This semester has been a mix of getting ahead and falling behind. At the start of the semester, I felt very ready and prepared for everything that could come my way as well as motivated to stay on top of everything, but as the semester went on, it got harder and harder to keep up. Overall, I think I did pretty good in terms of staying in top of my work, but one assignment I could never seem to stay on top of was the TalkAbroad. I always accidentally left it until the last minute and even did one late. It got really challenging towards the end of the semester when my motivation started to dwindle, but I still had assignments due. In order to complete anything despite having no motivation, I had to take each task and break it down into bite-sized pieces and focus on just completing one piece at a time. For example, in writing the outline for the writing project, I was struggling to get through it when I sat down to try and do it all at once, so I took each block (1, 2, 3, etc.) and made a goal of just finishing that one block and then focusing on something else for a while. This helped me get it done since this big task of writing the outline was turned into multiple tiny, manageable tasks that helped give instant gratification (and seratonin) which turned into motivation. I ended up having to do the same thing when translating the outline into Japanese. I had to take it box by box (D1, D2, D3, etc.) in order to get myself through the assignment without overwhelming myself. Another thing I did to help keep myself from getting too overwhelmed was making an editable calendar just for my assignments to help me keep track of what was due and when, along with how much time I had to do each assignment relative to others. I know that in the future, I’m going to have more situations where I don’t have any motivation, but will need to get tasks done. For example, if I take the automechanics apprenticeship route after college, I’ll start to learn which tasks I like and don’t like; however, even if I find the task tedious, I still have to do it or I risk the customer’s life and wellbeing. I think the skill of completing a task despite no motivation to do so will be something I work on throughout my life, especially as my mental health, interests, and life all change as time goes on.
Outline Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KUCB_0NFphpene2aWuvraeCwrIf_OxiTfJi7Y2TT5sQ/edit?usp=sharing
First Draft Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1of4npy9fFdl3qqYCprpqgv2G42-tqegxVGZI8mggJgk/edit?usp=sharing