Setting Time Goals for Success

I am at my absolute best during the start of each new semester. My motivation skyrockets, my optimism is high, and generally, I’m happy! This never lasts, unfortunately, and it’s my own fault. I can pinpoint the exact week where my motivation falls and my anxiety inversely rises, and that’s when I get comfortable and stop completing assignments early. Don’t do this! Don’t be me! Sustain your happiness and set time goals for success.  Things that have helped me include:

  1. Setting reminders for all important events (exams, quizzes, papers) as soon as the information is available to you. I usually do this at the start of each semester and update my calendar even more at the beginning of every month.
  2. Think about where you want to be within a specific time frame. Actively make progress towards your goals by knowing where you want to be and how to get there. Want to find a new job? Set a date for this to be completed, and set smaller time frames (job search, interview) within that period to progress towards it. This will both help you see yourself accomplishing tasks and prevent you from stalling out and staying stagnant.

Life is a journey, and it’ll take time to get where you want to go. But you’ll get there, and so will I!

How to Juggle the Many Aspects of Life

As a busy college student, time management remains a vital part of my routine that must be constantly regulated and readjusted. Readings from the class ESLTECH 2011 (week 3) have provided some invaluable tips to help with this, my favorite including:

  1. Establishing a schedule
  2. Avoid Multitasking
  3. Asking for help

Learning to be an adult is hard. Juggling the many, many different aspects of life is not easy, and it is very common to neglect one part of it, be it school, work, friends, or your own mental health. The above three have helped me organize better and while I’m not perfect, doing the best I can to stay on top of these three things has improved all aspects of my life.

I have to remember (and I urge the rest of you) to use the resources easily available to your advantage. Google Calendar is my best friend. And so is forming relationships with my peers and professors, where we can all strive towards fulfillment together.

Sustaining Motivation in College

During my time here, I’ve seen so many students sabotage themselves, mostly in the form of giving up on a class or avoiding putting in the work needed to understand a subject. I’ve done this too, resulting in tears and a call home, where my sage of a mother always gives me the same advice: “Remember why you’re there”. Remember why you’re in school, spending tens of thousands of dollars you don’t have, getting an education.

The ultimate goal after being a student at THE Ohio State University, is to be happy. To be comfortable. Safe. To sustain yourself and to be able to do the things you want to do. ESLTECH 2011 has given me some tips on how to accomplish this, but I think that college is a long road for everyone, and that making mistakes is unavoidable. Messing up is a part of being a young, stupid student, but mistakes are fixable, and when you veer off of the road towards greatness and scrape your knee on the asphalt, you’re allowed to cry. Pick yourself up when you can and bandage the wounds, though, because you have to keep running!