Small Changes For The Greater Good

            My main objective for this project was very simple- I wanted to increase my grades to a B- average in my business core classes. There are several things that can be addressed within my day-to-day routines to help achieve this goal. I chose three that could be documented, and have been keeping track of them over time. The three major ideas were to improve study conditions, improve overall mood, and keep track of grades.

            The book I chose was called “How to Win at College” by Cal Newport. This book is a great read for any student, and includes many small tips and tricks for anyone to try. The best part is that each tip has a minimal amount of reading accompanying it. The author did a great job of keeping everything straightforward and to the point, so that the reader stays engaged.

Some tips in the book that stood out to me were:

• Always study in 50 minute chunks
• Take good notes
• Bad grades happen
• Laugh Every Day (improve overall mood)
• Make friends a priority
• Always go to class

These are just some examples; all of which I have tried to incorporate into my life in some way.

The main foundation for making my goal a reality was setting myself up with good study habits. As such, I needed to make sure that I had good, solid, quiet places to study and practice to prepare for quizzes and exams. In this course, we learned that avoiding distractions is crucial. I have been trying to study in the library when possible, or other similar quiet places. I have been taking pictures of my study spaces over the past few weeks. Here is an example of a study space at the SEL; I was studying for an operations midterm.

Over the course of this journey, I have applied a concept from the book that the author pushes hard- don’t study in your room, study at the library instead. I have been doing just that, and I feel that this is takeaway number one. This is something rather crucial that I have been overlooking since I have started college.

Why is your study space important? I have found that just by taking away distractions, my productivity has skyrocketed, and I can get more done in a smaller period of time. In the past, I have told myself that I will study or complete an assignment when I get home. Unfortunately, once I get home, other things take priority, and that assignment gets pushed to the next day (or worse, 11pm when the assignment is due at midnight!) Studying and doing homework at home is also not a good idea for the simple reason that there are more distractions. You may begin thinking about the laundry that you should be starting, cooking dinner, or simply feeling like quitting early so you can watch a movie.

The next thing I have been doing is tracking my mood. I went into this project not wanting to stress myself out too much. I know that by introducing lots of new changes and additional obligations into my life, I can become very frustrated. I decided to address this by keeping tabs on my mood via a mood tracking app called Daylio. Here is a screenshot from the app that I’ve been using.

(Legend: Orange = “rad”, Green = “good”, Purple = “meh”, Blue = “bad”, Gray = “awful”)

On this app, I kept track of my mood on a daily basis over the course of three weeks. As you can see, my mood was recorded as “meh” for many days, with a few “good” days sprinkled in. Towards the end of the 3 weeks, you may notice that my mood started to decline slightly more into the “bad” and sometimes “awful” category.

Why is this? I attribute it to a couple of things. First, the weather that we experience here in the northern US is simply awful during this time of year. This is something that cannot be controlled when your location is The Ohio State University. The other factor I feel is stress. One of my stressors is the fact that I have been working more in recent time. In addition, focusing time and effort into a “structured studying” system has the potential to add a bit of undue stress into one’s life. In a way, it can feel like an additional obligation on top of the assignment that you need to complete! While it can produce results over the long run, it is important to be mindful of keeping yourself in a stable state of mind while trying out these new strategies.

My overall recommendation and takeaway in regards to this subject is to keep everything in moderation! Doing too much, or too little, of a certain thing can be detrimental. Too much drinking, not enough sleep, not enough exercise, too much socializing, not enough socializing, these things can all be bad for your overall mood.

The author of my book stressed the point of making friends a priority. I’ll admit, I haven’t been following this principle as well as I’d like to. Between work, classes, studying, commuting, and other factors (such as gym time), you have to work in some time for yourself to relax as well. But, I feel that if you keep your social life a priority, you will improve your overall mood and improve other aspects of your life. But, again, you can just as easily make this a detriment by spending too much time partying, for example.

The only way to keep track of how I am doing is by evaluating my grades over time via Carmen. Here is a snapshot of some of my grades over an approximate one month timespan.

Class 1

Class 2

            Class 3

            I am taking three business core classes this semester. The classes are Operations Management, Business Analytics, and Intro to Risk Management (screenshots one, two, and three, respectively.) As you can see, over this approximate one-month timespan, my grades have mostly been on the upswing. In the case of the third screenshot, my grades have remained mostly flat and still have room for improvement. Of course, 3-4 weeks is not a large sample size. However, I find my grades to be satisfactory (especially in the first two classes) over this period of time.

            My tip for this section is to keep an eye on your grades and, as soon as you start to notice more than one bad grade in a row, reach out to the professor or a TA for help. One bad grade every now and then isn’t unusual (tip from the book), but noticing a negative trend is crucial. The longer you wait to address the problem, the more difficulty you will have catching up.

            As of today, my grades in the three classes are: 82%, 81.8%, and 70%, bringing my average among the three to 78%. By this measurement, I am at a C+, very close to meeting my goal of a B-. My goal is definitely within reach by the end of finals.

Introducing new things into your daily routine can be daunting, and also may not seem like a great idea at first. I feel that these concepts have had an overall positive effect on my college life. The book I chose had many, many ideas and tips to share, so I had to narrow down the ones that I wanted to give a try. In addition to the tips shared above, another crucial tip is to always go to class. Skipping class is another thing that I have been avoiding as a result of reading this book. If you don’t go to the lecture, you will not have all of the material to study, even if you pick a perfect study space in the library and have a 10/10 mood!

In my case, my grades are currently on the upswing, so I would consider it a success.

The small things that I felt were useful:

• Control
  your study space into one that is quiet and productive
• Keep
  your mood in a healthy place: don’t isolate yourself, but don’t spend too much
  time on others
• Monitor
  your grades over the long haul- occasional bad grades happen, but reach out for
  help if you notice yourself slipping

One more thing from the book that I feel worth mentioning is to get involved with the university somehow. You can do this by joining clubs, student organizations, student government, an on-campus job, etc. I feel that this is one more way to immerse yourself into the campus community, and feel like you belong there.

Doing all of these small things can create an overall positive experience, and this effort will likely be reflected in your grades in due time.