First Semester Reflection
As I start my journey in college I have come across a couple of learning experiences that I apply to my daily life and keep myself on track with assignments, studying, and tests. One big learning experience I would say is making daily "what to do" checklists. With these I would write out all of my assignments that are due in the next month or so and write them onto one paper and select a few to do each day to help me stay on task. Another experience during my first year at IUPUI that help me succeed was trying to talk to others in my class and trying to set up times with them to study. This definitely helped me perform better on my tests and other assignments because I got to bounce ideas and thoughts off of each other and we all got to benefit from studying together. This was tough for me at first because I was very closed off and when I started to notice a slight drop in my grades, I knew I had to try something different.
Being on my own and having to do pretty much everything by myself, I got to realize what some of my strengths and weaknesses are. One of my strengths would be staying on task and staying on track. Even though sometimes I might fall into a hole where I get overwhelmed and not want to do anything I realize I have time and I can only do one assignment at a time. One weakness I would say is that I have and that I am working on is staying motivated. For me motivation is what keeps me going and without it I can procrastinate a lot. Even though I start to procrastinate I go to the library, and I feel a lot more productive there.
"Life's too long to worry
And it's too short to cry
And it's too deep to measure
It's two stories wide" - Highwaymen
One big lesson I learned as I am almost finished with my first semester at IUPUI is to reach out for help as much as you can or want. Many of these people here are willing to help you and want you to succeed. At the beginning of the year, I felt like I was pretty close-minded and when I started to see my grades decline, I knew what I had to do, and I started to open my mind to everything, so I ended up asking questions whenever I was uncertain about anything. One piece of advice I would give myself for next semester is to keep on chopping wood and keep on working as hard as I can through school.