...What Three Things Motivated Me to Start College? What motivations would have me stepping out of my comfortable safe zone to contemplate textbooks, essays, grades, dreaded exams, and taking on the finical burden of student loans? I always had a vague idea someday, after the kids were grown and I had more free time, I would go back and get the college education I passed up in my youth. Life experiences and the oft times unexpected upheaval it brings, has dramatically brought a different agenda to my motivations and goals. Narrowing down to the strongest point that motivated me to start college is a fairly easy task, it all boils down to the main focus of my life: my family, raising our circumstances and all of our future aspirations. The foremost motivation is by far the largest was the dedication to raising my family. My husband became disabled roughly seven years ago; at that time I was unable to keep our small construction company running. The construction company, our main source of income, was gone and quality of life became vastly different. The struggle to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table for our children was the spur I needed to make the decision to return to college. This became my main motivation. Starting college and seeking out a degree that would provide me the ability to find employment with the ultimate goal of being able to provide a better life for my family. The prospect of a brighter future was appealing. The second motivation is, which...
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...are the three things that initially motivated me to start college, three things that will motivate me to keep going and to graduate, and how I plan to stay motivated throughout my coursework? After reviewing the critical elements, the critical element I feel will give me the least trouble as I work on my assignment, is the three things that initially motivated me to start college. I’m grateful to say my family is and always has been a motivating factor in all that I strive to accomplish. Since my grade school years my family has always praised me for being extremely smart. Even though, I didn’t follow through on my plans for college following high school, I always knew there would be a time when I would finally say enough was...
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...CPD 150 class, I believe that most of the strategies that were taught in this class are extremely helpful in order to be a successful college student. However, a few of the factors that I believe are most important and contribute a lot to college and life success are, victim and creator mindsets, self-motivation, self-management, and believing in myself. In the beginning, some of these strategies were challenging for me. At this point, I have tried to work on myself and am continuing to work on areas that need improvement. In fact, I feel that there has been a great amount of improvement in my weak areas since the beginning of the semester. One cannot possibly be successful if always using the wrong...
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...What three things motivated you to start college? The three main reasons that motivated me to start college was myself, my family and my current job. I have always wanted to go to college and have a bachelor’s degree, but I let life get in the way. I had my son at an early age, and from that moment on I knew he would be my main focus. I had to go to work and provide the best I could for him even though we were young. Fast forward 7 years, he is in second grade and is starting to become much more independent. I finally found time and motivation to go to school and further my education. Doing so will afford me the ability to spend more time with my family, as my current job requires me to work holidays and weekends. My second reason for enrolling in college is my current job. I have been working retail for over 10 years and can no longer be promoted without a college degree. I have decided to go to college and get a degree to either move forward on my current career path or start fresh. My preference is to change careers since I want to leave retail, even though I know the potential risks I could face. The main reasons for wanting to leave my current job are stability and always missing out on family events, especially major holidays. My plan is to get my bachelors in Human Resources Management with a minor in Psychology. Then once I complete this, continue to work towards my masters and become a social worker. However, while looking for social worker jobs or learning the...
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...Personal responsibility, to me, is caring for my growing family and going back to school to in order to provide a better life for my family, a life I was not given. Going back to college and being successful at that is very important to me, because my family counts on me. They rely on me to provide for them, to nurture them, and to be an example to them. Juggling college, a career, and a family can be extremely stressful at times. There is not very much time in the day to work full time, spend time with my family, and go back to school. In order to be successful at all these things it takes a great deal of responsibility. I have to achieve the mind set of how important my career, family, and school are and set a schedule to give myself ample time to spend on all these things. I believe that going back to school can force me into taking the responsibility to be successful in college and give me the focus to set goals for my future. To achieve my goals I have to take the responsibility to set a schedule to allot time for work, school, and my home life. I work hard in my career to provide for my family and make sure my bills are paid on time and everyone is happy and healthy. When I come home from work, I spend time with my family and then it’s time for school work. If I manage my time wisely, and keep motivated to do so, my long term goals will become reality. My family is always there to help me, and motivate me so that I stay on top of things. This keeps my life balanced...
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...My initial motivations to start college was my family, a career, bettering myself, and free college thanks to the Army. With the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, I am able to actually afford to go to college so this is a major motivator it is also an opportunity for me that I could not pass up. When I joined the Army I never really put much thought into wanting to go to college I thought I was going to make a career out of the military. When I got out of the Army I needed to come up with a new career plan for me that is when I realised that I needed to go back to school to do that. When I decided to go to college I had to think of what my end goal was and what classes I needed to take to get there. One of my end goals is to better myself, which is also a motivator for me. I wanted a skill set that I can apply to just about any career that I could think of which is why I wanted to have some kind of business degree. With having a degree that can apply to such a wide range of jobs and careers it will make it easier to help provide for my family....
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...The Bell Rings A seven minute passing time. It takes three minutes to get from the history building to the English building, two if I run. But my history teacher tends to keep us after class for around a minute. That will leave me with four minutes, give or take, to sit down and complete this English outline. Even easier, I can just ask Alex if I can just borrow his paper. The teacher wouldn’t even notice and Alex can care less, another minute shaved off for me. Ready, set, and go. That is now becoming the usual life for a high school student in the 21st century, rushing to class in order to get work done, just before the bell rings. The mentality of high school students going into college is slowly becoming less and less focused on education. Knowing that in high school they can get an easy “A”, student’s focus more on trying to fit in with the crowd. Trying to act cool by following others, because who studies anymore? Most students will tell themselves that studying is not important and they will pass the class regardless. Students get used to obtaining good grades in their classes when they do not deserve it, which leads to a struggling college life. They get too accustomed to getting something they don’t deserve and don’t realize that their quality of work is not good enough material to earn them, not get them, an “A” on a paper. High school is not preparing students well enough to succeed in college, therefore things need to change and teachers need to put down their foot...
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...Success Strategies The Three strategies that I am using from the success strategies guide are to stay motivated, choose a great study environment, and to do the hardest or my least favorite task first. The reason that I chose these three strategies are that staying motivated is key, without motivation you will not have the drive or the desire to accomplish a task and keeping my eyes on the prize is all the motivation that I need. Choosing a great study environment is key for me because this will limit my distractions and sitting in my favorite chair is very important because it makes me feel comfortable and when I feel good I tend to have a positive outlook on doing my work. And lastly I chose to do the hardest assignment first because it usually requires the most attention and when I get to easier assignments I will find them even easier and will feel good while doing them because I will not have to stress over doing a harder assignment next. Out of these three the most beneficial to me is staying motivated because like I said before without the motivation to do a task it will more than likely not get done and if it is completed it will not be up to the standard set by the instructor. I have changed my routine greatly since beginning school, for instance I don’t go home and play video games or watch television like before. I have set times to do these things and they usually happen after I finish that week’s assignment. Some of the things that I picked up from my classmates...
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...the span of my eighteen year-long lifetime, I have set hundreds of goals for myself, from scoring goals in soccer games to getting an “A” on this next math exam. Goals are a great tool to use to focus one’s attention towards things that benefit one who needs to get something done. Back in July, I wrote a few goals that I wanted to achieve during my first semester of sophomore year in West Virginia University. My first of these goals was to earn at least a 3.5 grade point average over the semester. All throughout school back in my hometown, I had gotten one “C”, one “B”, and many “A”s. I was used to being one of the smart kids with the good grades. In college, I assumed that everything would be different, and that I would struggle a lot more than I had. Just recently, in the middle of the second half of the semester, I calculated my expected GPA. If I end with the grades that I expect to have for the semester, I will have a 3.7! When I wrote down my goal, I thought that I was setting the bar too high so that I would push myself to achieve the goal. Now I realize that I really can do better than I expected, and plan to push myself similarly in the future! I also wanted to stick out to my teachers during my first semester. I have met...
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...about my returning back to school three things come to mind. The first thing I need to do is gain all the knowledge that I need to further my career in the field of Psychology with a concentration on chemical health. For years, I have been unable as a program assistant or case manager to help the clients that I've served. My lack of education and not having a license to counsel I has limited me. I felt that I provide a disservice to those individuals that deserve the best care possible. Secondly, I have a need at this point in my life to redefine who I am as a person who cares about people in and outside of my present life. I am tired of being a victim of my circumstances which I feel makes me feel less than the person that I want to be in life....
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...Self-Regulation and Willpower Instructions: Use this worksheet to reflect on self-regulation and willpower. Items with an asterisk require completion (*). 1. Summarize the main ideas from the video and article. Each summary should be at least three sentences. A. Video – “The Science of Willpower: An Interview with Kelly McGonigal”* According to Kelly, willpower is the ability to make a choices with your biggest goals even those choices are against your will. Your goal serves as your motivation for you to have the "I will" attitude. There might be hindrances that will stop you achieve your goal but your "I won't" power should be strengthened inorder to overcome your resisting impulses. Your "I will" power will be your motivation as to what do you want to be in the future. It will give you a sense to see your future self. Willpower is something you need if you really want something to change in your life even if you have to go through things that you're not interested. Instead of thinking of the things that you will go through towards your goal, you'll focus yourself on the bigger picture on what you will become when you achieve your ultimate goal. B. Article – “Academic Delay of Gratification, Motivation, and Self-regulated Learning Strategies”* This article is about the benefits of delay of gratification in your educational assignments. Most people wants or expects the results right away. Some students tend to stay on their task than to look for alternatives...
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...necessary for success in life, college, and career. Reflect on life Motivation, consistency, and patience are necessary for success in life. According to the article, “Self-motivation is taking responsibility for doing whatever is necessary to get the job done”( Macpherson,2006 p.26). Motivation and consistency are my strengths because of my five month old daughter. When she was born it motivated me to be all I could be, and to be a role model for her. She helps me stay consistent even when I’m having a bad day because I know she is looking up to me to provide for her. I can look at her and smile and know that everything I’m doing in my life is not in vain, and will motivate me to ensure she has the life I never did growing up. Patience is my biggest challenge because I can’t wait for things to be done later, they have to be done at that moment even if I have a thousand things to do. For example, I have math class on Tuesday and homework is assigned, by me not being patient and pacing myself I try to complete all the homework that night and not go to bed until it’s finished instead of doing some problems here and there because I know it won’t be due until that following Tuesday. I can work on being patient by stopping and taking a deep breath and acknowledge the fact that everything can’t be done all at once but it will get done. Reflect on college Punctuality, being organized, and becoming a lifelong learner is necessary for success in college. Punctuality would be my strength...
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...just a “junkie”. The second thing that motivated me the most is my daughter Crystal. I wanted her to see that a mother can do anything she puts her mind too. If I could go back to school at the age of 43 then she could go back at 22 and get her GED. My final and most beautiful reason is for my granddaughter Autumn Noel. I wanted to make sure that when she grew up and talked about her grandma that she could do it with pride. Knowing that her grandmother turned her life around. And that it is never to late to become someone/something. There are hundreds of reasons I have to push myself to continue this adventure and graduate. My first has to be my family. When I first picked an online college across the country I never thought any of them would come watch me walk across the stage. Over time since I have been talking to them it surprised me how many of my family and friends want to be there when I walk across that stage. That motivates me greatly. Second thing that motivates me is younger people I help along my journey in life. I see them at their worst and I want to show them what can be their best. That if I can turn my life around after twenty-three years of shooting dope that they could too no matter their age. . And last but not least is myself. All my life I have given up everything I tried except drugs. So when I gave up drugs I knew I had to do something to make me life better. So I decided to go back to school. My plan to stay motivated is very simple. First I have...
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...Macy Koon Dr. Thompson COLS 1001 11 December 2015 What is Success in College What does it take to succeed in college? When I think of success I think of achieving something that I have desired, planned or attempted. A successful college experience for me would be developing important study skills such as how I can study, what I can do in and out of the classroom, and how I can manage my time. It is often claimed that the most successful college students attain success because they are only smart and study hard. Success in college for me goes beyond intelligence and hard work. It depends on my motivation and developing good study habits. My motivation is the reason I am at college. No one motivated me but myself. In the book What the Best College Students Do, Ken Bain talks about how making straight A’s is nice. I agree with him. He also says that straight A’s hardly guarantee a happy or productive life. In order to succeed it takes a personal sense of purpose. To have success we need to make good decisions and have self-confidence. In order to be a successful student I need to be a risk taker and make connections. Rather than chasing success, I have to achieve it. Bain details that there are three types of learners: surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding; and deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education. In high school I was a surface learner. I did not always apply myself like...
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...writing style as well as, advise on obtaining one’s greatest potential. For instance, “The talent code” was written in a more formal manner with a lot of scientific facts to back up the author’s suggestions on how to improve your skills to reach greatness. On the other hand, “How to steal like an artist” was written in an informal style and used unconventional ways to present information or, advise on reaching greatness. Although the two books had very different writing styles I was motivated by both authors to work harder to reach my greatest potential. These books have had positive implications on both my study skills and volleyball training. The first book I read “The Talent Code” looked at research and scientific evidence to explain why certain people or groups develop extreme greatness in a particular area, which Coyle called “hot beds”. Coyle spent years investigating top athletes, artist, as well as meeting with neuroscientist to explain the “hot bed” phenomena. Colye discovered three main objectives that the “hot beds” had in common. The first is deep practice, which is going back after a mistake has been made and correcting the mistake until it is perfect. The next objective was ignition which is to have a passion and love for what you are doing. Coyle’s final objective was master coaching. A master coach is an expert who is able to recognize raw talent in an individual and help him or her develop to their greatest potential. He also noted that...
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