Time Strategies

Checklist are the best! 

Since I look took the Mythology and Folklore course last semester, I am keeping the same basic schedule. On Sunday’s I print of my next week assignments so that I can go through and cross them off as I complete them. Depending on the type of reading I chose for the week's assignments I might print them off or create a bookmark on my iPad to those particular readings to make it easier to get too. During the day, I make sure to read through the readings and fill in little information like what I enjoyed about each story and something I could change if I wanted to recreate the story. Then when I get home from work, I use the notebook to help create the blog post over the readings for Tuesday and Wednesday. Taking notes in a notebook also helps when I pick what story I am going to recreate because I can go back to the notes and see what ideas I had come up with for the recreation while reading the story. I usually work on the course assignments Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Based on my work and class schedule this has been the easiest way to complete all of my assignments.

Since I already enjoy a checklist method to help me keep track of the different assignments that are due, I deiced to read, The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals Motivates Us to Accomplish Bigger Things by Lauren Matchese. In the article, Matchese believes that it helps to set small achievable tasks to help accomplish a big goal. When you accomplish a small task, like finishing an assignment, your body releases dopamine and dopamine will improve your motivation to continue to complete another task. Creating the main goal could be as simple like wanting to make an A in the course. Earning an A will require me to total 410 points in the 15 weeks, but if I only look at this goal, it can seem overwhelming. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with a big goal, making a checklist with real goals like complete the week's assignments will help me obtain my overall goal of getting an A in the course. Matchese explains that creating a reward system or competition can help motivate people to complete task off of a checklist so that they can accomplish their overall goal. No matter the task you want to complete a checklist can help you achieve your goal faster and stay on task easier.  

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Image: Checklist. Source: Max Pixel