I am a college student studying in the field of Occupational Safety and Health. The start of every semester is always a hectic time. I’m always juggling my career, classes, family, and friends. There are a few strategies that will help me achieve College success.
Career Goals
The most important strategy for attaining College Success is knowing your career goals and how you are planning to accomplish these goals. My first step when setting my career goals was creating a mission statement that reminded me every time why I want to be an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist. My Mission Statement is; I want to become an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist so that I can provide better working standards for employees and positively impact their lives.
My career Goals are to earn a B+ or higher in all of the units I studied for, earn a degree when I finish college, get a job as an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist, and most importantly, make a difference in the lives of other people. Billok recently published an article explaining how the Occupational Health and Safety Administration has recently amended their rules to ensure that businesses will periodically submit injury and illness information of their employees to OSHA in electronic form (Billok, 2016, p. 6).
OSHA is dedicated to improving the lives of those employees working in high-hazard industries and has even put in various measures to ensure that employees get to report work-related injuries. Such measures include employers having to inform employees of their right to report work-related illnesses and injuries, and prohibiting discrimination against employees filing safety and health complaints or for reporting work-related injuries (Billok, 2016, p. 6). This article relates to my career interests because what OSHA is doing is exactly what I want to do- protect the rights, safety, and interests of other people, and make the world a better place for them.
Time Management Techniques
At college, I am always faced with endless group meetings, classes, frequent interruptions, and urgent last-minute assignments, and sometimes one can be busy all day without actually making any progress in achieving my career goals. For this reason, it is crucial to know how to properly schedule and manage my time. By employing time-management techniques, I can know what I can realistically achieve with my day, make sure that I have enough time to work on essential tasks, and I can work steadily to achieve my career goals (Morrison, 2013). My time management technique is mainly made of four steps.
The first step is establishing the time I need to make available for my studies. I put aside three hours every day for studying and working on my college assignments. Step two involves scheduling necessary actions. Whenever I need to consult my lecturers regarding a particular topic or help a classmate, I schedule these appointments and make sure that I see them through. My step three is planning my high-priority activities. These are critical, high-priority activities that I cannot avoid. I try to schedule these activities for the times of the day when I feel I am most productive, especially mornings. My last step is planning for some time to cope with emergencies and contingencies. I noticed that when I don’t schedule for contingency time, emergencies will still happen, and it will end up disrupting my time management program (Morrison, 2013).
Study Methods for Academic Success.
Everyone has a different preference and style of learning that they deem beneficial to them. I have a dominant learning style, visual learning style. I tend to retain information better when it is presented in pictures, videos, and books. I, therefore, try to make sure that my notes are very detailed and even spend extra time every day reviewing information from textbooks. Whenever possible, I use pictures instead of notes. I try to draw diagrams to help me understand certain concepts and employ storyboards to help me remember important sequences and relationships.
I also try to study for a few hours every day. Making studying a regularly scheduled part of every day will increase one’s chances of achieving high scores in every exam you sit for. I also try to study at the best time of my day, when I am most alert, which is usually in the morning. I also study at places without noise distraction, like in the library, or in an empty classroom. I believe that these study methods will help me be a better student and achieve greater academic success, as well as my career goals ("Study Skills for Academic Success," n.d.).
References
Billok, M. D. (2016). OSHA releases sweeping illness/injury reporting rule changes. New York Employment Law, 11(7), 6. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=116201327&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Morrison, D. (2013, September 12). Five-step Strategy for Student Success with Online Learning | Online Learning Insights. Retrieved from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/five-step-strategy-for-student-success-with-online-learning/
Study Skills for Academic Success. (n.d.). Retrieved July 1, 2016, from http://simpson.edu/hawley/study-skills/
