Rest and Relaxation: The Perks of Being Motivated

This week was a little more than hectic. I had tw

o MAJOR exams Tuesday and Wednesday and I had kinda flaked on the studying until Sunday. Instead of freaking out like I would normally do, I put most of the methods I used in my Exam Experiment to use and buckled down through Wednesday at 8 am.

In class on Wednesday we learned about the motivated peer. The motivated peer is one who is optimistic, focuses on the process of learning, persistent, a risk-taker, and someone who believes that effort pays off. Just by looking at the list I knew I qualified as the motivated peer.

That being said, every motivated peer needs rewards. I'm not promoting all play, no work, although that does sounds nice I'm just suggesting that there's something to be said for working hard first and then partying.

So, during my IC this week I met with Wendy and we discussed what I had done during the week that I felt motivated to do. I studied for PSY205 and COM 107 from Sunday at around 2 pm through Wednesday at 8 am. I organized my notes and such from each class. After that I went through each study guide that I had and made sure I knew all of the terms. After familiarizing myself with each course I went back and tested myself on the connections between the terms. As I walked into each exam I was confident and sure that I was well prepared. Walking out of the exams I couldn't believe how relieved I felt. It was reassuring to know that the methods I had tried for the Exam Experiment (because I had to) really worked.

After completing all of that, I decided that I deserved a reward. Now, for homework we had to make a list of no, low and high cost rewards. As a college student and a person who mostly relies on internal motivation, the high cost rewards are out of the picture unless my mom surprises me. That being said, I have a lot of no and low cost rewards that I really like. After three days of intense studying, I felt that a night off from doing work was an appropriate reward. So, Wednesday night after CFS 388, I went back to my dorm, hung out with some friends for a little bit and then watched The Real World and went to sleep early. I realize that's not the most exciting night, but it was a good reward for me at the time.

After seeing how much my motivation pays off and the fun rewards I have for it, I will definitely use the same strategies as finals approach.