As we close out the third week of Spring Quarter and start moving towards midterms, I have found myself hitting the slump that I hit every year during this time. After 2 very long and hard quarters, I am on the cusp of burning out and finding it hard to stay motivated at this time. I think this is a common experience across campus.
With the weather turning nice, the days getting longer, and summer teasing its presence, it’s quite hard to fully to stay in the school mindset. However, with several more class weeks and a week of finals still ahead of us, it’s important to finish off the year strong. Here are my tips on how I stay motivated.
There’s a lot to look forward to in the Spring Quarter, so you should make sure you’re having fun but also making it through the final push towards summer. Find a balance and take care of yourself. We’ll be out before you know it!
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Are you trying to achieve excellence in your professional and personal life? Are you looking for an effortless way to manage your time and lead your teams effectively? One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson has the answers to all of these questions. I intend to share my reflection on this reading and discuss how you can incorporate the lessons from this book in your writing projects, personal life, and professional life.
The Lessons from One Minute Manager One Minute Manager offers three tools and asks you to spend only 60 seconds on each tool. These tools intend to improve your management style. First tool is to set three specific goals for your employees/team members and spend only a minute to review them. Second tool is to spend only one minute in praising the work of your employees/team members. Third tool is to spend a minute or less in showing your dissatisfaction with work (if any). How to apply these tools in your life These tools can be applied at your workplace, in your class team projects, and more. You need to ensure that the goals you set are specific and achievable. You might want to look into SMART goals when setting goals for your team, for yourself, and/or for your employees. Personal SMART goals can be related to drafting your paper, such as completing an outline of Paper A in maximum of two pages including supporting arguments/quotes, number of paragraphs and main arguments in two days from now and meeting a writing consultant to review it on the third day. At the end of the second day, you would spend 60 seconds in reviewing your progress. If you accomplished your goal, you would spend only 60 seconds in praising yourself, and if you completed your goal poorly, you would spend only 60 seconds in criticizing your work. It is important that you highlight changes in your outline and set a new SMART goal in this process. I apply these tools in my life as much as I can. One important thing I realized was that I do not need to apply these tools in an order they are presented in the book. When I reflected, I also realized that no approach is free from limitations. However, we can adjust an approach to best fit our lifestyle, work, and school. I usually have more than just three goals for the week or month or the year. I also have some long-term goals. Assessing those goals usually takes me longer than one minute but by keeping this approach in my mind, I become more mindful of the time I spend in planning, goal setting, assessing, and praising. For instance, you do not need to set three goals to praise your best friend’s achievements in life. I apply these tools as they seem applicable in my personal relationships, too. For instance, I usually spend 60 seconds praising the achievements of my friends and siblings. You can too! I hope these tips are as helpful for you as they are for me. A personal statement is similar to a short essay, but its purpose is to share about yourself and share what makes you UNIQUE. Many of you might be in the process of writing a personal statement for graduate schools. Therefore, I plan to share some tips and ways to get started with writing the first draft of your personal statement.
Let’s first build an understanding of personal statement. It is an opportunity for the admission’s committee to understand your life experience and passion outside the academic and professional experience (demonstrated in resume). However, you may draw the link of your passion with your academic and professional journey in the personal statement. Throughout my short life (so far!), I have written several personal statements -9 for graduate school and many more for the undergrad schools prior to that. One thing I always focused on was to share WHO I AM besides being a student and what I VALUE. This helped me in writing about WHAT MY PRESENCE IN THEIR CAMPUS CAN OFFER THEM. I believe that going to graduate school or any school or even workplace is a two-way relationship. Since you already know what they are offering (as you research the institution and programs before applying), a personal statement is an opportunity for us (students) to share what WE can bring to the table. How to get started? First step would be to brainstorm. You may use pen and paper or your electronic devices to write down your ideas. Here are some tips to get started with brainstorming.
Helpful checklist for the drafts
I can go on and on with the list. However, I think these are the most important things to consider when getting started with your first draft and revising it. Remember that it is a long process or writing several drafts so you will need to be patient with yourself. Make a goal to achieve from each draft so you can ensure that there is an improvement. Not to forget, you can get it reviewed by consultants at the writing center and get a more detailed and objective feedback on your drafts. You can also get it reviewed by the career center for an additional objective feedback. Good luck writing! |
SUWC Blog AuthorsAny posts on the SUWC Blog are authored by current consultants working to improve, refine and perfect our practice as peer tutors. Find a Post!
January 2024
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