Are you intellectually curious?
Do your studies relate to something you are passionate about or a higher purpose that you believe in?
Are you hobbled by procrastination?
Ken Bain explores these issues in his 2012 book “What the Best College Students Do.” He integrates “academic research on learning and motivation with insights drawn from interviews with people who have won Nobel Prizes, Emmys, fame, or the admiration of people in their field.”
“Intrinsically motivated by their own sense of purpose, they were not demoralized by failure nor overly impressed with conventional notions of success. These movers and shakers didn’t achieve success by making success their goal. For them, it was a byproduct of following their intellectual curiosity, solving useful problems, and taking risks in order to learn and grow.”
On the topic of procrastination: “Common wisdom holds that to break the grip of procrastination we must condemn it in ourselves, rebuking the habit like a stern taskmaster. Yet studies.…conducted complement an important theme…forgive yourself.” A study found that “undergraduate psychology students who forgave themselves for putting off their studies on the first examination were less likely to procrastinate on the second exam than those who beat themselves up over their earlier misdeeds. As Kristin Neff has suggested in her concept of self-comfort, forgiveness implies confronting bad behavior, understanding that humans tend to procrastinate and mindfully searching for ways to overcome it without condemning yourself as a bad person. We found that our best students followed a similar pattern in their thinking. They didn’t judge their earlier performances but instead focused on what they needed to do to improve.”
Above quotes are from the text and Amazon review
Some things to know about the Learning Assistance Center:
Want to explore your approach and level of engagement with your academics? Come by the Learning Assistance Center(LAC) or call Wende at 336-758-5929 for an appointment with one of our graduate assistants to participate in Academic Counseling/Coaching.
Want to go deeper on the content for a certain course? Come by the LAC and sign up for a Peer tutor.
Already doing well in your classes and major but would like to deepen your own grasp of your knowledge by conveying it to others? Come by the LAC or email Donalee White at whitedg@wfu.edu to become a Peer Tutor. Pay starts at $8.50 per hour and you can earn certification from the College Reading and Learning Association.
Student comments:
[My Tutor] was so helpful and patient with me! She knew the material well and was excellent at teaching it to me and coming up with problems for me to practice. Even when I got the right answer, she always asked me to explain myself which helped me learn the material more and figure out what I needed to work on. She was always on time and prepared. I would definitely recommend her as a tutor for Econ 150 in the future! DOUBLE THUMBS UP 🙂
Academic Counseling feedback:
The weekly “check-ups” with my counselor really have helped me to stay on top of my work this semester. He has helped me a great deal with my time management as well as my study habits. He referred me to my Spanish tutor which has worked out wonderfully. I feel that what could have been a horrible semester went much more smoothly because of my work with the LAC.
Contact LAC:
PHONE
336.758.5929
EMAIL
walkerwa@wfu.edu
LOCATION
117 Reynolda Hall