Discussion Forum > Feedback for Motivation
Hi Cricket
Many students have never participated in study groups or study skills workshops. My friends and I were very committed to learning. Some took the route you mentioned. Many more did not. People learn in different ways. As you say, it's commitment what's the real driving force. There are no rules about how one supports their commitments and realize their goals. I never, ever had anybody help me with my homework. I worked it all out for myself. Although I tutored many, many students, I'd never want to learn and study in that manner. I prefer learning alone.
Those study workshops are geared toward linear thinkers. That would be detrimental and frustrating for me. Many people are not linear processors yet most school systems curricula are most definitely geared toward linear thinking.
Most productivity systems are geared the same way. That's why Mark's approach is such a Godsend to those of us who are decidedly not linear thinkers (as well as those who are linear thinkers/learners.) Mark is the FIRST and ONLY productivity expert I've ever read about who understands the challenges of resistance yet he's also expert in the normal systems approaches.
re: commitment. Mark explains the power of commitment vs interest. He also explains that commitment provides the juice behind the determination needed to complete your WILL DO list.
Mark is spot on about all the important principles used not only for productivity but also for leading a good life.
Many students have never participated in study groups or study skills workshops. My friends and I were very committed to learning. Some took the route you mentioned. Many more did not. People learn in different ways. As you say, it's commitment what's the real driving force. There are no rules about how one supports their commitments and realize their goals. I never, ever had anybody help me with my homework. I worked it all out for myself. Although I tutored many, many students, I'd never want to learn and study in that manner. I prefer learning alone.
Those study workshops are geared toward linear thinkers. That would be detrimental and frustrating for me. Many people are not linear processors yet most school systems curricula are most definitely geared toward linear thinking.
Most productivity systems are geared the same way. That's why Mark's approach is such a Godsend to those of us who are decidedly not linear thinkers (as well as those who are linear thinkers/learners.) Mark is the FIRST and ONLY productivity expert I've ever read about who understands the challenges of resistance yet he's also expert in the normal systems approaches.
re: commitment. Mark explains the power of commitment vs interest. He also explains that commitment provides the juice behind the determination needed to complete your WILL DO list.
Mark is spot on about all the important principles used not only for productivity but also for leading a good life.
September 9, 2013 at 15:29 |
Learning as I go
Learning as I go
Learning,
It looks like I didn't make the point clearly. I didn't mean to say everyone had to study exactly as the study workshops teach. You and your friends figured it out on your own, and probably had a variety of methods, so you had the right tool for each situation. That's what I did, and the time spent building that toolbox has paid off many times over. The only study groups that ever worked for me were very small, and all we did was encourage each other to keep working and help when asked.
A good study skills workshop will cover several different methods efficiently. A bad workshop will make things worse by teaching only the method that works for the instructor.
I found, at least in my implementations, that with list-based approaches it was too easy to look at the individual tasks and see neither the goal nor the urgency, even though Mark is quite clear that the project with the longest deadline is probably the most urgent. I still use his methods on the lists I do have, especially the day and week lists, and as my big collection system, but not during my monthly/seasonal review.
You might be right about me being linear. Until a few minutes ago I would have disagreed, then I actually thought about my projects. I make good progress when there's an optimum sequence. It can fork and loop-back, but overall that optimum-ness keeps me focused. And maybe it can't loop-back. I just add each a duplicate of each step to the sequence. Maybe my success in non-linear situations is because I can usually find a line that works. The project that I resist most resists lines. It's just an amorphous bunch of recurring tasks with no optimum order. Something to consider. If that's true, I should either find a way to overlay a line, or learn to work with its non-linear nature. Food for thought.
It looks like I didn't make the point clearly. I didn't mean to say everyone had to study exactly as the study workshops teach. You and your friends figured it out on your own, and probably had a variety of methods, so you had the right tool for each situation. That's what I did, and the time spent building that toolbox has paid off many times over. The only study groups that ever worked for me were very small, and all we did was encourage each other to keep working and help when asked.
A good study skills workshop will cover several different methods efficiently. A bad workshop will make things worse by teaching only the method that works for the instructor.
I found, at least in my implementations, that with list-based approaches it was too easy to look at the individual tasks and see neither the goal nor the urgency, even though Mark is quite clear that the project with the longest deadline is probably the most urgent. I still use his methods on the lists I do have, especially the day and week lists, and as my big collection system, but not during my monthly/seasonal review.
You might be right about me being linear. Until a few minutes ago I would have disagreed, then I actually thought about my projects. I make good progress when there's an optimum sequence. It can fork and loop-back, but overall that optimum-ness keeps me focused. And maybe it can't loop-back. I just add each a duplicate of each step to the sequence. Maybe my success in non-linear situations is because I can usually find a line that works. The project that I resist most resists lines. It's just an amorphous bunch of recurring tasks with no optimum order. Something to consider. If that's true, I should either find a way to overlay a line, or learn to work with its non-linear nature. Food for thought.
September 9, 2013 at 20:09 |
Cricket
Cricket
http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2013/09/08/which-kind-of-feedback-is-best/
In short, feedback is more motivating if it says you are committed, but haven't made much progress.
If you feel you have made progress, or that you aren't really committed, you tend to slack off.
Part of this makes sense to me. Telling me again and again that if I actually cared, I'd try harder just frustrates me. I've seen people work harder and harder when told they're committed.
The article uses the examples of math tests and dieting. A dieter who says, "That breakfast proves I'm committed to this diet" is more likely eat a healthy lunch than one who says, "Wow, I just cut 300 calories out of the day."
On the other hand, I think this is only part of the story. Focusing on the commitment doesn't help you learn more efficient and effective methods. We need to add "commitment to learning good methods". We've all seen students who are committed enough to spend all-nighters staring at the text before the exam, but not committed enough to find and attend a single study-skills workshop and experiment with other methods early in the term.
That's another reason I like to focus on the goal and the current step, rather than a long inter-mixed list of steps from various projects or all the steps in the current project. In order to do that, I need to be confident that following the schedule will make this goal happen, and won't interfere with meeting other goals.