Tag Archives: Motivation

First Impression Post #12

--Original published at Miguel's College Blog

For this first impression post, I went with option 2: Why I chose to come to Elizabethtown College, what I do to motivate myself to do well in classes, and plan an intervention to keep myself motivated until graduation.

Originally, Elizabethtown College was not even on my radar when I was looking for schools to go to. From my senior year of high school and my first year of community college, I applied to all of military academies twice and was rejected twice. At the same time, I was also applying to numerous other colleges and was getting grim results as well. As a high achieving student all throughout K-12, it would not be wrong to assume that my motivation was hit pretty hard after two years of rejection from schools. It was also pretty harsh because I did not really get any information back as to why I was not accepted. I had the high GPA, I was top of my class, I had the extra curricular, and my resume was packed. Still, nothing. So after the first year of community college, and my second rejection,  I decided to give up applying to the academies because there had to be another way to get where I wanted to go in life. I started applying to some other colleges that summer and Elizabethtown College gave me the best scholarship and had a program I wanted to pursue so I took it and ran. It took me some time to adjust and get my motivation where I wanted to be because this was not where I thought I would be two years prior, but I really like it here and I am making the best of it.

To motivate myself to do well in classes, I like giving myself self-talks, telling myself things that I can do, and all the things I can achieve. I also like seeking out social support in others and talking to others because that can not only get my mind off negative things, but motivate me to keep going. I also try to keep in mind a quote I heard somewhere and that was, “Failure is an event, not a destination.” That definitely keeps me going because everything happens to make you a stronger individual on the road of life.

An intervention to keep myself motivated is to find ways to keep learning new things on times school is off so I can keep my mental capacity elevated. Another thing is to keep bringing myself to optional lectures throughout the year to learn about things not just tailored to my major but to be more well rounded.

Motivation

--Original published at Manda's College Blog

I chose to write about my motivation for school and why I chose Elizabethtown College. I was never in my life motivated to go to school or even care to perform well in school. I was very set in joining the Military and staying in for the rest of my life. Well, things like real life tend to happen, and I’m no longer in the military. Thinking back, a had so many peers urge me that I should go to college especially because being a member of the military, they help pay for your tuition. At that time I had zero patience and motivation to seek out going back to school after never really trying in high school. It took me several years later and I honestly didn’t really “plan” on going to college, just one day I called a old military friend and asked her how do I apply. I didn’t think of a major or anything, I just knew if I delayed it any longer I’d lose motivation. It’s just the type of person I am, impatient.

I actually have friends who are social workers, and they’ve always discussed to me what they do and the pros and cons about it followed by the need for my social workers. I’ve always wanted to help female veterans especially, because the social workers in my time have failed me. It just so happened that Elizabethtown College offers a social work major and that it’s not at all far near my home. I believe the closeness of the college besides having the major I wanted gives me more motivation every day to go to class, because it’s right there. I don’t have to worry about traffic, worry about how late I would get home, chores, cooking, and other things an engaged 28 year old home owner needs to do. So I guess to sum it all up my motivation definitely comes through convenience.

I have a lot of days, especially this week for some reason to even go to class and engage in the lecture. Sometimes my motivation goes down because I sometimes get beyond overwhelmed with all the assignments that I need to get done. That and lack of sleep just makes the situation worse for myself. The best advice I received from a teacher was to just keep showing up to class, no matter what. So no matter how I feel that day, formed this habit to not question if I should or shouldn’t go. I just go. It makes it worth it in the end because I don’t feel like I’m missing anything in the lecture.

To maintain motivation until graduation, again the closeness of the school helps. I email updates at least every two weeks to someone in the school that checks on my accountability and if I have any concerns or questions. I am very honest with her and she helps me a lot to maintain my consistency. My family member also goes over my goals and keeps me accountable and gives me reasons why graduating from college would be a great thing for me, which usually is realistic and exciting.

First Impression Post Week #12

--Original published at Collin's Blog

For this week’s first impression post I decided to explain why I came to Elizabethtown College and how I motivate myself during my time here. I decided to come to Elizabethtown College for a few reasons. First, it was one of the colleges that had offered the most financial aid and scholarships to me which really helped to lighten the load of paying out of pocket and loans. Another reason I came to Elizabethtown, was because I really liked the campus and the town. It felt a lot similar to my hometown, just being a little bigger and a nice quiet town in a rural area. Also, when I had come to visit the college, I met Dr. Bridge and Dr. Yorty from the Biology Department, both of them were extremely kind and happily gave me advice during the application process and for my future endeavors. The friendly professors and students on campus made the college seem very friendly and was another factor for why I came here. To motivate myself, I try to set weekly goals to stay on track with my assignments and studying. Also, I enjoy most of my classes and most of the material is interesting to learn, which is motivation enough sometimes to do the extra work.
I plan to raise my overall GPA and maintain a high overall and major GPA in order to be a strong applicant for medical school in a few years. A good intervention for motivation could be applying for the early admission into medical next year as a sophomore, even if I am not selected it could be a good way to gauge where I am at by the end of sophomore year and what more I need to do.

Week 12 Blog Prompt – Motivation

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the two prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the tag “Motivation.” The first impression posts will be due by the start of class on Wednesday, 4/4. The refinement posts will be due at noon on Tuesday, 4/10.

Option 1

America is currently facing an obesity epidemic that some experts have labeled the biggest public health threat we have today. We have all heard the recommendations to eat healthier and get regular exercise. Some people, however, are taking the message of healthy eating too far. A new mental health disorder called orthorexia nervosa has been proposed, in which eating healthy food becomes an obsession. One set of proposed criteria are available here. Look over the criteria and comment on whether or not you think this is a good way to define the boundary between eating healthy and having a mental disorder.

Option 2

Motivation is not a stable force, but often waxes and wanes. Throughout your time at Elizabethtown College, your motivation for school will undoubtedly be higher at some times and lower at others. I want you to discuss why you chose to come to Elizabethtown College originally and what you do to motivate yourself to do well in your classes currently. I also want you to plan an intervention for yourself for how you can maintain motivation to succeed until graduation.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Motivation

--Original published at Sarah's Insight

I originally chose to come to Elizabethtown College because of the Occupational Therapy program offered. Here, I will complete 5 years of education and obtain a master’s degree. This was a huge selling point for me because not many schools offer a 5 year program that does not require reapplying for the master’s degree program. Also, E-town offers what seems like thousands of different opportunities to get involved on campus. I also considered size when looking at schools. My graduating class in high school was 97 students, which means I had the opportunity to connect with all of the students in my cohort and all of my teachers. Here at E-town, I am able to form relationships with my professors and peers that will help me to succeed in my studies.

Recently, I have struggled with motivation in my school work and even though I tell myself that I need to study and do work, I always procrastinate and do poorly on the assignments. I realized that in order to pass I had to inspire myself to work even harder. I sat down with my textbooks and outlined every important detail in each chapter. It’s easy for me to remember things by color, so I used different highlighters to mean different things. I ended up having a lot of fun creating my notes and studying them. I ended up doing significantly better on my most recent exam. I had a small wake-up call when I met with my advisor who gave me the idea of my new note taking style. Since we can easily meet up with our professors one on one, I will continue to meet with my professors throughout my years at E-town and take their advice on how to be successful in studying and preparing myself for my future.


Motivation Option 2

--Original published at Site Title

I chose to come to Etown because of the small campus and the English program.  The location of the College and personalized academics also contributed to my decision. I took both the SAT and the ACT before I was accepted. I had to work vigorously to get into Etown. I always remind myself of how hard I had to work to get into Etown to motivate myself. I also reward myself by taking a break to watch TV after completing large assignments to stay motivated. These strategies have so far been successful in motivating me to keep working through the semester. I can continue to use these strategies to stay motivated until graduation. I can also add more rewards for completing assignments.

 


First Impression-Motivation

--Original published at Site Title

I am a transfer from another small liberal arts college in Maryland. I did not like the school that I was at before, athletically or academically. I knew if I wanted to have a positive college experience, I would have to transfer. Elizabethtown was the first institution to recruit me for basketball. I remember having a tour at Etown when I was a senior and I thought it was a very nice school. It was in my top three colleges but I decided to go to the college in Maryland because it was closer to my house. When I made my mind up that I was going to transfer, I immediately pictured myself at Etown. I am glad I made the switch because Etown sets me up for success academically and athletically.

I am the most motivated when it is close to the due date. I know that doesn’t sound great, but it is the truth. I have more motivation to study when the exam is close. I have more motivation to do an assignment when the due date is close. This isn’t the best way to handle work in college. It can make you very stressed out. I try to motivate myself to do things earlier so that I won’t be rushing trying to finish the assignment on time. The bigger the assignment is, the more motivation I have to complete it. What motivates me to be successful in school is my G.P.A. I always strive to get good grades so that I can get scholarships for graduate school. The better my grades are the more likely I am to get scholarships. Focusing on the big picture is what helps me stay motivated. As a part of my motivational plan, I will print out a picture of my dream car (a Mercedes G-wagon) and put it up on my wall. So every time I look at my dream car I will be motivated to work hard so that I can be successful enough to afford a G-wagon. I will also write motivational quotes on post its and stick them on my walls. The quotes will motivate me to work hard.


Thanksgiving 1st Impression Post- Motivation

--Original published at alanaspsy105blog

For this weeks first impression post, I chose to write about option one which was about an emerging problem in America: orthorexia. A couple years ago, I would have never thought that this would be a problem because healthy eating habits seemed pretty much inexistent in America. It is not only until recently, when I started changing my lifestyle to eat healthier and exercise more often that I discovered how seriously people take their eating habits. My healthy eating involves not eating quite as much bread and not eating ice cream every single night, but I found a lot of people, especially on social media that go as far as to count macros on everything that they eat. That seems too time consuming to me. The criteria to be diagnosed for orthorexia seem like they could be very detrimental to a person’s health. It’s good to eat healthy, but when it starts to consume your every thought, and you stress about what will happen to you if you stray from your strict diet, it is no longer healthy. You can not just cut out entire food groups and expect to stay healthy, even things like fats you need in moderation for normal bodily functions. I think orthorexia should be something that patients can be clinically diagnosed with just like someone can be diagnosed with anorexia. It causes negative problems to the person not only physically, but also mentally. It affects a person’s self image which can lead to other problem like depression and should be taken seriously.


Motivation, Where did you go?

--Original published at Kyle's Gen Psych Blog

I originally chose to attend Etown based solely on the desire to get out of Mississippi. I wanted to be as far away from home as possible. Luckily for me i was offered a large enough scholarship that it made it possible to attend. Although the more time i spend here the more i feel at home. My fellow students here at Etown, new and old, never fail to have a friendly demeanor the first time they meet you. The teachers here i have met are always willing to have a small chat if you feel you can approach them which i feel promotes a healthy learning environment. Overall the sense of community here at Etown has fostered a desired to stay strong than the desire to attend here was originally.

Honestly, this semester i have been slacking pretty hard and I’m still adjusting to find my own rhythm when it comes to studying. When it comes to my own responsibilities i tend to be very lax and unmotivated, convinced that i can do whatever comes my way without any effort put in before hand. I feel this is because during high school i failed to develop healthy study habits and preparation tactics. This has come to plague my performance in school because i know if i actually ever put the effort in i could do so much better than i am currently.

Yet i digress, as i have slowly but steadily made improvements in my performance as the semesters pass. Luckily for me i have a plan going forward already for improving myself and my reliability in classes. I often miss due dates and fail to maintain any reliability or study, yet this semester as i am taking Japanese i have the hiragana and katakana charts posted above my desk and therefore my desktop PC. I feel because this piece of study material was and remains to be ever present in both my work-space and my gaming space i was more easily able to learn and reference it casually. Every time i look up from my computer monitor there it is hanging reminding me of my class work, this is why i plan to replace it next semester with a calendar that will mark what i will accomplish on a daily basis. Through this i will not be able to make excuses for myself and ignore the problems that crop up during the school year. I am very confident that this will improve my work ethic and am excited to implement it into my work space.

 


First Impression: Motivation

--Original published at Site Title

The reason I chose to go to Elizabethtown College was because I was awarded a large outside scholarship that lowered my tuition to an extremely small rate. I also chose Elizabethtown College because I knew I would be able to graduate within three years instead of four. The significance of those factors is that I’ll be able to arrive at financial independence and stability sooner in life. Independence and financial security will allow me to meet fulfill my own hierarchy of needs, up to the “esteem needs” point, as I will be able to achieve more and live more freely than I do now. Having money and my own living space will allow me to maintain close relationships and live a less stressful life without worrying about student loans. Most of my friends are also in the grade above me, so moving a year ahead and joining them will contribute to my sense of belonging, which is another big emotional and social motive in life.

To motivate myself in my classes, I focus on all of those things I want to achieve. As long as I keep up my academic performance, I can maintain my academic scholarship and proceed through school at a faster pace so that I can graduate at the same time as my older friends. My plan to help myself succeed and graduate early is to reward myself with weekend trips to see my friends a few times a semester. To be able to do this, I will need to complete my schoolwork ahead of time. This semester, I could’ve done better with doing work, but for the rest of my college career, that plan will have to suffice. My current motivation is to maintain my close friendships, as they will be the most fulfilling thing for me as I work my way through school.