Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I have chosen to write 2 times a week, once to show what I want to change that week, preferably writing on Mondays or Tuesdays, and then a Thursday or Friday post to see if I followed through with the short term goal.

My long term goals are for me to gain self awareness, better time management skills, and appearance management.



Self Awareness-
This is especially important to me because I have had this experience recently, finding out one of my boundaries. Instead of it being a disheartening experience, I found it interesting and valuable. I had always been able to read a book in a few hours, that’s been a skill of mine for a long time. But last year, I started reading Crime and Punishment, and I was unable to finish it. But instead of being morose, I took it as a positive; I know now what kind of book too difficult for me. Of course, that gave me a goal for the future, to be able to finish it. I think in a college setting where so much is at stake, knowing what works and what doesn’t is an invaluable skill.


This is a difficult skill to acquire; it will mean pushing myself to the extreme, which I'm not going to do quite yet. But I will eventually, and hopefully I will be able to push myself to do more work in less time slowly, so I can learn my breaking points before I have to learn then the hard way.


I will measure my progress my making small time-oriented goals every week, seeing how much I can get done faster. For example, I can make a goal to finish my math homework in 30 minutes instead of 45. Or, that I will get all my blog posts in before 6 o’clock the day before it is due, instead of 8:00 that day. I can also test myself my doing more community activities; that will cut into my free time. These are all things that are beneficial, and will replicate what my future college experience will be like.



Time Management-
This is also a highly valuable skill in any situation, academic, professional ect. Managing your time well is really a life skill, so learning it now will always be better than learning it later. This has been a problem that has held me back many, many times in the past, and is a great weakness of mine, as it includes the temptations of procrastination and laziness. With the successful addition of time management, I think my stress levels will go down considerably, and it will help me to continue enjoying school.


This is a little easier to implement, it simply takes willpower. If I really try, I can get my work don’t in a timely fashion. But I am vulnerable to distractions, so eliminating those from my workspace will be the first big challenge.


The measure of my success with this skill will by how much free time I have that’s not fettered by worries of waiting homework. If I'm able to finish my work before it gets late, if I go to bed not regretting tome spend on the phone and making hasty plans to come in early the next morning, I will know I'm managing my time well.



Appearance Management-
I have already received criticisms on this at Psec, so this is an attribute I am giving my full attention to now. This is critical to me because it encompasses professionalism, organization and public, which are big enough issues to tackle alone. Since this is a broad topic with many components, it will be problematic to tackle, but Ill take it in parts.


I think I will work on public speaking and communication first, which I have already improved on greatly at Psec. I found it completely terrifying to speak in front of the class in High school. I find myself speaking in front of larger groups more effectively now, even though I still find it horrible to do. I hope to be comfortable, and one day even to enjoy public speaking. I will work on this simply my speaking out more, that’s how other people said it gets easier.


I can measure my progress easily, Ill just measure my heartbeat after every time I speak in class ;] I suppose when I'm comfortable I will know it, and hopefully I find myself doing it more. I have a goal of volunteering to speak once every class session, and eventually maybe twice.