Entry Two: An Age-Old Recipe for Success

   

"Warson Woods Elementary School" by Hamilton Osborne King

    Did you know that a handful of Focus, a heap of Work, a spoonful of Persistence, and a dollop of Practice make the perfect recipe for Success?  But sometimes success can't be measured by how much we apply certain characteristics to our habits or goals. I want to share with you how I threw together my personalized recipe for Success this semester. 

    For the sake of keeping it simple, I'll spare you the analogical recipe words as I share my honest experiences. You're welcome. So this semester was extremely overwhelming for me. Adding these traits to my routine never quite worked for me in the order that had for most. Time played a huge factor in how much I prepped myself for the goal. For example, I sometimes had time to practice what was taught in class but other times I was so busy that I resorted to my old habits, and my use of these traits was hindered. When I did finally decide to start implementing them, I felt like Work, Practice, and Persistence folded into the mix naturally while Focus was a bit more difficult to incorporate. Those three traits I had learned at a young age while in sports by pushing the limits of my physical capabilities and putting in all the practice to race as fast as possible. When it came to using them for my school work, it came naturally and I found it to be second nature. I made the effort to work hard and love the topics I was learning about while practicing MLA so I could understand everything and push through all the hardships of researching and anxiety about using my time wisely.  

    

    Since I aim to be good at everything I do all at once while usually multitasking, I can never pick just one thing to perfect. Throughout my time in class and my time studying I tried to put Focus into practice. This meant coming up with a plan that worked for me, so I started by separating all my assignments from each class and writing them down so I could see them and work on them one at a time, giving each assignment the attention it deserved. That worked for a little while but then I was back on the "do everything at the same time" train so back to the drawing board I went, trying to reset my bad habits. I never could quite get myself to slow down and work through tasks thoroughly enough though. I think that to not struggle with the curse of multitasking and scattered focus for the rest of my life, I will need to strengthen my planning tactics to help keep me focused. Identifying this shortcoming was half the battle. Next, I tried eliminating distractions. That didn't work at all in a house of homeschoolers and boys. So I finally settled on sitting down with trusted people in my life and work while discussing my process for each assignment one by one. And holy smokes, this motivated me the most! I was able to bounce ideas off of them, hear their constructive criticism, and make adjustments as I went. When I thought I didn't need distractions completely, I realized that the right kind makes all the difference.

     The one thing I'm most proud of is how my writing abilities have improved since the beginning of the semester. I am now able to understand MLA better and cite a lot easier. I feel more confident in the work and the flow of the content that I have been able to produce. Even though it's not perfect, I know that with practice and persistence, it can only improve. A bonus to my improvement has been that I've noticed how much I enjoy learning through research. 

    Even though this semester presented itself with lots of personal challenges, I was able to find and tweak what worked best for me and use the tips and tools I had picked up from my research and classes along the way. I realized that my working process was best suited to a one-on-one immediate feedback/adjustment environment. I can still yield similar, if not the same results, I just need a simple and low-stakes environment to thrive. Yay me.