Moving Forward

  My name is Ana Alvarado and I'm the youngest of two older sisters. Being the youngest can be tiring sometimes. Wether I'm 19 or 25 years old, I feel like I will always be treated as a baby. Sometimes they expect to much from me. Then I can't complain because it motivates me to do much better in life. Monica, who is my sister, is a gym rat. She motivated me about a year ago to do a fitness challenge. That challenge completely turned my life around. Not only did I learn how to lift weights, but I learned how bad certain foods are. Everyday I look forward to working out and when I can't workout I feel bad. Don't get me wrong I have my ups and downs. There is days where I don't feel motivated at all. I only slow down my own progress. Yes, I have a long way to go, in order to accomplish my goals in my fitness journey. However, working out has made me both physically and mentally strong. I've learned many things, so I won't be giving up. Going to the gym or working out in my garage have brought me tons of positivity into my life. I was always a negative person through out my entire high school career. I lost many great opportunities to enjoy high school. I made myself think everything was awf
ul and a nightmare. Now its different, college is tough, but I'll be making the the best of it. In college improving studying skills and learning to manage time will lead us to a successful life.

  Improving studying skills has to be one of the most beneficial tools to succeed in college. The book Ten Skills You Really Need To Succeed In School by John Langan gives a few tips to improve studying habits. One of the tips is to get your body involved during the process of studying. Don't slouch or lay down while trying to study. It will only tell the body to stay unfocused. Go sit down upright in a chair or go study while walking. As long as there is a small tension in the muscles it will help to stay focused. For instance, I used to lay down in my bed when I was going to study. Laying down in bed never helped me stay focused. I would get sleepy and end up falling asleep. I changed the way I studied when I got a low C on my first math test. I decided that before my second math test I would try to study with the tip the book gave me. I did stay focused during my study session and got a better grade on my second test. This time I got a better grade and I knew all the problems except for about two. My point is that this time I felt more confident with the way I studied.

 In addition, learning to mange time is another skill necessary to stay organized. During my senior year I became one of the biggest procrastinators. Procrastinating became a habit and to this day I still am. However, I have improved on managing my time. Habits take time to get rid of. Its our job as students to check when homework is due or what is coming up. I remember the second week of school my English 82 teacher said, "take out your homework." My classmates and I were confused. We obviously did not check the syllabus. Little mistakes that have helped me realize I have useful resources right in front of me. Also, Langan gave a useful tip to manage time. Have an agenda or a large monthly calendar. I found this tip helpful because when I wrote all my assignments in my agenda I started doing them on time. For example, my math 80 class has all the assignments online and when there was an assignment due the next day I would start on it after I was done with the previous. Helped me manage my time to do other assignments. Managing my time helped me be less stressed out.