Words of Wisdom
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Work
by Freyr Wang
With more and more tools helping you to be able to complete tasks coming out it only makes sense that you should be able to complete your tasks quicker and more efficiently. However, it only seems as though the opposite is happening, as more and more students are turning in assignments late. Missing assignments are also no joke, they can severely impact your overall grade. A recent study with public middle school students showed supporting numbers. Students with no missing assignments (having every assignment turned in), had an average grade of 90.1% in a semester. However, when the student has 3 missing assignments, the grade drops to 78.1%. Just a three assignment difference drops the student’s grade by over a whole letter. So why do students do this? Just a 3 assignment difference which can severely impact the grade? Seems like a no-brainer to anybody. So what really is the reason behind all of this? Procrastination. In a survey involving high school students, over 87% of them admitted to procrastinating in their assignments. Procrastination is clearly an extremely popular bad habit that most students have. So why don’t students change it? Why can’t they just stop?
When it comes to students, most of them do extracurricular activities. Such as clubs, sports and hobbies. Having tons of classes and tons of work on their to-do list seems overwhelming to many. A simple “I’ll do it later” and playing games or lightening themselves with an easier task is what almost all students resort to doing. So in what ways can we solve this? Some common strategies are to keep rewarding themselves with good things after work. For example, “after I finish this assignment I will…”. Another thing students can do is to keep telling themselves “all I need to do is just 5 more minutes”. This strongly motivates them and keeps them moving knowing a short time is left.
Many personal preferences can be made as they can come up with their own strategies. Overall extra support decreases stress a lot. Tutoring, support and help is a huge benefit to most people. A good role model and strong representation can be helped to motivate students further. Students can be extremely competitive, striving to be someone that is better than them and hoping to be up there one day. Ultimately, procrastination is a struggle a majority of students face, but it’s one they can overcome. With small steps, reliable support, and a willingness to change, students can become more focused and create strong habits that lead to success in school and in their lives.
Awareness
by Freyr Wang
The advice this week is to take some time to pause and use your sense of awareness and appreciation for the little things in life. If you’re like me, you lead a busy life with commitments, deadlines, and routines, which can all be very stressful! However, when we intentionally take a moment to stop and observe what is around us, we find that this can help others, our mental health and make you realize the beautiful world around us.
A reason to do this is to understand the world around us and how lucky we are in the place we are. Seeing things might make you happy. For example, sunlight, laughter, and kindness. Seeing good things like these makes us more likely to do better things. We can also zoom out and accept how fortunate we are to live in this gorgeous world around us.
More benefits start flowing in from here. The ability to listen in and really interact with the environment can improve your well-being by miles. Being just a little bit more attentive can help you listen in on maybe a car speeding down the road, rain falling on hard concrete or birds flapping at each other. Realizing the amazing world we live in can help with mental health and can bring joy in yourself.
Finally, doing this helps you to zoom out and see other perspectives of life. This can not just help you, but also others. Recognizing other people’s surroundings and their current state is much better than staying dug in your own personal cave. This increases the chances for you to be more sociable. Whether it's sparking up a conversation with a stranger or helping an old lady cross the street, this allows you to thrive in your social situations. Practicing this can allow you to become more likeable and easier to talk to.
So, I want you all to practice and maybe unlock this skill this week. Paying attention to the little things in life. Whether it's your surroundings, or your background or even another person, doing this can help you become more kind, attentive, sociable, helpful, patient and remove stress. Have a great week everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read this week’s advice!