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We all have experienced having motivation before but who can say that they’ve maintained keeping motivation? Its so easy to have motivation in situations that are new and exciting for example the first week of school vs the fifth. Things start to become repetitive and you can sometimes begin to lack motivation. The biggest factor to keeping motivation throughout the semester is shutting out distractions. Friends, outings, and social media will become your enemy in this situation. Find an environment where its easy for you to forget about your social life for a few hours and tune in with not only yourself  but your studies.

To eliminate distractions I use an app that allows me to block certain websites for a specific amount of hours. Even If you delete the app or try to turn it off you have to wait until the time is up. Focused work really does lead to success. Cramming isn’t successful, it is vital to take breaks while your studying. It also isn’t the best to overcrowd your mind with so much at one time, eventually you won’t be able to intake any information. As students we also face stress, stress can be a roadblocker on your path to success. It slows you down, makes you lazy, and most importantly eats up all your room for motivation. Make sure you find that healthy balance between academics and social life to keep you going.

We are all born with habits, learn to live with them and stop letting them outlive you. YOU are in control of your life not your habits. 

We all have habits but it’s all about learning to get around your BAD ones and accepting who you are while still being successful. As soon as you feel yourself getting the urge to partake in a bad habit acknowledge it and fight it.

The History Behind Habits 

It turns out that every habit starts with a psychological pattern called a “habit loop,” which is a three-part process. First, there’s a cue, or trigger, that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and let a behavior unfold.”Then there’s the routine, which is the behavior itself,” Duhigg tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “That’s what we think about when we think about habits.”The third step, he says, is the reward: something that your brain likes that helps it remember the “habit loop” in the future. You can do these complex behaviors without being mentally aware of it at all,” he says. “And that’s because of the capacity of our basal ganglia: to take a behavior and turn it into an automatic routine.”

Studies have shown that people will perform automated behaviors — like pulling out of a driveway or brushing teeth — the same way every single time, if they’re in the same environment. But if they take a vacation, it’s likely that the behavior will change.

Solid/Soft habits

Habits that are embedded in you and habits that come and go or show during certain circumstances/environments. Solid habits are habits that you are aware of and 9×10 other people are as well. Soft habits can be hidden, they usually appear when you’re alone or every blue moon.  

Habit System 

A habit system is designed to help you grow out of the habits you feel like are holding you back. What you do on a day to day basis ultimately forms the person you are today, the things you believe in/practice, and the personality that you portray to others. Not ALL habits are bad. Some are for the better like always unplugging the iron when you’re done, turning the tv off before bed, or cleaning as you cook. We have those good ones then those bad ones that hold us back from creating more good ones. 

MY NEW MINDSET AND PRACTICES 

Cut the talk, what do you do on the daily? How are you incorporating these new habits into your routine/practices? How do you plan to? 

Find a routine that works for YOU and stick to it. Don’t let anything that doesn’t contribute to your end goal interrupt it.

HABITS VS LAZINESS 

Know the difference between being lazy and really facing a habit within. I personally feel like procrastination is a form of laziness versus a habit. 

Visual Representation of Me Hacking My Habits 

I tracked my days for a whole week to see where a lot of my time goes to waste. This helped tremendously. It showed me that I really have been hacking my habits as you can see I didn’t spend much of my free time doing unproductive activities. On the second photo I mapped out my entire month with side notes. Following a set schedule can help cancel out those bad habits you have obtained.

TAKEAWAY

YOUR LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF YOU. Your dreams, goals, passions, all can be achieved and reached if you put in the correct practices. One of the most important steps to becoming better is realizing what you’re doing wrong and what you should be doing differently- Joanna East taught us exactly how to see.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them

Who ever knew that searching and researching were two different things? Not me for sure. Before engaging in this weeks modules, I had no idea how similar yet different the two actions were. Searching focuses on quantity, while researching focuses on quality. Searching is more so for when you’re with a group of people debating who has the write answer about what year a song or movie came out. Researching on the other hand is when you put time and dedication into a topic to truly find the root of what you’re truly asking. When researching you have to find specific information that is reliable, primary, accurate, and trustworthy. Research focuses on how and why. As Marc Prensky said, “while search involves just looking, research involves a whole discipline of behaviors.”

The next time I have a research paper, I want to practice “pre-searching.” Pre-searching is basically when you

1.Make a list of the questions you need to answer before you can write your assignment.

2.ask yourself: what information would help you answer these questions

3.Figure where to find different kinds of information(websites, journals, books)

Taking out the time to actually plan out your research will honestly save you time in the long run.

• Online student success- https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/academics/current-students/resources
  • I like this site because it provides resources for when you’re feeling mentally drained, need student advocacy, or need help with a situation around campus.
• Communication- https://groupme.com/en-US/
  • This app helps me stay in contact with the students who are in the same courses as me. It allows you to make big group chats.
• Efficiency https://www.rescuetime.com
  • this app sends you weekly reports to help you keep track of what you’ve spent your free time doing on your devices. It also can block certain domains at specific times to keep you on track.
• Studying- quizlet.com
  • a web-based tool that allows users to create study tools such as interactive flashcards, tests, and study games.  This allows activity content to be migrated from flashcards to matching games to other types of study games easily and responsively.
• Note-taking – Evernote.com

  • Keep important info handy by syncing your notes to all your devices. Add text, images, audio, scans, PDFs, and documents to your notes.

• Searching and researching – https://library.osu.edu
  • helps you find journals, articles, references, books and more that are reliable.
• Motivation – https://motivationgrid.com
  • this website contains a lot of positve/motivation news going on. It also has quotes and speeches too.

Note taking has been something we’ve all learned since we learned to write. Most of us correlate note taking with test taking. Notes are meant to study and prep you for the test you’ll have to complete. In college professors look at note taking as more than just copying down notes from the board word for word. They look at it as participation. They can tell what students took notes to learn and truly applied themselves. They can tell who participated class and is giving it their all. This weeks note taking modules taught me how to record my lectures. By class being online majority of our lectures are recorded but taking a recording on your phone actually helps. Record those specific topics that you need to focus and pay more attention too. This has taught me repition which allows the material to come to me by second nature.

In the future, I would love to incorporate Cornell Notes into my studies. The look of them gives me way less anxiety, they’re more straight forward, and they have an effective layout. Based on what I’ve learned this week your studies/grades are only as good ad your notes. If you do your notes poorly then they reflect on your grades and teachers pay attention to this.

Unützer, Jürgen, and Mijung Park. “Strategies to Improve the Management of Depression in Primary Care.” Primary Care, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127627/

• Primary Care focuses on the nation library of medicine and health. The article goes into depth about mental health issues and the leading causes to depression. It also focuses on the clinical epidemiology and the interactions of those with depression.

Laura has made not only this class easier for me but ALL of them. She took her time out to show us all about OSUs Library and Resources. The four years that Ive been at OSU I never knew all about these options. She went into detail and I truly appreciate that. I now feel way more prepared when it comes to finding resources for my paper that I have to write for ESEPSY. I also know how to properly do regular and advanced searches.

1. What is a day living with your mental health issues  consist of?
   • “A day in my life of coping with depression consists of me waking up tired because I stayed up all night overthinking. Me not eating until the middle of the day. Me wanting to spend most of my day trying to dodge everyone.”
2. What activities have you found yourself being the happiest doing?
   • “I find myself to be the most happiest while cleaning up my home. It takes my mind off of a lot and allows me to feel lighter. It feels like I’m getting rid of baggage within.”
3. Does depression kick in more at night or the mornings?
   • “My depression hits me more at night, by the time Ive completed a day im extra exhausted and have a lot on my mind. Usually in the mornings I’m occupied and don’t have any time to think.”
4. Do you know anyone else with depression? How is your relationship with them.
   • “My sister suffers from it. We bumped heads a lot growing up before either of us were aware of our condition. We were young, hotheaded, and foolish. I wish mental health was taken more seriously back then, this affected our childhood and memories together a lot. If someone had been there to talk to us professionally we probably could have a even better relationship today and we could’ve helped eachother get through a lot being younger. Our relationship now is good but distant. We both have our own lives. We have a blast whenever in each others presence. “
5. What does it feel like when you wake up?
   • “When I wake up it feels like im in a battle with the normal me and the sad me. Somedays im so closer to being okay but the depressed side of me soon interrupts that. This causes me to feel defeated and drained. When I wake up im usually in a good mood but as my day goes on it transitions. This isn’t a everyday thing but it happens majority of the time. Especially if something else in my life is going on.”
6. Do you have a hard time sleeping?
   • “I only have a hard time sleeping if Ive had a rough day or if something negative is going on in my life. Sometimes its hard for me to stay sleep because of my dreams. “
7. Does your depression get worse during certain times of the year?
   • “My depression gets worse around winter and the holidays. Im unsure of why this happens. Sunlight is my best friend. I could sit outside for hours. It heals me. “
8. Does depression run in your family?
   • “In a way yes, my sister has it and my great grandmother(my fathers grandma) had it. My parents never had a history of having it. “
9. How do you cope with your depression?
   • “I cope with my depression by doing things that will help my brain stop thinking. I love crafts, cleaning, and watching documentaries. I also love being in nature. Reading books about positivity, happiness, and manifesting help me a lot as well.”
10. Have you always had depression?
    • “I have not always had depression. I started devoloping it when my parents divorced. I was about 14. This was the first true pain and heartache I faced in life. Its like it snapped me into the reality of the world and made me mature faster. I no longer had that innocence that a child had. “

The most useful thing I learned this week was that online readings can be just effective as readings on paper. Highlight, make notes, and bookmark certain pages. Technology is our future and one day books will all be online. Adapt and find positivity in your new circumstances. Create a system that works for you and stick to it. For example, I make sure I am actively reading. To be actively reading is to be alert, to be aware of what you’re learning, and to feel enlightened. If you’re actively reading the right way you will feel yourself becoming informed and more knowledgeable. Act like you are teaching a class about the chapter you just read, read it aloud, make notes, make questions for your practice quizzes. In the future I need to incorporate practices/exercises to improve my memory. The choices you make regarding your sleeping, studying, breaks, and lifestyles will improve your memory. Another mindful practice I feel like everyone can work on is how we deicide to multitask. Multitasking is good but not in all situations. We have to get better at setting aside time for courses individually. You can not effectively learn when you’re studying different subjects at a time. The mind will become cloudy and you will only burn yourself out. Multitasking is fine when it comes to homework, cleaning while cooking, and washing your hair while showering, but when it comes to studying you have to have a clean mindset.

Procrastination… oh don’t we all face it! One of my biggest flaws is playing with my potential. Have you ever thought about how much you could get done if you just had more drive? Or how much further in life you could be if you just pushed yourself a little bit harder? If you’ve ever thought about this then you probably are a procrastinator. The modules we focused on this week gave me the preparation I needed to dust myself off and try again next week!

“Get More Out of Your 24” We all have the same 24 hours, look at someone who inspires you. Figure out ways you can use your 24 hours more productively. We constantly feel like we don’t have enough time but in reality we have 168 hours a week. We all have different schedules, routines, habits, and practices its unfair to yourself to compare yourself to someone who does get a little bit more done than you. Be more positive its okay to be inspired but never let someone else’s life allow you to dislike your own.

Lately because I know I am on my phone alot and get distracted easily by it, I downloaded a positive home screen/lock screen. Its very motivational so when I see it it makes me determined to get things done. In the future I can track my time more. This week we filled in our Calendars and this opened my eyes to so much time I waste and put into the wrong things. I truly advice students to start tracking out what they do with their times so that they can see where it goes. I can’t wait to fix my errors this week compared to last.