Friday, November 30, 2012
SUMSUMMARY OF ATTEMPTS TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE Due Dec 11 at 10:00pm
Please post a summary of your attempts to meet the external goal/goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the semester. I will be looking for evidence that you tried to apply the principles of attaining excellence that you read and heard about in this class.
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Over the semester, I realized what I wanted to change was not so much getting angry, but remaining calm. I wanted to be more calm, chill, positive, etc.
ReplyDeleteWeek one, I focused on commitment. For me, commitment was about making the continual decision to put in time and effort. I decided to write in a journal to track my progress. I would use my encounters with stress to test my patience, and then analyze what I did right or wrong. I tried to take advantage of every opportunity to act differently, because I knew I had to in order for change to occur. I was able to self-exam my progress.
Looking at my progress, I realized I was being distracted by the things happening outside myself and that's why I wasn't able to remain calm. I created a refocusing plan. I would say “stop” to halt thoughts. Then I would think “calm” and breath diaphremetically to slow down. Then I would think “let it go” to shuffle the thoughts out of my mind. Or I would think “piece-by-piece” to remind myself to take it one step at a time. I was able to refocus on the behaviors I wanted to engage in.
After a few weeks I began having commitment issues. This wasn't ideal, considering I choose commitment as my focus area. I was supposed to be tracking my progress, but I didn't keep up with it. Life got hectic, which is really when making changes is the most critical and testing. Commitment requires time, but I felt short on time. I was carrying the journal around with me before that. It took me less time to record things as they happened than at the end of the day. This made it easier to commit and accurately keep track of my progress. So I started carrying it with me again.
After we covered negative self-talk, I became aware of how much negative self-talk I engaged in (and still engage in) every day. I had known it happened, but not how often. This kind of talk brings me down. My whole goal was really directed toward feeling better. So, I began to try very hard to stop the negative thoughts. I would try to replace them or at least move on to thinking something else.
I began to use shot-term goal setting to help with my commitment issues. I started each day with the goal to write in my journal. I then set other short-term goals to work toward my over-all goal. I really needed to work on my commitment to successfully alter my behavior significantly.
I started carrying index cards with me. The journal was bulky to carry around. I could then write down how well I had kept to my daily goals. I felt I was able to really understand how I was doing. I definitely was able to calm down more quickly after getting upset, though I wasn't often able to be calm from the beginning of a stressful situation.
After the chapter on balance, I had a lot to think about. I don't have a lot of balance in my life. My life is filled with things I have to do. I unwind rarely by doing things I want to do. This obviously makes me a little high strung - which really doesn’t help me be calm. I hadn’t realized how out of balance my life was. I had been feeling burnt out, but I have so many things I have to do that relaxing doesn't always seem like an option. I can go for long stretches of doing nothing but “working” and it doesn't bother me. When I am dedicated to something, I like to be absorbed in it. After long periods though, I start to feel stretched out. Maybe what I really have to work on is balance for me. I don't need to (or want to) go out with people every weekend, but maybe something like that once a month would work for me.
I then began to focus more fully on the principals of goal setting. I still set small, manageable goals. I started to create strategies to achieve these goals. Sometimes I slipped up. As I put forth the effort I kept improving. My goal will obviously take longer than a semester. I intend on continuing. With all the things we've learned this semester, I think I could become better at anything I was committed to changing.
My projected goal was to be able to master visual spatial skills and properly apply them for understanding the symmetry of molecules. I originally started out by trying to keep myself on task and in time with the assigned work and readings on the topic. I kept a to-do list and used the positive reinforcement of crossing out the accomplished tasks in order to maintain the goal focus. This helped me gathered the required theoretical knowledge, however the practical application was still elusive. Fighting against the first exam grade discouragement as well as my other workload distractions, I persevered in maintaining commitment to the goal. I devised a subsequent list of exercise from the text and devoted a bit of time each week to working them out. When necessary in the problems, I constructed visual representations of the molecules and tried to imagine the symmetry in my head. In the beginning, it was difficult to accomplish this without physically closing my eyes. Using positive imagery to motivate myself that I could do this (started by visualizing a regular cube), I gradually made progress. Ultimately, I was able to achieve my goal and can now easily rotate and assign molecular symmetry without even having to close my eyes. It just comes naturally.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the above breakthrough occurred mid-semester, the garnered success made me decide to apply the same techniques to the rest of the material for that course. Achieving a good grade in the class became my subsequent goal. I quickly realized that something new was hindering my progress despite my adherence to a rigorous goal plan as before. I subdued my original panic, and instead tried to focus away from the actual “performance” aspect through relaxation exercises (breathing) and positive images. I was mentally ready; I knew I could achieve success.
I continued on by setting aside time to discover the root of the problem preventing me from applying the learned techniques of “excellence”. I soon found that the rapidly advancing material taught to us in the class was the cause of my goal plan shortcomings. To accommodate this, I divided my time between rewriting a set of notes (new strategy), which I deem necessary in light of the new material taught, and the text exercises (old strategy). Overall and to a certain extent, I was able to achieve a full focus and show improvement towards my goal. Currently, my one and great struggle, is entirely external. It took me a bit of time and the previous success to realize that certain aspects of my goal and the situation as a whole are beyond my control. This does not mean I could not achieve excellence or that I failed at my goal. Rather, the goal I chose failed me. I gave it my all, adhered to my outlined scheduled, visualized a positive outcome and managed to keep distractions at bay. Despite this, it is inhumanly possible to control external circumstances and I’ve accepted the limitations imposed on success. Internally, I took home the gold and some indispensable knowledge; externally, I learned focus in the face “adversity”. After all, “excellence can be obtained if you care more than others think its wise risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible” (Unknown).
My external goal was to improve my posture, specifically for the purpose of diminishing my recurring back pain. I started out small at the beginning of the semester because I knew I wouldn't just be able to go from having absolutely terrible posture to sitting/standing straight all day long. I first had to do a little bit of research and find out what good posture actually looked like and how my body was supposed to be positioned, because I had no idea; I only knew what bad posture looked like. After that, I set small goals for myself, for instance, keeping good posture while sitting in one of my classes or sitting up straight while sitting on the couch. It was a slow start for me, as I had trouble focusing on keeping my back straight a lot of the time and I would start to slouch without realizing it. I realized I had to really focus on keeping my back straight for a certain amount of time each sitting by reminding myself in my head to keep my back straight. My commitment to the goal was important to keep too, and I had to remind myself why I was trying to improve my posture a lot of times to motivate myself to continue my commitment to the goal. Reducing my back pain was really important to me so when I thought about this, I worked even harder to keep my posture good. I would also use the positive images technique and picture myself sitting or standing somewhere with good posture and no back pain. That was a motivating factor for me because it helped keep my focus and picturing myself achieving my goal really made me happy about the progress I had already made, making me want to keep improving my posture even more.
ReplyDeleteWith the small goals I was setting for myself, I was able to achieve those minor steps and move up to trying to see how long each day I could go without slouching. I was gradually able to keep up my posture for a good amount of each day, especially when sitting down. I found it difficult to keep my posture good while I was standing or walking, because I have a really strong tendency to look down when I walk and to put most of my weight onto one side of my body when I was standing still. When I realized that there were certain situations where I had a natural tendency to slouch, like when sitting on the couch or sitting in my car, I created a couple of tricks that I used to keep my back straight. When I sat on the couch I put a big pillow behind my lower back which forced me to sit upright as long as I was on the couch. In the car I adjusted my mirror so that it was up a little more than usual so I had to keep my back perfectly straight and my head up in order to see into the mirror and see what was behind me. These tricks worked very well, and I still use them to reinforce my posture.
My original comment was too long, so I had to separate it into two posts, so here is the second half of my comment:
ReplyDeleteI think that I have done a good job with reaching my goal. Currently, I am able to keep up with my posture and keep my back straight a majority of the time without even thinking about it. When I'm driving in my car, for instance, I still keep my mirror adjusted up, but I don't think I'd even need to use that trick anymore because lately I've been keeping my back straight in the car without even thinking about it. Normally I would have to keep telling myself to keep my back straight, but now it seems to come naturally. In my classes I've been sitting far enough away from my desk that I can't reach my elbows to the desk top, which prevents me from leaning forward and slouching. When I keep my elbows in my lap my posture comes naturally and I also don't have to think about it in those situations. I have definitely noticed a great decrease in my back pain, so that is another reason I think I have achieved my goal, or at least mostly achieved it. Normally, my back would be really achy a lot of the time and it was really uncomfortable. Now it still aches sometimes, but not nearly as often. Throughout my day I don't have much back pain at all, and if it starts to hurt I will adjust my posture so that my back is straighter, and it feels a lot better. I feel good about where I am now in terms of my goal, especially compared to where I was at the beginning of the semester. It's a good feeling knowing that I set a goal for myself and was able to utilize certain techniques from the book in order to achieve that goal.
My external goal of regulating my sleep cycle was truly a reflection of other issues that I was having in my daily life. In other words, attaining this goal had a spillover effect on many of the other challenges I faced. Time management is a good example of this effect. Other behaviors I was able to strengthen as a result of regulating my sleep include being more alert and active, not being tardy, not relying on coffee as much, and of course the many positive health effects that result from this regulation. All of these behaviors have undoubtedly seen improvement during the past few months, and I am very pleased I was able to find an integrative solution.
ReplyDeleteMy initial thoughts upon choosing this objective at the beginning of the semester was that I would be able to successfully go to bed and wake up and the same exact time every day. However, I realized several weeks into the semester that this preciseness is not feasible with my current work and class schedule. I believe this realization relates to the importance of being able to make adjustments to goals, as well as the difference between a dream goal and a realistic goal. I had to adjust a couple of things as I worked toward this goal. I wanted to get eight full hours of sleep each night, since this number is most common in our species. However, my individual sleep varied in that I appear to require nine hours to feel fully rested and alert during the day. Letting go of these pursuits and recognizing how unrealistic they were given my lifestyle required me to remain positive despite feeling as though I was not making the desired progress. Since I realized the negative effects of negative thinking and the difficulty of achieving goals, it made the progression much easier than previous goal setting attempts. By setting realistic goals, such as giving myself a grace period for going to bed and waking up, I was attempting something that was very difficult to change for a long period of time, but not dreaming too big so that I set myself up for failure.
Another factor that helped me maintain a regular sleep cycle was monitoring my progress in a very specific, tangible way. I have been keeping a log for the semester that includes the time I go to bed, the time I wake up, the resulting amount of sleep per night, and any naps that occurred during the day. This written chart has been an effective method for reminding myself throughout the day and each day that I am working toward something important. Also, it allows me to observe my pattern of behavior. Recognizing a particular period of time in which I was regularly falling asleep and waking up was a good way to remain positive and confident in this process. As Orlick suggests, I was learning from my best performances and revisiting parts of performances that produced positive images.
One thing that has spoke volumes about my progress throughout the semester is the fact that I no longer need to set an alarm clock to wake up. I previously relied heavily on my alarm clock and its snooze button, as you can see in my weekly posts. I would not wake up on my own before eleven o'clock, and now my body has been weaned off of the alarm clock. Consistently going to sleep at approximately the same time has essentially set up a mental alarm clock. I am so much happier waking up naturally rather than to an annoying alarm clock. I implemented a behavior in which I would tell myself that I would wake up at a particular time before going to sleep. I would think and dwell on the time while lying in bed. This visualization process corresponds directly to Orlick's chapter on positive imagery. I believe it was a significant component that contributed to the achievement of my goal. Overall, I was very proud and enthusiastic about the way in which I was able to apply the course concepts to regulating my sleep, juggling, and so many other events in my life.
Gayton,
ReplyDeleteI tried posting my entry here; however, the site is yelling at me for exceeding the 4,096 character max. So check your email ;-)
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DeleteSame here, my post is over 4096, sending via EMAIL.
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DeleteSame as the two above me, its in an email, thanks
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