Eddy Lu, Period 6, 10/18/22

Eddy Lu, Period 6, 10/18/22

Atomic Habits & Growth

• At this current point in time, what specific standards have you set for yourself? 

• How and why did you come to craft these standards? 

• How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving these standards?

• How do you assess yourself?  What adjustments do you make? How often?

College Application is almost over. There will be no more all-nighters, and I can finally relax. Except, that isn't the case. This year has made me realize the importance of work ethics, and I have created a couple of standards to improve it. The primary standards are to stop procrastinating and exercise more. 

This year especially, because of the abundance of work or just senioritis, I have been slacking with my work. I usually attribute that slacking to going out for sports with my friends, but this year I have also been lacking in that area. My sleep schedule was disrupted, texting increased, and mainly I lost the ability to sit down and passionately finish my work without distractions. After talking to my college friends, it dawned on me that in College, I cannot procrastinate because I would not have the time to finish everything last minute. This is why I wanted to be more productive, allotting my time efficiently so that I wouldn't have to procrastinate at all. Studying can't be everything that I do, and exercising is essential. Now college apps are almost over, I can go back and pursue my exercise standard. Before this, I would play basketball or other sports for hours a day, but looking at my state now, I would be happy to do 30 minutes of exercise per day. 

I have recently made a calendar marking what is due each day with daily reminders of what I have to do for the day. I do this because it organizes all my tasks and spreads them evenly throughout the week, so I don't have to do everything at the last minute. In addition, I started having set study sessions with a couple of friends every week or so before a test because I still needed to return to my senses of studying effectively alone. I found these study sessions especially helpful because helping others with materials they might not know indirectly helps me understand that material. Furthermore, I stop procrastinating by organizing the study sessions a day or two earlier than the intended testing days, so I have a couple of days to study instead of only the night before. Moving on to my exercising, three weeks ago, I twisted my ankle and knee while ice skating, but I am getting better. Although for the past week, I have been going to the gym to work out and exercise. Of course, I worry about my injury, but I realized that it helps relieve my stress and rest my brain. 

Overall, I am making progress in improving myself. For procrastinating, I have come across the Pomodoro technique. It relates to the time management part of procrastination. I said that I get distracted easily, but now, after using this technique for a few weeks, I have found it beneficial. Homework that would take many hours to complete because of various distractions would now take me only 30 minutes to an hour. Usually, before my assignment, I will take an energy bar and begin the technique. Twenty-five minutes of work or study before a 5-minute break, where I would stretch or do some push-ups and then get back to work or study. Although my leg is not back to total health, I would practice walking for 5 minutes an hour daily to improve my leg muscle and provide a fresher mind.