Success Plan

Running Head: My Success Plan UNIV100-3104B-13 Colorado Technical University For: Professor Bryant Neal Phase 5 IP By: Amber Light Date: 12/19/2011 Abstract Finding a plan is a fundamental key to college success. What works for me might not necessarily work for the next person. This will require me to know myself and my learning capabilities. The following paper will guide me to my overall plan to succeed in college. I will be able to realize my strengths and weakness, along with recognizing obstacles that will come up that may create barriers for me to complete the task at hand. While I know that the road to success is not easy and curves will be thrown my way, having a solution to those curves will straighten the road again, making it only that much easier to see that the end is near. By knowing these things in advance it will only better my odds of achieving my short and long term goals that I will set. Success Strategy Plan Step 1: Student Success Strategies Choosing to attend college means that you are choosing to make a commitment, being a college student is a full time job. Between assignment deadlines, posting on discussion boards, listening/taking part in live chats, or reading your weekly chapters you can imagine the stress loads start piling up; but especially if you already have a busy schedule. I am a full time single mother. I have an amazing three year old, that I live for and I will die for. He is my inspiration and motivation all wrapped up in one. While he will help me through my journey (because I want to be a better person for him, and having an education leads to being a better person), he will also always come first to a higher learning. Having a strong motivation is of utmost importance to finding a reason to succeed in college. My motivation is simple, I stare at him every minute I can. On top of attending school and raising a child, I am also employed full time as a customer service manager at a local grocery store. While my attentions are to scale down on the number of hours I work, I also am getting called weekly to help fill other shifts. As a result, I have had to learn to deal with managing my time more effectively. One of the things I found was that with an increased amount of things biding for my time, I tend to forget a lot of them unless I write them down. If I don’t write down what I need to do, I almost certainly forget. Thus, owning and using a planner is probably the best way to manage one’s time. I have also found that there are just too many things going on in my life to possibly do everything (i. e. family events, outings with friends). Therefore, it is important to be able to say â€Å"no,† and not over-commit myself. Remembering that studying is a top priority, and sticking to making school work higher on the â€Å"to-do† list than all the fun things I could be doing instead is extremely difficult. Making school a priority and structuring other activities around that will almost inevitably equate to a higher GPA, more success, and a richer, more rewarding time in college. Of course, I also need to remember that having fun is important to staying healthy. All work with no play leads to burnout, not necessarily success. Therefore, I will plan to have one day a week where my plan will involve nothing to do with work or school. I can concentrate on having a good day with my most amazing son. By incorporating these strategies into my life I am assured to reach my long term goal of finishing school and obtaining that all important piece of paper; a degree. Motivation is the key factor in the success of anything. If you aren’t motivated, you seriously need to ask yourself why you are going through the stresses of completing it. Once you have found a motivation, managing your time effectively becomes crucial to your success. Successful time management means you’re able to incorporate all of the tasks you are tackling, while doing it to the best of your ability. After finding the best possible way to manage my time, it is necessary for me to have some fun. This is not only for my sanity, but also for the pleasure of my son. He still needs to be the focus of my livelihood. His happiness involves doing fun things with his Mommy. Success in these three areas will undoubtedly create a beneficial road for leading to my end goal. I had a strong inclination from the beginning of what it will take for me to be successful. The biggest struggle for me will be learning to live on less income. I have already reduced the amount of hours I am working on a regular basis, but how will I learn that I can’t buy the items I am normally used to having. When my friends come to me and say, â€Å"Amber, let’s go out tonight† will I be able to say I can’t because I don’t have the means. I will have to stay strong and true to my budget in order to make this area of my life balance in a way that is beneficial to my success in school. I know the type of person I am may lead to me saying, â€Å"Just work more. † But I also know that the least stressed I feel about completing projects/schooling, the better off the outcome of those assignments I am completing. It seemed as though there were quite a few students that were in the same boat as me, very busy schedules and trying to dedicate themselves in a few different directions. The most repetitive response was â€Å"don’t forget to create time for you. † I have always been a selfless person, putting me first has never been a priority. I think occasionally doing this will most definitely lead to me being a more successful student. I just have to remember that putting me first will lead to a better life for my son also. Success Strategy Plan Step 2: Self-Assessment & Goal-Setting Strengths Self-motivation has never been hard for me. However, things have happened in my life that has stalled my finishing school. I have been on a steady track to improving some aspects of my life for a quite a while now, but it wasn’t until I had my son that I really focused on what I needed to do to become a better person. In order for me to set the examples I want my son to follow in, I needed to finish school. Sometimes having that inner motivation isn’t enough, you need it thrown in front of you to realize how important something is. My son gives me that extra drive to be the best I can be, because I never want to fail him. Being a learner is a choice. I always enjoyed school and enjoyed doing well in school. Having a love for learning is something that will always give me that drive to continue to learn, wanting to learn will in turn lead to success. It’s a drive that not every individual will have, but choosing to be a life learner is part of the success of being a good student. Choosing to take online classes takes discipline, organization, and focus. Knowing when to study is a key to success in these classes. It is not the right time when the whole family is coming over, or your three year old is just coming home from school. Scheduling time out for your studying will only better your chances to doing well in school. Focusing is a key to understanding what you are learning. If you cannot focus, you will not comprehend. I am in tuned with my learning habits, I know what works best for me when trying to learn: scheduling. Sticking to what I already know, will only better my chances of finishing my degree. Developing this on a weekly basis will help me manage my time to the best of my ability, so that at the end of the week barring any major setbacks I am not going to be struggling to get something completed. Procrastination is the biggest enemy when it comes to being successful at school. Weaknesses Perfectionism is my downfall, a task that should only take me 30 minutes (like creating price signs at work), can take me 1 – 2 hours. Luckily, I am strong at multitasking so I am doing more than just this one task. It slows me down tremendously. Therefore, I have to be that much more in tuned with my weekly schedule so that my perfectionism doesn’t lead to me not completing task in a timely matter. This trait leads to another weakness, stubbornness. I develop in my head what I expect something to be, and won’t stop until I get it there. Stubbornness at times can also be iewed as strength because I am unwilling to accept anything that doesn’t equal what I want so it gives me that extra drive to succeed. The most troubling weakness I carry is my shyness. It’s strange I am not shy when it comes to dealing with things that I am really comfortable with, but put me in an uncomfortable situation and I clam up. This is probably due in part to my perfection ism as well because I am scared to make a mistake, or in part say something that doesn’t come out perfectly. It’s all in part of being comfortable in my own skin. Knowing that what I do is the best that I can do. If I give it 110% that is all I can ask for, and if it’s not to my Professors standards than I simply need to take the criticism he/she gave me and use it toward making my next assignment/test positive. Opportunities Opportunities present themselves to me on a daily basis. If you don’t take advantage of the opportunities given to us there is no one to blame but yourself. I have been blessed with a very strong family unit. They amaze me day in and day out. Without the unconditional loving support of my family I definitely wouldn’t be where I am at today. Regardless if it is picking my son up from school because I am at work, or taking my son so I can concentrate on school for a few hours; if I ask for help they come running. I can always count of them; it is their goal to see me succeed as well. The school itself provides students with the ability to succeed. They offer so many different options through the virtual campus to find help. Whether it is through the learning labs, tutoring, or advisors there really is no excuse to being confused. There are outlets to all issues you may be having. Taking advantage of these opportunities will only help lead me to further success. Many people forget that our Professors are there for asking questions. The most successful people are people that aren’t afraid to ask for help. Our teachers aren’t the only ones we should ask questions from, the other students in my classes are most likely to be just as smart as me, I won’t underestimate their ability to help with any questions I may have. Their past experiences may help in issues I am having. The college makes it easy to access both teachers and students by utilizing an instant messaging system. Obstacles, Barriers, and Threats I am a mother and a mother first. Things will arise with raising my son, which will no doubt interfere with my plans at times. How I deal with this is a choice that will affect the outcome of my schedule (plan). There aren’t many times of the week that I plan on doing the bulk of my studying while I am physically parenting my son. I plan on doing as much of it as possible when he is either at school or sleeping, so hopefully this doesn’t cause a threat as much as it could. The toughest barrier I will need to overcome to be successful in college is finances. Being a single mother, I was living pay check to pay check as it was. I feel it is necessary to decrease the amount of time I am spending at work to make up for the amount of time I am putting into school, so that my time with my son is basically not affected at all. How will I manage things now, if it was so hard then? I have to learn to cut many things out of my life that I was used to indulging in. Although it will be hard to do, giving up a little now will be a small sacrifice for what I get in return. Changing things that I have been doing for the past 10-15 years will be hard. But I know that the benefit of a degree may make the difference between living comfortably or living stretched pay check to pay check. Short Term and Long Term Goals Goals can be anything you want to accomplish — personal, academic, social, you name it. Goals are important because they help you get what you want, improve your performance, keep you focused, stay on track and can even get you motivated. Many people who are successful in school and at work set goals to get what they want. My long term goals will help set up my short term goals, in order to achieve my long term goals my short term goals will ave to be set. My ultimate priority is to receive a Master’s in Business Administration Management degree with an emphasis is Healthcare Administration Management. To get there, I need to get an Associate’s degree in Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. The reward is simple; self-satisfaction. I will be able to show my son how important it is to make good, solid choices in life and the rewards of a healthy lifestyle those choices will give you. My first short term goal is to receive my AA is Business Administration. The timeline for completion is May 2013. Although, this seems a distance away, two years will fly by. I hope to complete this degree with honors. Doing something and doing something well are two different things in my book. I feel I have the ability to complete my education at a high level. It’s all about the effort I put in. When I complete this task I will undoubtedly be taking a strong step towards my long term goal. Completing this task will give me a big boost of confidence in knowing that I can really do it. I can juggle all the life is handing me. What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger. I don’t necessarily need a purchased reward from completing this; I think that confidence obtained is reward enough. After completing my AA, I will continue to receive my Bachelor’s degree. I don’t have an exact date this will be received; I assume that it will be another 2-year degree. As the perfectionist that I am, I hope to complete it at a high standard; and with hard work and determination I am positive that I am capable of this. Once I complete this goal I will have a strong chance of taking a pretty good position in the field I am going into. This will be my reward. Right now my work schedule is all over the place, I work day shifts and swing shifts. Having a set schedule will be so rewarding. The road to success in my goals will be one of my toughest challenges yet. It will take hard work and determination to complete my schooling. By taking advantage of the strengths and tools available to me while being aware of weakness and barriers that may present themselves to me, it will be harder for me to fail than it will be for me to succeed. Success Plan Step 3: What I Have Learned This course is guiding me to take a step in the right direction. I am learning to use the abilities that I have in the correct way to be successful in school. I have rediscovered applications that I haven’t used in many years (Microsoft PowerPoint), relearned some key factors in math, writing, and reading from the MyLabs, and learned the fundamentals of APA writing. Probably the most useful thing I gained from this class was the confidence that this can be accomplished with my busy schedule. I am hoping that taking on two classes won’t completely overwhelm me, but I think I have come up with a solid plan that should help me succeed. MyFoundationsLabs modules definitely created a love-hate relationship with me. I appreciated the fact that it was bringing fundamental keys to basic educational areas that I needed to work on or remember, but I also got very frustrated with some of the instruction on the modules, and the tediousness of some of the modules. I made some silly mistakes in the actual test, which I really knew the answer to but made a small mistake; so having to go completely through a module seemed a little redundant. Overall, though I appreciate what this lab has done for me and the preparation it is giving me for my future classes. Success Strategy Plan Step 4: Looking to the Future Organization helps you work faster, more efficiently, helps you to portray a professional attitude and can make you feel less frantic and more optimistic about your education. This success plan that we have created helps us get organized. By following the guidelines this plan has set forth there are no excuses to failure. It has set the path for us to discover a way to find and reach our ultimate goal, for me that is receiving my Masters in Business Administration Management with a focal point in Healthcare. In today’s society there are so many other things that I either want to do or have to do, and finding the time to accomplish those tasks are far and in between. By using this plan I will be able to prioritize and organize to be more efficient and effective in these areas as possible. Having a plan makes anything possible. School has always come naturally for me; it was finding how to fit everything else in that created the struggles. Long ago, I figured out a method that works for me and it has yet to fail me. I know what it takes for me to complete my classes to my standards, and will take nothing less than that. I figure out a schedule that works for me, and dedicate myself to staying as tight to that schedule as possible. Of course, things will come up, but straying too far from the course I had laid out does not work. Having an outline of how I will complete my task above and beyond the expectations is the key. I look forward to the journey of completing my education. I believe whole-heartedly that we are not given anything that we cannot handle. So therefore, I will take what is thrown my way and run with it. I have taken the first steps forward, and I will not look back. The end of the road is near.