List of Ways to Motivate Studying

I'm finding that sometimes I don't want to study.  Hence, I have come up with ways to motivate myself.

1. Use a checklist...checking things off or crossing them out helps to reduce stress.

2. Self-bribery...if I bribe myself with a reward, it makes studying earn me a reward instead of just being something that needs to be done.

3. Do something else that makes me feel better about myself...like volunteering in extracurricular activities.  If I feel better about the other stuff I can do, it makes the stuff that sometimes intimidates me a bit to do look easier to accomplish.

4. Make a plan of what needs to be done with deadlines and focus on one thing at a time.  Sometimes a whole lot of stuff can be overwhelming, but one task is usually less intimidating.

5. Try to look on the bright side.  If I study well and do great in my classes, then hot guys might want to study with me. (Actually, I kind of found it irritating that the good-looking guy only contacted me when he wanted help to study this semester....I like to help, but I don't like being strictly sought out for my brain and not because of my awesome company.)

6. Talk to a friend who is in the same classes as me.  It makes it feel like it's "just me" when I do not talk with others about my struggles.  When realizing that other people are having the same problems and doubts, it makes me feel more normal than I would feel otherwise.

7. Find a way to make studying time more fun, by studying while watching anime (nothing says, "this is fun" like a Miyasaki Studio Ghibli film does).  However, I suppose everyone has their own genre of choice that they might like best.  I like anime and forensic-based shows.  So feel free to substitute at will as long as the genre of choice is not so distracting that it will not benefit background noises propagated for studying purposes.
8. Try livening up studying by using various methods.  Before I was just practicing problems, reading through notes, and rewriting notes.  This semester I resumed an old method known as making flash cards and quizzing myself.  I also tried to incorporate figures into my studying process, which made things easier to understand for me (since I'm a visual-kinesthetic learner).  I also tried a new method of studying that I had never tried before by speaking my notes into my cell phone, audio-recording them, and playing them back to myself on a regular basis.  And it actually helped a lot!
9. I was thinking about possibly turning the material I learn in lecture into stories to relate the engineering concepts to other everyday kind of allegories and typing it into my blog (yes...I'm trying to make myself sound more nerdy).  However, I honestly didn't have time to devote to that cause this semester.  It is still a possibility for the future.
10. Normally, I'm kind of a one task at a time kind of girl.  I usually do not like bouncing from one subject to another all heggledy peggledy.  However, when studying for five finals this past semester, I found out it was Survival 101...because after hours of studying one subject, it's either switch subject of study or start plotting the demise of handwritten notes (is it murder or is it removing clutter?).
11. I also broke up studying with bouts of playing solitaire or mahjong on my computer.  Taking short breaks to play games that can be finished quickly can recharge mental batteries.  Plus, it can become something worth studying for...."I get to study! Yay! That means I get to play solitaire!" (ensuing previously mentioned self-bribery-esque tactics)
12. I'll keep adding when I come up with new tricks...so this is it for now.

Internal Glass Ceiling: Potential Re-evaluated

I haven't written in awhile.  It has been a really busy semester.  I am taking more credits worth of engineering than I have ever taken before, sixteen.  In previous semesters, I took 13 credits and there was usually a general education required class in there somewhere.  Hence, this semester has been challenging.

I have also been interviewing and polishing the Bent on campus to try to earn a spot in Tau Beta Pi: the engineering honor society.  On top of this, I have been spending my weekends helping out on concrete canoe with ASCE.  I've helped measure ingredients, placed concrete, and I have even sanded the canoe.  I feel very proud of the project.  It has also been refreshing to be around such awesomely smart people.  It makes for wonderful conversation, so I appreciate the time I have spent with my fellow peers.

I have been working really hard on my schoolwork too.  I am taking 5 classes and 2 labs this semester.  Hence, everyday has been jam-packed with stuff to do.  Every semester, I think the same thing, "If I get through this semester, I can get through anything."  Last semester, I experienced the combination of transportation engineering, a research project for the transportation department, the mechanics of materials class, water software, et cetera.  I remember that I felt like I always had plenty to do.  It was a tough, but rewarding semester.  I am even considering working on a transportation department research project for my senior capstone project next year, which I had never thought about before.  I intend to specialize in Water/Environmental, but my perspective has opened a bit since my semester of Transportation Engineering.  Given the problems with pedestrians getting hit in the Southern Nevada Valley and the large number of flash floods that hit the valley this past fall, perhaps a project about driver's education or flood remediation on roadways might make more of a difference to society.

In any case, I have been trying to increase my club involvement while also still working hard on my course load.  Every week, I think, "I can't believe I did all the stuff I did this week."  I'm so proud of my efforts.  This semester, I am in Civil Engineering Materials.  Like most of my classes with labs, I usually enjoy the lab sessions better than the class.  I think it's SO COOL that I've been mixing concrete this semester, making cylinders and beams.  I was so proud of myself that I was able to use the air compressor to detach the concrete cylinders from the molds.

I have mad skills at tamping the concrete layers for the slump test.  It's so great!! I even have done compression and tensile loading loading tests on what we make.  I love that I am able to do this stuff as a woman.  It reaffirms my belief that a woman can do anything a man can do (except pee standing up...women weren't built for that).

In any case, I also like that I'm taking Soil Mechanics along with Materials this semester.  I often see the correlation with Materials and I believe it is a great combination since aggregates feature in both courses.  Even though I'm really busy this semester, I am proud of my efforts and my increased capabilities.  I also think it's great that I've been helping with concrete canoe this semester.  It makes me understand concrete better, which helps with Materials.

In a nutshell, that is why I have been so busy lately.  I'm really working hard and trying to be more involved than I have been.  I hope life continues to get better and that I am able to shatter my own internal glass ceiling of what I thought I was capable of everyday.  I hope that increased engineering experiences make me even more confident as a person, as well as become a better engineer.