I have learned so much from the class both about myself and strategies in general. I realized that I was not aware of so many resources that could be very helpful to me. I wish I would have taken this class earlier because a lot of things would have been essential in my first 3 years. Now going into my senior year, I don’t think I will need to use them as much but it is still good to know. I think a online resource I learned the most about is Google. Surprisingly Google has much more to offer than someone thinks. Whether it’s the Google Calendar where you can use the calendar or make a to-do list or just searching Google, there are many things I didn’t know about it.
I learned that I am more of a procrastinator that I thought. I often think of excuses for why things don’t get done if they aren’t that important. Another thing I realized is that even though I do prioritize my to-do lists, I often put things on my list that shouldn’t be there just so I can cross them off. It is a bad habit because I know those are easy and fun things so I will do them. I need to push myself to do the harder things first which will lead to less procrastination. I never wait until the very last minute so I didn’t think I was a procrastinator but I realized that I have more of a problem than I thought. My goal this first semester is to really be conscious of when I am procrastinating and limit it. A positive thing I learned about myself is that I have pretty good time management skills. I believe this is easier for me to do than others because I am a student-athlete so I don’t have as much free time as most so I must use it wisely. I am very proud that I have these skills and I don’t even realize it. Sports have always been in my life so managing my time for school and sports is now natural to me.
The most meaningful experience in this class was probably doing the time tracking assignment. It taught me that I do have more free time than I might think. It also showed me the important of eliminating the time wasters or at least limiting them. You don’t realize how much wasting a half hour a couple times a day will add up. By eliminating time wasters, your day can be more efficient leading to finishing everything early and ending with more free time to relax and do whatever you want.
In the future, I will definitely be using what I learned about searching Google. I will use this information both in my professional life and my personal. I will now be able to find things a lot faster with more reliable sources. Honestly I am not very efficient in searching Google now. If it isn’t in the first choice then I most likely won’t find the information. I now know the keywords to look for and ways to change my search to enhance what I am looking for. I will also be sure to use the study tips and different note taking strategies that I learned in this class for the rest of my academic career. I will try different ones to make sure that I am using the one that is most effective for me. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and it was very beneficial. I will be sure to recommend this to people in the future.