt free. I was unchained, happy to roam about and do what I pleased. For example, I would spend much of my new free time hanging out with friends and exploring the Puget Sound in my kayak. However, I soon realized that if I were at all to succeed in this environment, I would have to manage my time. Using every second of my spare time for the success of my grades became crucial to me. I knew that this was the only way to receive the full benefit of this college education. Developing good work habits has become my obsession. In hopes of bettering my college experience and grades, several changes were made to my work habits.

Yesterday I learned something new. Everyday here in the United States as an international student, I speak another language than my native one, French. I learn something new everyday, with a new way to express myself, by being far away from my family, and by making my own decisions. Personally, I consider myself in the process of becoming an adult. Afterall, aren’t we all growing everyday in some kind of way? It might be a little foolish or biased, but I do believe everybody has a space to grow and something to learn, every single day. From that perspective, I will compare two movies that shows some kind of growing within masculinity in 21th century. Les Intouchables shows the process of growing up as being responsible for another person, while Once Upon A Time shows the process of growing up by understanding another’s emotions, which suggests that Les Intouchables claims that the process of growing up is a development that is being forged by a contemporary society with different social classes, while Once Upon A Time argues that the process of growing up is coming from our own interpretation and the ability to understand another’s action and perspective.

Since being brought into this world on November 27, 1994, nearly twenty-one years ago, I have had many experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. I have been through many obstacles that I didn’t think I would make it through, but after it was all said and done, I survived. Not only did I survive, I learned a lot of things about myself that I didn’t know. For one, I learned that I don’t give up, no matter how hard times get I keep pushing on which shows me that I’m strong. I am always there for those who are close to me no matter what, which shows me that I am loyal to those I love even when they may be in the wrong. I don’t like asking others for help even when I know I may need it, I just push harder so I can make it happen on my own which makes me see myself as independent. Through the many experiences that I have had, both good and bad, I have found that I am a strong, loyal, and independent.

A day or two before class I reviewed the syllabus and handouts to see the details of what each day would be like and the specifics of each assignment. After reviewing I was definitely ready for two days of knowledge on learning to become more relaxed and less stressed. Being a wife, mother of two, daughter, sister, friend, relative, full-time student and employee is not an easy task. Many days I’m overwhelmed by my thoughts alone of what needs to be done daily, things such as household chores, homework, extra-curricular activities, church affiliations, and work deadlines. With my very

Have you ever had an essay due in three weeks and thought to yourself, “I’ve got time. I’ll just do it later”? Does staying up studying for an exam until 3 am in the morning sound familiar? How about running to class because you were working on a project until the very last second? If any of these unfortunate situations sound relatively familiar, you have endured the horrendous event of procrastination at some point of your jam-packed life. The one secret that nobody is enforcing on your young life is the extreme power of time management. In Chapter 5, the topics we address are as follows:

Upon reading the article on Stress Management, I realized that procrastination can definitely cause stress in my life, unwanted and unnecessary stress.For years I have been in a fight with procrastination. I am ashamed to say that I have identified this issue a long time ago and have done nothing to get rid of it. I am even more ashamed to say that about 90% of time procrastination wins. Whether it be a simple wash the bathroom now or no more movies, not to mention take out the garbage now, I allow procrastination to win. I will always say, I can do it later or I have time. This is a negative factor that affects Time and Stress Management.