Learning and Habits
There was a lot of great information read and watched for the Growth Mindset, Your Brain’s API, Learning Best Practices, and The Comfort Zone. Some of it was new to me and some of it was information I’ve known but never put into practice. Now I’ll be given the opportunity to put it all to the test.
I’m expecting to encounter difficulties during this course. It’s not going to come easy, class is going to move quick, and I need to take advantage of every tool at my disposal. I predict that my major issue will be not understanding the concepts immediately, causing frustration and self doubt. I need to understand that this is normal and that instead of being frustrated, I should be excited that there’s more to learn to accomplish my end goal. I had difficulties in the past with not asking questions within an appropriate time frame and I predict this to also happen again. One of my major accomplishments was getting a “B” grade in Calculus when I was in college. Math has always been difficult for me and the first few weeks were incredibly tough. I didn’t let my frustrations and self-doubt get in the way though. Luckily, my roommates were in the same class, and we studied as a group, quizzed each other constantly, and even attended our professor’s office hours weekly. With enough effort, I was able to achieve my desired results. Sometimes I need a bit of encouragement from the people around me to build my confidence.
I have a plan to react to these situations and difficulties during class. I plan to work with my classmates, ask questions that impact my thinking process rather than just knowing the answer, and putting my full time and energy into it. I need to have more of a growth mindset in general. I love trying out new and different things, but I always seem to reach a comfort zone limit. For example, last summer I tried to get into woodworking. I purchased a few tools, acquired a few pallets, and designed a work bench on paper. It took me a few days to take the pallets apart, but that’s as far as I got. I never constructed the wood together into the bench I designed.
It’s hard to choose in what areas I feel that I have a fixed mindset in. The one I feel the most confident about picking is cooking. I’m not very good at it and I’ve already decided that it’s not an area I should try to excel at. I don’t like wasting food, so trying out a new recipe or cooking something incorrectly will lead to discarding it. My older brother is a chef so watching him work in the kitchen, knowing exactly what to do with what he has, is impressive but also reminds me of how poor my skills are.
In the past, my studying habits were terrible. I often waited until the final moments and then crammed for whatever exam I had. I remember many times where I would show up to class with no sleep because I was up all night and didn’t want to miss class because I overslept. I used a lot of notecards to study, and during lectures, I would type up everything the professor would say. I’ve become pretty good at that actually, but as I recently learned, handwriting notes is better since you have to think about the content as you write. For this class now I’m aware of better habits that I have to utilize. Learning the thought process behind the subjects rather than repeating what I saw already, and creating healthy habits such as getting proper sleep, eating right, and doing some type of exercise. I recently learned from Dr. Rhonda Patrick that going for a run in the morning is better for short term memory, rather in the evening is better for long term. Nutrition science and gut health are subjects I’ve been looking into that can greatly impact learning.
Overall, I’m excited to put all of this new information into practice. This course isn’t cheap, so I need to know that I gave it all my all. These studying habits will help of course, but I need to also shut down my personal background noise and just focus. The Iron Yard will by my life.
