Task Management

Spring 2011 semester is almost coming to an end. We have less than 3 weeks left. The end of the semester is when college students are busy preparing for finals and doing major assignments. I decided to use the strategies Post-It Reminders andDivide by Four to help me manage all the work I have for the next few weeks.

Post-It Strategies is a strategy that helps me keep myselforganized. I color coded what I wrote on the post-its. I have 4 exams coming up very soon. Two exams are exams similar to previous exams I have taken for my courses and the other two exams are finals. For the final exams post-its, I used the color orange to write down the dates for the exams. For the other two exams, I used blank ink. As a student who can't remember things without writing them down, I can look at these post-its to remind me of these importantdates. In addition to exam dates, I made post-it reminders for my Major/Career Exploration project and last IC meeting to keep remind myself. Posting these reminders in front of my desk, I can look at it and be constantly reminded of the upcoming exams, assignments and meeting.

Divide by Four was another assignment I used. I used this strategy for CLS 105. On April 25th, the Major/Career Exploration Project is due. I have been working on this assignment for the last 2 weeks. I divided this project into four. The four steps of this strategy is prepare, start, continue and finish. First I wrote a proposal, then started working on the six strategies. Then I continued to collect documentation and finally I wrote my reflection. As a procrastinator, I do my work last minute. But by dividing my work by four, I was able to avoid cramming and working on my work the last minute. This strategy helped me get my work done a little bit at a time.

Because I am constantly reminded about my exams and finals, I will be able to get a head start for studying. Procrastination can be avoided a bit as well when using these reminders and the strategy, Divide by Four. I hope to do well academically for the remaining of the semester.

Task Management

Over the course of this spring semester, I have learned many new strategies that I still continue to use. Usually, I talk about how I use the 10 minute technique, or the 20 minute test prep. A few strategies I haven't really talked much about are Chunking the Task and Putting it All Together: Course Matrix. I try to continue to use strategies that will help me not procrastinate, and these to strategies have proven themselves to work over this semester.

Chunking the Task is one of the best strategies I have learned all semester. When I look back on all these new strategies or techniques, I will always think about Chunking the Task because it was one of the first ones we learned. Chunking the Task is so efficient for me because it allows me to map out my papers, projects, and exam preparations. Chunking the Task for me is usually used when I have a longer paper due, or a big project. I have used chunking the task for my HST 102 class because I have had two long papers. I divide these papers into sections on different dates, and start it a lot earlier. I have also used chunking the task when doing projects in CLS because these projects usually take a decent amount of time. Chunking the Task has helped me because i am a visual and kinesthetic learner. It allows me to write out what I need to do, and see it when I hang it in my room as a reminder.

Putting it All Together: Course Matrix is very helpful because it also allows me to make a plan for a bigger task at hand. I used this technique in my HST 102 class while preparing for a test, and also in CFS 388 for a paper. First, you write down what tasks you need to complete, followed by the materials required and the manageable parts. Then you decide when you will finish it, and some anti-procrastination strategies. For my CFS 388 paper, I divided it into sections to make smaller manageable parts, and gave myself a date to finish it by (earlier than the actual due date). My anti-procrastination strategy was Chunking the task. For my HST 102 test, I divided it to manageable parts by splitting up times to make the study guide. My "when" section was just the date of the test so I remembered when it was. My anti-procrastination strategy for this was just finding an easy place to study. Putting it All Together: Course Matrix is a good technique for me because it allows me to make a chart to look at (visual and kinesthetic) and makes it easier for me to break down into smaller sections. Both of these strategies are very similar to one another, and have been very successful for me, and that is why I continue to use them.

[TASK MANAGEMENT] Divide by four and Post-it reminders!

To manage assignments, I need to use some strategies to spend time wisely. Because I don’t make a plan to do my assignments, sometimes it is hard to finish them on time and I need more time than what I expected. I have tried two strategies this week, which are Divide by four and Post-it reminders. Since there are a lot of work to do for Pre-calculus, I applied the strategies for the class, MAT 194.

Divide by four is to help me accomplish a task successfully and to prevent procrastination. There are four steps to use this strategy: 1. Prepare, 2. Start, 3. Continue, and 4. Finish. I applied the steps to my third exam coming up for MAT194. First, collect all the materials that will be covered on the exam: textbook, notes, webassign assignments, and quizzes. To prepare this, I collected them by each section. Second, spend 2 hours on each section. To start this, I read my textbook first, followed by notes, webassign assignments, and quizzes. Third, review each section for 1 hour. To continue this, I picked random questions on webassian assignments and solved them. Lastly, ask my professor about what I still don’t understand. To finish this, I drew star marks next to questions that I don’t get it and went to her office hour to ask questions. This strategy made my task organized.

Post-it reminders is to help keep me organized about the tasks that need to be done. Different colors can be used to indicate the importance of tasks. I have three colors: pink, green, and yellow. For yellow one, I decided to use for the most important tasks such as due dates in one week. For pink one, I decided to use for Exam3 coming up. For green one, I used for the assignments next week. On yellow post-it, I listed assignments by ranking priorities: lab 4 report 4/21, webassign 4/21, and webassign 4/23. On pink one, I first wrote the exam date of 4/28 and listed the chapters that will be covered and dates that I will study as chapter 5 on 4/22, chapter 6 on 4/23, chapter 8 on 4/24, and chapter 9 on 4/24. On greed one, I listed assignments next week: webassign 4/26 and handed-in homework 4/28. Because of the colors of post-it, it was easy to see and to know what tasks I should do first.





To sum up, the effectiveness of Divide by four is that it makes me get the task done and prevents procrastination. Because it has four steps, it was easy to follow the steps. Being a visual learner, I printed out it and attached on the board. The reason why I chose this is that I liked the concept that it has four steps to manage my tasks. It also looked easy to apply my assignments. The effectiveness of Post-it reminders is that it helps keep me organized about the tasks. Being a visual learner, I used the three colors to divide my assignments into importance. The reason why I chose this is that I thought it would be helpful since it required me to use colors for each task, and it really helped me as a visual learner. As a visual learner, the two strategies worked for me!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I could accomplish my tasks successfully by applying the two strategies, Divide by four and Post-it Reminders. These strategies help keep me organize and prevent procrastination!


(http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/01/potion-factory-seeking-beta-testers-for-the-hit-list-iphone/)

Stress Management

As a college student every single one of us has stress in our lives. It comes from all areas and can affect people in a lot of different ways. Stress can come from family, friends, sports, money problems, and many other things we talked about in this weeks class. Stress is all about how you handle it. If you have things that can help you relieve stress than you will be more successful and can live a lot happier life. Stress is a daily thing, which makes it tough to handle. There are many techniques Dr. Blumin has suggested in order to reduce stress and make the workload that a college student deals with regularly a lot less. Two techniques I have used are the 10 minute vacation and the Putting it All Together: Stress Reduction. These two techniques have worked out great for me and I can still getting my work done.

The 10 minute vacation is good for me when I work on my papers or when I am reading a chapter. I use the 10 minute vacation usually for my HIS 102 because it involves daily reading and I have had multiple papers due. I have also used this for my CFS 388 class because before each lecture he covers he assigns a reading chapter. I will start reading or writing a paper, then step away for about 10 or 15 minutes, listen to music and relax. After that I get right back to work. I love this technique because it allows me to work efficiently and relax at the same time. It works for me because I am a kinesthetic learner and it allows me to assign time periods in my mind when I need to finish my work.

Putting it All Together: Stress Reduction allows me to write down what I do to reduce my stress level. This is not for a specific class I would say, because it helps me reduce stress in all of my classes. It is divided up into a few different categories: Daily, Weekly, Exam, Workload, Relationships. For all of these different categories I have different things that relieve my stress. Daily activities include TV, hanging out with friends, and playing basketball. Weekly ones are usually just going out to dinner. When preparing for an exam sometimes I like to take a walk and exercising. When I have a lot of work to do I usually like to play video games to relieve stress within my breaks. When having problems with relationships I usually talk to friends or step away from everything and just have alone time. Making this chart has helped me because i am a kinesthetic and visual learner, and it allows me to write down the ways I relieve stress and visually see what I like to do. These techniques have worked for me greatly and i feel like it is easier for me to enjoy myself while getting work done efficiently.

[STRESS] Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation

Stress sometimes makes me out of control. I had no idea how to handle the stress. I realize that it is harder to do well in college than it was in high school. I know it is important to do better in my classes. I’m starting to feel the pressure of grades for this semester. Stress is building. To manage my stress, I’ve tried two strategies, which are Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. One course that makes me the most stressed so far is MAT 194, Pre-calculus. I applied the two strategies for MAT 194 this week.

Stress Reduction Plan is to help me recognize that I can control my stress levels by engaging myself in activities. There are many options: physical activity, pamper yourself, change your environment, share it, enjoy, and get help. Among there choices, I decided to pamper myself, to share it, and to enjoy. To pamper myself, I chose to get extra sleep since when I go to bed and wake up few hours later, I feel refreshed. After I finished on-line assignment for MAT 194, I got extra sleep about 30 minutes. To share it, I called my friend after I completed handed-in homework. I talked with her about 20 minutes, which made me energized do another work. I had another on-line assignment due Saturday, but I didn’t want to do. I should manage my stress to do my assigned work, so I did the last choice to enjoy. To enjoy, I listened to music before starting it. I decided to watch TV shows after completing it, which became a motivation to do the work. This plan made me control my stress and do my work.

(http://fortheluvofsanity.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-friends.html)

10-Minute Vacation is to help me get away from the work I am doing for a specific amount of time. There are six “vacation spots”, including movie clips, Google Earth, Google Maps, Youtube, games, and a pink blog for pop-culture icons. I accessed each one of them, and I liked the “Pink is the new blog” a lot. I decided to spend time with the blog for the 10-minute vacation. For MAT 194, I had to study for lab4. I put each 10 minute break after 30 minutes study time. After the study time, I accessed to the blog. There were a lot of fun issues about popular stars in America. I liked the blog since the background color is pink. It was good to browse in 10 minutes. After the break, I started studying again and focused on it. Because I could have 10 minutes breaks, I didn’t get stressed that much.

(http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/)

To sum up, the effectiveness of Stress Reduction Plan is that it makes me have a break what I want to do. Because of stress, I didn’t finish my work in one day, but it took more than two days to do. Therefore, I should set few days to complete. However, this plan made me complete homework in one day. Being a kinesthetic learner, this plan was good to keep up since I could do some activities such as getting extra help, calling a friend, listening to music, and watching TV shows. Because of this plan, I could finish on-line assignments on due dates for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this it that I have about 30 choices to select the options to spend during my break time. I chose 4 options: get extra help, call a friend, listen to music, and watch TV shows. The effectiveness of 10-Minute Vacation is to help get me reenergized. Especially, I liked the pink blog very much. Being a visual learner, the blog provides pop-eyed colors and issues. Because of the blog, I didn’t get stressed that much and I could study lab4 for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this is that I was curious what the web sites provide so I decided to choose this and to access each site. Being a kinesthetic and visual learner, the two strategies worked for me!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I could finish all assignment by applying the two strategies, Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. These strategies make me control and manage my stress!

(http://maketheworldyourstage.com/category/stress-reducer/)

Stress Management

Students, in general, get most of their stress from their academic lives. The pressure they get from schoolwork is very overwhelming at times. Exams, papers, quizzes, assignments and such tend to increase stress level. As a student, these are some of the factors of why I am stressed out. My future and parents are also other factors of my increased level of stress. As you can see in the image below, I drew a Stress Diagram. First I listed 5 sources of stress and then put them into a pie chart, showing the distribution of from what sources I get most stressed to sources where I get least stressed out. By drawing thisdiagram, I am able to prioritize the sources of my stress. I can find ways to address these problems.

Another strategy I used was the Stress Reduction Plan. I formed a list of

stressreductionactivities that I have been doing and could do to

cope with stress. There are several methods to deal with stress. My favorite stress reduction activity is swimming. I’ve been swimming at a very young age. Back home when I was stressed out by whatever events that were occurring in my life, I would go to pool and swim. When I swim, I forget about everything. I feel relaxed in the water. Sometimes, I would talk to my friends about my problem. They give me advice to goabout my problems. As a student, I get stress from studying. To manage stress, I turn my academic life to social life and socialize with people. I would meet my friends and do things that keeps my mind off my studies.
It is very important to manage stress. If an individual can’t cope with their stressed life, they will break down mentally. Stress management is good for one’s mental and physical health.

Procrastination

Why do I keep lying to myself? Every time I have a paper due, I'll tell myself that I am going to start a week or 2 weeks in advance. Day by day, I come up with a new excuse to not do it and before I know it, it’s the night before the paper is due. I will come up with any excuse not to do it. Everything from cleaning my room, dusting and vacuuming, to video games and television. Sometimes I will call my mom to talk about nothing, just so I don't have to do my paper. The weird part is, I only find myself procrastinating when it comes to writing long papers. This year I have learned a few techniques to prevent me from procrastinating. Some of the ones I have found most successful are the 10-minute technique, chunking the task, and Time Wasters.

I have found that the 10-minute technique is one of the most beneficial techniques I have ever used while studying. When I have to read a chapter or write a paper, I use this technique. It helps me because I have a short attention span, and if I read 20 pages straight, I will not retain the information. Breaking this up into smaller pieces allows me to understand the material more efficiently. Knowing that I can break this up into pieces allows me to start it earlier and avoid procrastination. Usually I use the 10-minute technique for my Earth Science and my American History class because the majority of the work comes from reading the chapters. Chunking the task is a great technique for me also because it allows me to break up an assignment into pieces, and also assign certain dates to finish it by. I use this technique for larger projects or papers that I have due a few weeks ahead. I have used it for my CLS class, my history class, and CFS 388.

Chunking the Task helps me because it makes me start the project or paper at an earlier date, and allows me to visually see when I have to have a certain part of the project finished by. Being a visual learner, this is easy for me to have hanging above my desk so I can see it every day and stay on top of my work. Another technique I used was the Time Wasters. I made a list of the things that I do to waste time instead of doing a certain task. Most of my time wasters include cleaning, watching TV, and hanging out with friends. I will usually come up with anything in order to avoid doing a paper. Making a list helps me because it allows me to see what types of things I do in order to avoid writing my history paper, or a CFS 388 paper. There are many ways we use to procrastinate, and I think I may have used all of them.