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Let’s be honest. These are not normal times. These past couple of weeks have been stressful, scary, and even downright depressing. I can write about the many apps and sites that were referenced in the module an how they can help motivation and productivity, but I think we should talk about something deeper, and that thing is your internal drive.

It may be hard some days to get your work done, go for a walk, or even open your laptop, and that’s okay. There may not be an app that can force you to do those things, and that’s okay. But ask yourself, when things go back to normal, and yes I said WHEN, how do you want to look back on these times? Do you just want to get by, or do you want to fight back and do something to better yourself? Motivation comes from within, and people need to understand that. You can’t allows rely on technology or a “How to” manual. Sometimes you just gotta take the first step. Your friends and family can tell you to take that first step towards a goal, but at the end of the day, it’s always been on you.

As I graduate, I look back at my last 4 years fondly, but I know these few months will define that next phase of my life. Don’t let this virus and chaos dictate who you are. Fight back, learn a new hobby, strengthen relationships virtually. In the past few weeks, I’ve done a whole lot of reading, learned some new songs and techniques on the guitar, and even started to learn how to code, and it feels GOOD, especially when the world feels as if it’s being torn apart. So, let me ask again, how will you remember this time? It’s all up to you.

Stay safe, and stay strong.

Like most of us, I went through grade school hearing terrible things about Wikipedia. We were always taught that under no circumstance should we use it in a paper or research topic. I was always so confused by this because Wikipedia has always been my best friend for gaining a beginners understanding of any topic that piqued my interest.

I found it interesting that in our lesson this week pointed out a different and more accepted use of Wikipedia. I agree that Wikipedia is GREAT for getting the basics down on a topic, which you can use to use more credible terminology and wording while writing a paper. I have never encountered a topic where Wikipedia has given me faulty information, as it is constantly fact-checked and edited, so I’m still confused as why we were taught to never use it in my younger years. However, I like how the lesson also clarified the dated opinion that Wiki was the devil by saying that you shouldn’t specifically cite it in a research paper. This just makes sense, as there are definitely so many more professional and specified articles on topics you may be writing about. While Wikipedia can’t be edited by anyone regardless if they know anything about a topic, it still makes sense to consult an expert, or someone with more qualifications on a topic to cite in a professional setting.

You could have 30 people studying for the same exam and ask them all how they prepared. More likely than not, your’e gonna get at least 20 different responses. Everyone has their tips, hacks, and strategies for studying, from where you study to the methods of review. The point of this post is for me to share what has worked for me, especially as I move towards graduation in May.

After watching this weeks video, it definitely added some context and credibility to what I’ve been doing throughout college. This obviously differs from major to major, and as an accounting major, my material typically consists of understanding underlying principles and applying them in numerical situations. I think one distinction from the lecture was “mindless highlighting” vs. actually understanding an idea. I try to stray away from mindlessly going through powerpoint slides or notes. I like to retake my notes, as sometimes doing them over again helps me create new connections in my brain and understand them on a deeper level. I normally go one Chapter at a time an go in chronological order, which just makes sense in most circumstances. Then, after going through the underlying concepts, I’ll go through a set of problems for each chapter. Finally, I’ll work through a practice exam, if available, which is the best way to review right before the exam. This is just something that has worked for me at Ohio State, and maybe you can take some of this strategy and apply it to your work.

Let’s be honest, how many articles or LinkedIn posts do you see about the demonic deity known as “Procrastination.” Yeah, a lot. So this week’s lesson may not have been the most exciting one to think about, as we like to procrastinate confronting our procrastination! However, I think we learned some actual strategies that can help us fight this threat.

The one I would like to talk about is called the “Pomodoro.” One strategy we learned this week is to break large projects/assignments into more manageable chunks of time. You might have asked yourself, “What amount of time is the perfect amount?” Obviously, if you ask 25 people you might get 25 different responses, but for me, I like using 25 minute intervals. These 25 minute periods of work followed by a 5 minute break is called the “Pomodoro Technique.” I first learned about this when searching for a new planner to buy and I came across “The Productivity Planner.” This allowed me to track my progress on tasks in terms of pomodoros, which I found to be extremely helpful alleviating stress and anxiety related to large projects.

You don’t need to have a special planner to use this technique. You can simply add the time chunks into an Outlook Calendar or a Google Calendar. You can even make an Excel Spreadsheet that has different tabs for different projects, therefore you can track your progress on a task by task basis.

Hello!

I forgot about this post until the last moment so here I am in Las Vegas, drinking a beer, and thinking about time management! What a time to be alive.

So, this week we set up a spreadsheet that splits up each day into 30 minute increments in order to track our daily activities. While this might seem excessive, I think this exercise will get me in the habit about being aware of how I’m spending my time. Honestly, in the real world, I don’t think I’d ever use a spreadsheet like this, but I would definitely use this to plan accordingly and use my outlook calendar more effectively and actually stick to it. It’ll be interesting to see how I spend my time. I feel like I definitely waste so much more time than I think I do, and this could make me realize it.

I think I will use this tool to allocate time for projects and other productive activities that I partake in. I could also use this to separate my time into increments to chip away at large projects and to make sure that I work with out distraction. For example, I could put my phone away for 30 minutes or so and just work on one project. It’ll probably be hard, but it’s a good habit to get in to.

Alright, time to go back to spring breaking.

Cheers,

NR

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