GISAT 160

Posted: November 30th, 2013

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GISAT 160

            Since last year, I had been trying to quit smoking, but I was never able to stop. I realized that I was not trying hard enough. However, after a lecture on smoking, my professor convinced me to stop smoking. From learning more about smoking, I was determined to change my habit. I realized that quitting smoking is one of the hard things to do. Thus, it requires a lot of devotion, determination and hard work. I have decided to start reducing the number of cigarettes I smoke in a day by half. This is quite hard since, at times, the urge to smoke is quite strong. I have already started changing this habit, but it is quite hard. However, with all the determination in me, I know I will take it to the next level in the next week, when I intend to smoke only a quarter of what I smoke. Within a few days, less than a week, I shall be reducing the number of cigarettes to two in a day. I intend to quit smoking completely in less than three weeks. The fact that this is possible gives me all the determination. To fight the urge to smoke, I shall be around my friends who are non-smokers to have their support. Additionally, I intend to avoid places that I associate with smoking such as bars and smoking zones.

For a long time, I have been living a sedentary life style, hardly taking any exercises to keep my body fit. I have decided to change this habit and take regular exercises every day. I will be doing this by going to the gym every day, which I have already started. Although I have only gained a little weight lately, I will be eating a healthy diet to complement my exercises in making my body perfect. I realized that lack of exercise lowers my morale and motivation. While I have not been exercising, I have also not been engaging in activities that require energy such as walking, running and swimming. This has been due to a tight schedule with my studies. Exercising every day at the gym will keep my body fit and refreshed just as I was before living a sedentary life style. I have stopped watching too much television and playing video games that hinder my exercises. This has allowed me to create some time for two hours every day at the gym.

Another habit that I am changing is the time that I do my homework. For a long time, I used to do my homework late or too close to the deadline. This has reduced the time I have for going though my homework to ensure it is right to get good grades. I started doing my homework earlier to have some time for rechecking and proofreading. This has had a tremendous improvement in my studies. Since then, I have been getting full marks in my homework. This is quite necessary for my career. With good grades, I will be in a position to graduate and have a decent job. Additionally, I can progress my career easily in the future. Doing my homework earlier not only means that I can get excellent grades, but also, gain a better understanding of my career. This allows me to apply my knowledge in several areas of my career. Getting full marks in my studies gives me more motivation to study harder than when I missed some of the grades. For this reason, I will continue to do my homework earlier to have time for going through them.

I find myself losing a lot of time or with very little time for doing what I need to do in a day. Additionally, I find myself forgetting some of the daily important matters while postponing some activities. I realized this was due to poor time management. I have started writing a to-do-list that is helping me with time management. I write down everything that I need to do in a day, and cancel them after they are complete. Since I started using a to-do-list, I have been able to plan all the activities to fit the time I have. This has been working quite well for me, considering I have enough time for resting after I have done every important thing there is to do in a day. Additionally, I no longer postpone activities or anything since there is time set for every activity within the to-do-list. What I cannot do is set for another time. This has allowed me to plan my day easily. More so, I have been able to do more since I know what is supposed to follow what, and activities happening at the same place can be planned to follow each other. This has been quite effective in my time management.

I used to wake up quite late and hardly had time to prepare myself for the day. I started waking up early, at around five in the morning to have time for preparing for the day ahead. Before, I would find myself working to on tight deadlines especially when it came to getting to class. I also found myself disorganized and not prepared for the lesson. After waking up early, I am able to take time to prepare myself, take everything I need and prepare for everything that I will need to be doing the whole day. Waking up early ensures that I can do things without being in a hurry all the time. To ensure this becomes a habit, I have been going to bed early to ensure I have enough time to sleep. Additionally, I have realized that waking up early allows me to accomplish more.

For the last two months, I have been taking 30 minutes every morning after waking up to read a book. For the two months, I have been able to read eight books, which amounts to one book every week. This means reading about 50 books in a year, which amounts to a lot of knowledge Reading a book for thirty minutes in the morning after preparing for my day has proven as a good way of refreshing my mind, and remaining active for the whole day. Additionally, it is a way of engaging in lifelong learning, where I acquire some new knowledge and ideas every day. This ensures that my brain is active and learning all the time. Previously, all I used to read was what I needed for my studies. This made me only think of how to get better grades, but never to be better than I am. Reading books improves me mentally and allows me to study even better since some of the books are quite motivating, while some are interesting and educative. Books always have some knowledge to pass to readers. Reading makes me better at things that I do.