Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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304 APPENDIX B

STRATEGIC-OUTCOME MONITORING

I only completed some of the daily goals I set for myself at the begin-

ning of the study. My strategic planning checklist (see Attachment 2)

and journal entries (see Attachment 3) show what I did and did not

accomplish according to my initial plan. Furthermore, because I didn’t

meet my goal of completing 10 pages of my paper by Saturday, I

set a new goal to write the final 3 pages of my paper in a 5-hour

block of time on Sunday evening. I successfully accomplished this

goal. In fact, I was able to complete all 3 pages with an hour to

spare.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Because the paper I turned in was of much higher quality than I am

accustomed to, I see the value of breaking down a large assignment

into smaller pieces. This way I am much more likely to sustain my

motivation through the course of a project. Furthermore, I have

learned that I can find other ways to motivate myself (besides having

my mom as the primary motivator), which will help me earn As rather

than Bs in my classes.

In conclusion, although I already knew some of the reasons I could

not sustain motivation, I discovered some interesting things about

myself. For example, I didn’t realize that I wasted so much time. I

must admit that although I found this assignment extremely helpful,

I will most likely monitor my progress in my head rather than writ-

ing everything out in the future.

ATTACHMENT 1: JOURNAL 1

Another Year

Here we are at the beginning of a new academic year. It’s

funny, because at the beginning, everybody looks nice and

acts smart. Students are wearing their brand new clothes—

everyone looks prepared—and there is a genuine sense of

happiness. The problem is that we haven’t done anything

yet. But as we do, some students will fly high, some will

drift along, and others will simply sink. Unfortunately,

I’ve visited all parts of this spectrum in my short college

career.

When I came to school as a freshman, I had unrealistic

hopes that I would do well. College would soon teach me

that this was not high school and that students actually had