Motivation Management Skills –“The Grind “

Motivation, is your will and drive to do something.  Your motivation I believe can be the difference between success or failure. Things that can help with motivation can include a vision board which you write down all your goals and the reasons you’re working toward them, you can even include pictures. Develop a mantra, yes it sounds kooky but it will help, create a mantra that will motivate you anytime you’ve lost your way.  Surround yourself with others who want to be successful or have the same goals as you; they say “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Don’t compare yourself to others it will just highlight the areas of your life that haven’t progressed as much, compare yourself to yourself. Don’t fear failure, because you’ll never take the chances that will allow you to achieve your goals. Last important thing is to make each day count.

Motivational skills have helped me to push hard in my academic learning efforts. It has helped me to realize things that I want for myself, things I wasn’t even aware that I wanted. These skills have helped me to prioritize my time. In other words college life is filled with parties, events, etc. when I remember why I’m in college and my goals I skip that party and choose to study or do HW instead. To keep my motivated I had this poster made and it hangs up on my dorm room walls, it reads, “Remember why you are here.” This helps when the nights gets let and I’m up studying for a test or struggling to write an paper.

So, when things get tough remember the grind never goes unnoticed, as long as you keep pushing everything will work out. Just keep swimming (Finding Nemo reference).

Attitude Management Skills – Check Yourself

Attitude is the way you act or react to a certain situation. Your attitude can open as well as close many doors for you. Your ability to have the best attitude in any given situation will determine your success.  Skills that can help with the management of your attitude can include anything from thinking before you speak, taking a deep breathe, counting down from ten when you feel your anger rising, and  reminding yourself of your goals and priorities and how a ugly attitude can deter them.

Attitude management skills have helped me to deal with very trying individuals in my classes who liked to disregard manners and etiquette. It has helped me to make the best out of a situation. I’ve learned not to stress over the things I can’t change, but to focus on the things I can. Skills I’ve put to use have allowed me to get the information I needed from someone or learn a lesson from an experience because I wasn’t held back by a skeptical or ugly attitude. For example, I had this particular teacher in high school Ms. X (this is not her actual name), and Ms. X would love to talk about how incompetent we were ,she would give punishment work for the most minuscule things; basically she was doing more trash talking then actual teaching. If I had let Ms. X attitude affect my attitude then she would have been right I would have failed and it would have been no one’s fault but my own.

Whether you’re aware or not, your attitude sets the tone for your day. If you wake up and say today is going to be the worst day, then most likely it will. If you wake up with a little optimism, then you open yourself up for good things and people to come your way.

Conquering Test Anxiety- Maybe I Can Help with That

So, I may not need to really explain because I’m sure everyone has experienced this at least once in their educational career. However ,it never hurts to make sure. So, here’s a definition/example.

Scene: It’s the night before a huge test, my philosophy midterm. Its 4:30 and I’m in the library with a friend I dragged along to help me study.  I’ve studied for 6 hours. But, on test day I feel like I’m going to fail the test, be forced to drop out of school, and do weird jobs (snake wrangler) to make a living. This is test anxiety.

Learning how to conquer test anxiety has helped me to be calm while taking my college tests, quizzes, and midterms. Things like actually studying for the exam, getting the proper information, and utilizing study aids actually help to lower test anxiety. For instance, I have finals coming up and even though I am a little nervous about the outcome; I know that if I prepare I will be fine. I won’t say I’ve completely conquered test anxiety, but I’m a lot better than I used to be.

Additional Tips:

1. Realize that this test is one of many and it is not the end of your world. Your mom and dad will still love you, if it all doesn’t go as planned
2.  NO STUDY= NO WAY YOUR GONNA PAST THAT TEST actually study people; if you don’t then yeah maybe you should freak out, because chances are you’re not going to do so hot.
3. Energy drinks don’t help with anxiety , they actually do the opposite
4. Get some sleep people ( you feel good ,you do good)
5. Stay in the zone. Definition: (The Zone)- the state of being focused on kicking your test’s butt.

Study Aids management skills- Use Them!!

Study aids are things you use to ‘aid’ you in your studying process.
Study aids can include anything from, flashcards, sites like Quizlet, creating study guides and utilizing power points. I find that in college my normal study habits that I had before were not going to work. Study aids I soon found out were the best course of action. Study aids have helped me achieve the best possible grade on a test or quiz. For example, today I had a Film History Test, without the study guide the professor provided us on D2L, I definitely would have studied the wrong material and been lost today when taking my test. Study aids have certainly made my college life a little less stressful. With this information in mind i cannot stress enough that You Should take advantage of any type of study aid especially the ones provided by an instructor( which are rare). Study Aids make life easier and who doesn’t want that, unless you’re the one person that gets a kick out of struggling and failing your test/ quizzes.

Time Management Skills – Procrastinators Never Prosper

Time management skills are things you use to effectively plan your time so that you complete all of your tasks in a timely manner.

Time Management  skills can include anything from utilizing a planner, setting personal deadlines , prioritizing , making lists, avoiding procrastination, utilizing downtime , and always making sure to take breaks to avoid burnouts. These skills have helped me to not get caught up in the world wind that is college. As many college freshmen know by now, there is no shortage of things to do, kickbacks, parties, events, etc. On the other hand, there is also no shortage of assignments to complete. So, I have to be really careful to prioritize. For example, CAU’s homecoming was this week and my friends wanted me to come to their homecoming events, however this weekend I had like four assignments due. Therefore, no partying for me. I had a fun time in my room, completing my assignments. I terms of my learning efforts time management skills like utilizing downtime, has helped me progress in my classes. For example, if I have an hour two between classes I use it to go over the concepts in the previous class that didn’t quite sink in. I find college calls for a lot of time management skills something I lacked in high school. Time management skills will help to thrive in college, so if you haven’t already acquired some, my suggestion is that you get to it.

Hi, Guys my name is Jessica McCallum and I’m a freshman at GSU, not Southern. I endeavor to be a philosophy major, however under the philosophy bracket my interests range from neuroscience/ neuro-philosophy to law .Why law?, because ever since I say Judge Judy on daytime television I was instantly hooked and wanted to do what she did, bust bad guys ,protect the innocent, and be sassy while doing it. She was like a modern day, real life superhero to me. But, I found out to be like her I had to go to be a lawyer first , and  go through a lot of school, so I decided I would stick to  just being a lawyer . My interest in neuro-philosophy is relatively recent, I had always had a interest in neuroscience . How the nervous system works and why one person will react to a situation one way while the other in the same will react completely different.  Neurophilosophy is a something I just found out existed through my Phil major group meeting. Neurophilosophy? , yeah it didn’t know you could put the two together either. What neurophilosophy does is get into the brain- mind debate , basically the whole is the brain and mind connected or have any correlation debacle .The philosophy of neuroscience or neurophilosophy attempts to clarify neuroscientific methods and results using the theoretical consistency and methods of philosophy of science. Another reason for my interest in neuroscience is just simply because the brain is cool, at least to me.

I’m not sure if a Phil Major club can be called an on campus resource. But, the members in the Phil Major group have helped me setup a good foundation, gave me pointers, and made helpful suggestions. Another resource would be Ms. Cahill she’s an advisor on the sophomore floor, however she getting her doctorate I believe in philosophy. She has helped me with my schedule and has been kind enough to talk to me about my options and told me about things I can get involved with.

Explore GSU — Around Campus <—–Video Link

Mobile applications I have found helpful or have used in GSU so far, are the tablets that GSU lets their students borrow for a semester. I think that’s pretty cool. My computer is not the smallest piece machinery to lug around, so the tablet offers an alternative. I use it for checking emails, playing games between classes, reading for class, and other shenanigans. Another mobile application would be CareerNet. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a job and CareerNet is a central spot for you to do your job searching and internship searching. I like CareerNet since it cuts down a lot of the time it would take you to narrow down the things you’re interested in and jobs you actually qualify for.

Until next time, Jessica

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