5 learning habits I should definitely change

Photo by Matt Ragland on Unsplash

1. Over planning

Planning is important. However, spending too much time on setting goals or creating to-do lists could make our plan never achieved. 

In my case, I used to have a big enthusiasm for planning, I spent days and nights creating monthly/weekly/daily log as well as decorating my journal. Sometimes this habit leads to good achievements. However, it is helpful only when I have an appropriate amount of time. Now, when I have only several months for each course and various courses at the same time,  I find planning too carefully will reduce the time spent for real studying the course's content. In this case, studying is the most important thing, so in addition to planning for it, I need to actually DO it.

When I plan, I usually follow my own goals, motivation and timeline. However, in working life, we need to consider other people's timeline also. Therefore, over planning should make it difficult to adapt your plan with other's as well as to follow the programme's timeline, especially when we have plenty of accidental events happen during the process.

2. Rely on friends

Teammates and friends are big parts of any programme. I take into account my classmates because they affect my learning significantly. In fact, I had very good opportunities to work with amazing teammates in the past for example S. in the Technology Enhanced Leaning course or T. in the Teaching and Interactive course. In these cases, I feel I learnt from friends more than from course content. When studying online, there are not many chances to co-work like that so I really appreciated them.

However, people are diverse. Sometimes I feel as if I could not adapt to my team's working habit and I feel lost in the teamwork. I tried to contribute but the more I tried, the more I feel lost and exhausted. Gradually, I could not control the situation and I felt unsure about the outcomes. I must admit that those kinds of situation are quite depressing for me. They become worse in the online environment when I usually see a dark screen each time we meet via Zoom/Teams (due to the camera turn-off). I believe that my feelings are reasonable to some extent because in a remote situation we need to make thing more interactive, instead of turning off the camera at all times and do not share any screen or general work board. 

However, I soon realised that everyone and every team has its own culture. That is something that we can not control. We need to respect their choices because there is always some reason behind them. What I should focus on are the course's contents and its expectation. No one can replace me in acknowledging and doing those things. Friends are important but not the most vital aspect of learning. Rely too much on mates especially when it comes to emotions is a bad habit that I had better change.

3. Perfectionist style

Everyone hopes for the best in their studies. So do I. We wish that we could do all assignments perfectly, read all documents suggested, dive deeply into all contents given and so on. In the education field, those expectations are more understandable than ever. 

The fact is that our time is limited and there are various conditions that affect our studies. We should learn to accept that we can not do everything in the best quality. Expect too much from the studies and from ourselves could lead to the consequence that we feel disappointed about the reality and can not complete simple tasks, which brings even worse disappointment.

There are cases that perfectionists create amazing things but there are also cases that perfectionist style of working make others struggle when we co-work. We need to know when to use that mindset and when to not use it to focus on realistic and achievable goals. For example, complete your homework first!

4. Focus too much on mental aspects

One of teachers' (especially Literature teachers') weakness is mental stability. Because of their work's characteristics, they tend to focus too much on mental issues and the emotions of people around them. 

We must admit that this habit could be a waste of time. In working, emotion is just a small element. We need facts and information to go on. We need to be courageous enough to implement, straightforward enough to contribute, and 'cold' enough to spend time for things that matter.

5. Think too much about future

Studying is something that belongs to the present. We have to leave the past behind and unlearn many things to prepare enough space for new knowledge. We also need to stop thinking about the future because it is uncertain as it depends on the present.

I find thinking too much of future makes me feel pessimistic and sometimes wander around the main responsibilities. I need to accept that anything can happen in the future and I will find a way to go with it then. But at least, focusing on today will prepare the best version of mine for that day. 

Saigon, 7/4/2021,

Alice.