You're the only one in control of yourself, correct? We all know that, yet there is this horrible thing called STRESS that we let get in the way and take over! I know I don't let a week go by without being stressed whether it be school work, athletics, relationships, etc, whatever it is, I always let myself feel stressed somehow or another. This is because stress management just arrived into my life! Stress management is all about controlling yourself through understanding what causes your stress, learning how to relax, and staying organized. If you could go without any stress, how much better do you think you would you feel? Amazing right?! Well take my advice and try this strategy called A Day at a Time, it works with you to helping you organize and understand your reasons for stress. For me personally, this strategy is still in progress and I am still working to eliminate all of my reasons for stress, but stress is a big thing and it is going to take time for all different types of people.

So, to do this strategy, every night before you go to sleep, jott down five reasons that are causing you stress, I wrote on a bright green post it that I keep next to my bed so it is an easy little step. Try not to think too much about your reasonings after you write them down though so you aren't laying in bed thinking of all the reasons in the world that stress you out! (I did that the first night, DO NOT DO IT!!) But, the next day, then try to sort out the reasons for stress, I wrote them down because I am a visual learner and seeing them will help reinforce and understand my issues. Once you feel you have taken control of each different cause of stress, go a head and cross it off your list, but be honest with yourself so you can really help fix this! Keep all of the other items that continue to be stressful on your list each day until you work and have better control.

One thing in particular that stresses me out is my Spanish homework, it happens to me a lot, we have it every night and it isn't very time consuming, so I put it aside and do the other long assignments first, FORGETTING to come back to my spanish and remembering the morning of and having to jam it in quickly, not doing as well of a job then I could. In order to prevent my spanish stress was just doing it first. Getting it done quickly first, then I have all the time to do the long assignment after. Organizing and figuring things out can be so simple and help decrease such a horrible feeling!! Athletics is also another something that stresses me out a lot because I over think my daily schedule and think lacrosse takes up too much time and doesn't leave enough for my school work. All I need to do is use my fritter finder and wah-lah, I feel so much more relaxed because I found and used free time!

Simply just recognizing where your stress is coming from can be a small and helpful step to reducing your stress, but the strategy I just explained is a few more steps to that, so stress no more with A Day at a Time!!!

In times of stress...

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.”

-Natalie Goldberg

The million-dollar question here is…what is stress?

It can be defined in many different ways. In biology, stress is any environmental or physical pressure that elicits a response from an organism.

In a simple, 21^st century definition, stress is what you feel when you’re going to take an exam, write and hand-in a paper, interview for a job, looking up your report card, and so much more. Theses are all called stressors. They make you feel stressed.

It’s completely normal to feel stressed. High school, college, and work are supposed to give you stress because that’s part of life. These are important things in life where you want to do well. If you feel like its not going your way then you will start feeling stressed.

An example would be moi (putting my French into action. In reality, I don’t know French that well). I feel stressed in my PSC 121 class because I want to get a perfect in all the quizzes and exams. As you can tell, I am stressed because that is not happening. Another stressor of mine is enrolling into my second semester classes. I can already enroll however until I remove the hold I have I cannot enroll into the classes I want to take. If I take too long to enroll then the classes that I want will all be taken and unavailable.

These are all my stressors right now. And the funny thing is that I am back home, in my beautiful island Puerto Rico, where I want to relax and have fun, and until I don’t solve all this I wont be able to enjoy the wonderful weather here.

However, the important thing to do before solving the problem is to relax and calm the stress down. That way I will be able to solve the problem in three easy steps.

I used two strategies that reduced my stress.

Stress Reduction Plan- THE BEST STRESS RELIEVER EVER!

This is a list of stress reduction activities that appear in Dr. Blumin’s book “It’s All About Choices” in page 267.

All I did was pick some of those activities to make a daily or weekly routine.

For example:

I go dancing. I take a ballet class from 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. every Sunday. Also, I’ve been working out lately on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays for an hour. These are under the list of Physical Activity.

Another activity I’ve been doing is that every Friday I organize my room, make it clean, and I get all dolled up. I do my hair, my nails, and maybe put on some make-up. This is part of the Pamper Yourself list.

Right now, because I am in Puerto Rico, I would count this as part of Change Your Environment list. This is a drastic change of weather. Here the sun is always out and 70 degrees or more. On Monday I’m staying for two days at this really nice beach house my family got. This will be my escape week!

Back at college, in my dorm, I’ve developed this thing about listening to music before going to sleep. So, I lie in my bed with my iPod and I listen to relaxing music and that immediately puts me to sleep.

The other strategy I chose!

In order to keep my stress and stressors in control, I tried out the A DAY AT A TIME STRATEGY! I find it most useful!

What I did first was write a list of 5 things that are giving me stress. I was supposed to do it last night but I think you can do it any time of any day. I wrote it down on my notebook in a very neat manner. I got the first thing on my list done already. Tomorrow I will get another stressor done because it’s supposed to be a day at a time hence the title of the strategy J

The last strategy I tried was STRESS DIAGRAM!

This strategy is another list with the stressors and then at the end you put them in a pie chart. The stressor with the most space is the one that gives me a lot of stress and the one with less space give me stress but it comes and goes.

Hope you try out these strategies in order to reduce your stress! Remember its Thanksgiving Break so relax and enjoy the holidays!

Here is where I am right now! Beautiful, sunny, hot, windy day. This is HOME!

Have a great break,

Gil

Stress is always apart of the TEST.....But I will get through!

Hey everyone,

This week is STRESS MANAGEMENT and I can say that I have a lot of stress in my life. Finding the different ways to get through stress is very important! I mean everyone has stress in their life, but it's the simple fact that you do something about your stress. TAKE ACTION AND CHANGE TO THROW THAT STRESS OUT!!! I know that Thanksgiving is coming up and I am happy, but at the end of the day I have to tell myself.........."Karima school is your #1 job and you need to stay focused because this is important." While Thanksgiving is a break for some, I will be doing the work that is due because I want to stay stress free or limit it. But I will still get plenty of relaxation. Well yes school is important for me and maybe not be for others but I try to do my best because it will pay off in the long run. Anyways stress has always been a concern and I have used many different things to relieve my stress. Since I am a musical person, I figured that one way I could relieve my stress is to listen to music. When I listen to music I play songs based on my moods, so if I am going through love stress then I will listen to love songs that have me think about what is going on. I also sing to relieve my stress because when I sing it takes me to a different world just like a dream would. I learned from my girl Monica in her song Still Standing, that  "whatever don't kill ya makes you stronger." I love this song and when I am stressing about school, love, family and etc then I play this song because it motivates me to keep going and to throw my ball of stress out the window. 

QUOTE FOR LIFE:

" If you continue to get what you have always done then you will continue to get what you have always gotten"- Dr. Blumin  

 *I am really telling you that this quote sticks because everyday I think about it.*

 *Learning is apart of our everyday lives so always use L.A.M.E...............

L.A.M.E                             L.A.M.E                       L.A.M.E 

Learner: The way you learn, details shared in the assignments so people can understand the learner.

Action: The strategy that was used and why it was used.

Materials: The work product is, and why the strategy was taken in that course.

Evaluation: What did the learner find wrong and what can the learner do better next time? Also, the professor grade you.

This week I used A DAY AT A TIME  to relieve the stress in my life.

 1.)This a list that I made before bed time. Since I love making list and I seem to get things done from them, then I decided that a list of things I stress about will help me accomplish my goals to be STRESS FREE. 

2.) Then I will cross out items as the stress goes away. Now this is a long process because some of my school work is involved.  But the goal is to get it all done so I won't worry. I chose this strategy because I was stressing out completely I mean I didn't know what to do. The time was coming closer and closer and I just didn't even know where to start. I wanted to get relaxed and stay STRESS FREE. I don't know about you but I hate being stressed out. When I am stressed out I begin to carry so much more problems then I already had. I really wanted it to be over and this week I got so excited because it was STRESS MANAGEMENT. I figured what better way can I not be stressed then to at the least try this strategy. Since I love the whole list thing just like in ranking priorities, I decided to choose this. Now I will continue to write down the things I stress about and cross them off when I don't stress anymore. 

3.) I will keep on doing this until I have NO MORE STRESS!!!!

When I did A DAY AT A TIME the first class that came to my mind was WRT 105. I needed to find another technique in order to get my final essay done. Then I wrote down AAS 207,  I had a research paper due in a couple weeks that is a big part of my grade. Yes I am still nervous, but the best part is knowing what I am stressed about so I can take action. This is exactly what I wanted to see because now it's right in front of me. 

My List:

1.) WRT 105 final essay due on DECEMBER 5th OHHHH NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

2.) AAS 207 research paper is due in a couple of weeks

3.) Not receiving an B + or A+ in AAS 207

4.) Getting into classes I need as well as want

5.) Being tired and not getting enough sleep

6.) Job: my other career to be a flight attendant

My Conclusion: Each day I will break down my assignments in sections to be STRESS FREE because that is the key.   

NOTE: I have crossed out number 5 so far.

Another strategy I used this week was the 5-MINUTE ESCAPE!! This has to deal with BREATHING...... While doing this 5-MINUTE ESCAPE STRATEGY, I began to feel relaxed. All the tension I had building up in my body is now free. I love the exercise and now I will continue to do this. When I did the 5-MINUTE ESCAPE STRATEGY I forget about what I was stressing about which is the key. I closed my eyes and right there I felt relaxed, then I took the five deep breaths. I mean the breaths alone helped me stay focused and fresh. I chose this strategy because I never just take time to breath. I realized that breathing really does change how you feel. I also chose this because it doesn't take much time and you can do it before a test, paper, class and then feel like a new person. No one wants to go into a test stressed, although this does happen. For next semester I will do this when I wake up and even before all y test. Of course I tried this strategy and I love it!!! Since I do physical therapy I find already that the rolling of the shoulders relieves tension. I really love this as well! All these steps allowed me to rejuvenate for sure and this is one of the best strategies. Hey you should try this because it sure did help me. I really needed this in my WRT and AAS classes because I have two major papers due in both. Now before I write my papers I can do this 5-MINUTE ESCAPE. 

Steps: 
1.) I closed my eyes
2.) Then took five deep breaths, SLOWLY
3.)  I rotated my shoulders in a circular motion, five times backwards and forward. 
4.) I massaged my temples in a circular motion for 30 seconds. My Jaw as well.
5.) I dropped my chin on my chest five times. and etc.
There are more steps but you get my point. Just staying them makes me feel relaxed.     

I am STRESS FREE!!!!!!!

P.S. See you all in a week and remember to do your work and manage to have fun at the same time. Anything us possible if you just believe. Live each day like it's your last because stressing isn't worth it. Eat a lot of turkey!!!!  

*Think to yourself why stress? God wouldn't want us to, so just limit your stress and everything will be golden.* 

                                               

http://www.zwani.com/

Love, Queen

Stress and Pie!

I don’t know about all of you, but I have a lot of stress in my life! While a lot of it is out of my control, I still have to learn how to manage it! Thanksgiving break is coming up (I’m leaving TOMORROW!!!) and I’m so excited to chill out for TEN days and relax with my friends and family. The strategy I’m going to use today is a Stress Diagram. Because I’m a visual learner, the diagram is really helpful in viewing what makes you stressed out. First, you write down a list of what makes you stressed. Then you create a pie chart (let’s be honest, I picked this strategy because it involves pie…) and separate the given amount with the amount of stress you have! Here are my top five stresses:

1.     Culinary school/not knowing about next semester

2.     Getting the best schedule possible (if I stay at Syracuse)

3.     Writing my WRT 105 essay

4.     Psych 205 study guide!!

5.     Final exams!

As you can see, culinary school is definitely the biggest stress of all. Hopefully I’ll find out soon! The chart really helps you realize what are main stress factors and it starts the process of thinking about what you can do to change your life (in terms of stress) ! In addition to creating this chart, what really helps me day to day is doing activities that I enjoy. For example, when I need a break from work or just from daily life, I read recipe blogs and watch Netflix (I recommend Jack & Bobby, Felicity, or if you really need to not think, Keeping Up with the Kardashians is the best).  Drinking tea also helps calm me down, or just venting to friends!! I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve called up my friends and told them my life story! Haha! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving involves LOTS of family, food and love.  

-Hannah :) 

Procrastination!

Hello blog world! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and weekend (especially the 70 degrees on Wednesday!!!) I must say, very little time was spent on homework that day while my friend and I sat on the quad for hours enjoying every second of the warm weather. (we knew it couldn’t last long with the snow storm on Friday!) Since Thanksgiving break is SO soon (I leave on Thursday….YAY!!!),  I’ve been having a hard time with motivation, resulting in procrastination. While I don’t have any big projects right now, the small homework assignments are getting in the way of my Facebook time…maybe it’s the other way around?! I decided to use TWO strategies to help with me the procrastination issue! The first is Time Wasters! As a visual learner, you get to make a list and see what your excuse is for not doing work and for which subject! On the left you write the excuse and the right is the translation (or which subject you’re failing to do). 

Excuse	Translation
Facebook Television Recipe Blogs Video Chatting	Spanish 101- homework PSY 205- study guide

I realized that I tend to go on Facebook and watch tv when I don’t want to do my Spanish homework and I video chat when I want to create my study guides. After realizing this, I put time limits on surfing the Internet and talking to friends! I definitely have to remind myself that the homework is important, but so far, it has been working! I never thought about how I turn to a different method of procrastination for each subject!

The next strategy I used was the 24-hour rule. I made a list (yay visual learners!) of all things that were due last week and made everything due 24 hours before it actually was! This was SO helpful because I actually accomplished everything a head of time, without stressing about not doing it. I said my SPA 101 homework was due Wednesday instead of Thursday and my WRT 105 homework was due Friday, not Monday!  I definitely recommend this to anyone having issues finishing their homework.

Good Luck,

Hannah :)

Distractions, distractions go away come again another day!

Why can’t you just get your work done?! Ever feel like that? I know I do. Those are called Time Wasters, they obviously support procrastination, but they are the little or big activities that you take part in doing instead of what you are really supposed to be doing. Take me for instants, my time wasters are texting, facebook, email, snacks, online shopping, fatigue, and more. I’m sure you have many in the bag as well that you feel like never go away, well this strategy is here to help! This strategy makes you think about it, write it down, so that you visually (for all you visual learners!) see what you are doing and what you need to do, which will give you that push to get your work done. To do this is much more simple then time wasters actually are, all you need to do is make two columns, on the left simply write down your personal time wasters and on the right column next to each waster, describe the task you were avoiding.

Ask yourself, why do you procrastinate? Now ask yourself, why do you REALLY procrastinate? Different answers weren’t they? That’s because you are making an excuse and not confronting your real reason for procrastination. This next strategy called Excuse Busting is to help understand the excuses that you make for procrastinating. This strategy just like the first one again allows you to think, write down, and visually see your problems going on. So again, two columns, on the left write down your excuses you are using to procrastinate, make sure to reread those excuses, and then on the right write the REAL reason to why you are procrastinating. Try it and you'll see!

Procrastination is something that always seems to sneak back up on you in some form or another, that is why these strategies are so good to reuse so always keep these strategies with you!!

Who doesn't procrastinate in life sometimes?

Hello everyone!

This week’s challenge is Procrastination!!!!

Who doesn’t like to procrastinate? Everyone does it probably even teachers and professors. I wouldn’t deny it.

I try to procrastinate when I can but sometimes it just happens and I’ll end up doing homework in a hurry that’s due for the next day. Or maybe even study or review for a quiz or an exam.

So, to help both you and I, let’s take a look at some of the anti-procrastination strategies found in Dr. Blumin’s book “It’s All About Choices” page 246.

The first one I tried is called Time Waster.

The point of this strategy is to figure out the activities that distract you from doing your studying or homework.

Procrastination is about consequences!

Simply, identify the time wasters and the task that was being avoided.

These are my time wasters:

My Time Wasters --------------------------Task I was avoiding

Wasting time on Facebook Reading for PSC 121 or ETS 107

Socializing Homework like the TECH assignment

Over-sleeping Reading for ETS 107

Texting friends Reading for PSC 121

Interruptions (dorm mates) No task avoided

So, as you can tell I always try to avoid reading. Then at last minute I start to read and I don’t finish. This I have to fix maybe by trying out the 10-Minute Technique.

As soon as I started reading the book “Black Dog of Fate” for this Wednesday for my ETS 107 course I timed myself 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes ended I put another 10 minutes until I got to the page 50 of the book. That was last night and I’m already in part II of the book. To refresh my memory at the end of each chapter I wrote down a summary. This 10-Minute Technique has been most helpful in terms of being able to finish my assignments on time and faster.

Summary in terms of LAME:

Learner- Visual learner so I like things organized and nicely visually represented. You can tell by the colors I used in the first strategy. The 10-minute technique is a nice way to stay organized with time.

Action- Well what I’ve been doing with these strategies, as I mentioned before.

Materials- The first strategy allowed my eyes to see what’s been stopping me from doing my work and the second strategy has helped me take on this challenge of reading so much.

Evaluation- With the first strategy I already know what’s going on that’s wrong which procrastinating about reading and I’ve figured it out that if I used the 10-Minute Technique it will most definitely help me! J

Hope you all enjoyed and try these two new strategies!

Take care and have a great week and Thanksgiving break (going home in 4 days back to Puerto Rico!!!),

Gil

My ways for Anti-Procrastination.......

Hey,
I had a great week as well as weekend and the weather was so beautiful. I can't believe my first semester of my freshman year is almost over. I learned so much in CLS with all the different strategies that I will carry with me for the rest of college. I am so glad I took this class to prepare me for the future and trying new things in life. I use this quote daily by Dr. Blumin, "If you continue to do what you have always done then you will continue to get what you have always gotten." Please don't you ever forget this quote because I am telling you that it helps in every possible way. This quote is so true because each week I continue to use it and I get positive outcomes from this quote. College is full of many opportunities and fun, but managing time needs to be on the list because it is so hard to put things off. When it comes to learning L.A.M.E should always been in your vocabulary. 
Remember to use L.A.M.E........and you will be gold because your more aware of learning.......................

Learner: The details that are shared in the assignment so you know what kind of learner you are.

Action: The strategy that was used and why it was used to help you learn.

Materials: The work product used and why the strategy was taken in that particular course.

Evaluation: How you evaluated and what could change and adapt to make learning more relevant. How the professor evaluates you as a learner.

*Procrastination is about consequences*

One strategy I chose was TIME WASTERS, This allowed me to see what's in front of me that allowed me to waste my valuable time. I needed to get my readings done in WRT 105 to help me with my final essay. Yes, I read but I also procrastinated while doing my readings this week. I am a person that likes to procrastinate and things are easy to distract me. So TIME WASTERS really allowed me to see what really got in my way and made me be real with myself to what I needed to get done for WRT 105. I don't want to sit there and read so yes that is why I procrastinate. I chose TIME WASTERS because it showed me all these important things that made me not want to do my reading for WRT. WRT is really important so therefore TIME WASTERS helped me see what I was doing and then it allowed me to give options in order to avoid the tasks. I had to adapt to this because I never sat down and looked at what I needed to do in order to get my WRT weekly reading done.

My Time Wasters:                                                                                 

1.) Texting                                             

2.) Laying down while studying       

3.) Noise and Interruptions 

4.) Television 

5.) Facebook 

Avoided Task (s):   

1.) When I read for my WRT class I tend to text all the time which makes the reading take so long. By that time I don't feel like doing the reading assignment. In order to change my bad habits I will put my phone on silent and flip it over so I can't see the phone. 

2.) Doing research for AAS 207 class. I will always make up the excuse for being tired and place other things in front of time. I will make a fitter time and see how that goes just for that class.

3.) When I try to write my essay for WRT . I was trying not to do it the same night that I received it for homework. I will study in a quite place and make sure no one distracts me.

4.) When I have to read for WRT in my Writing Analytically book I waste time. I don't like this book because sometimes it's hard to understand. I will highlight more of the key points for this reading book and use time 10-Minute Technique.

5.) I go on Facebook when I am supposed to be reading for WRT now. I feel that it just takes to much of my study time up. From now on I will put my Ipod on the charger and keep it far away from me as possible.

* With this strategy I made a list of all my time wasters, then I made another list to describe the task I was avoiding and how I will change it. My conclusions about tasks that causes me to waste time is all my electronics.

While I read for WRT in my critical encounters book, I used the 10-minute Technique. This strategy was used because when I read I tend to get bored, tired, and distracted. I needed a way to keep on going with my readings and something to motivate me. I chose the 10-MINUTE TECHNIQUE  because it broke down my readings and allowed me to have breaks to keep me from falling asleep. This strategy forced me to get my task done and by the time you know it I was all done. It took so much stress off my shoulders because I had other important classes. I read until my timer went off for 10 minutes then I took a break, then I kept repeating the 10-minute technique and I finally reached my goal. 

Directions for the 10- minute technique: 

1.)Focus on the highest-priority task that you have been putting off.

2.) Decide on a day and time that you will spend for completing your task.

3.) Then use the 10-minute technique on the task

4.) Work on the task for no more than 10 minutes. Then keep on setting times to get the task done and repeat.

5.) Do this until you complete

This is what I have done for the 10-minute technique and it really did help me.

24 HOUR RULE:

Since I have to hand in my reflection for essay 2 in WRT for Monday I used the 24 HOUR RULE. Oh yes this really helped me focus on what needed to be done. I created my deadline, which is for Monday. Step one is already done. Yay...... Now I set a time for me to get this typed out, which was Wednesday and I broke it up until Friday. Yes I finished my task on Friday and I was able to feel so good and not overwhelmed since I am a big procrastinator. I remembered that this week is ANTI-PROCRASTINATION week and I needed to continue to change some of my bad habits. Yes I played the mind game and it worked so I know that I will use the strategy more ofter because it relieves the stress.  

Hope your week is great see you Monday......