Level Week 2 - Weird Habit

     I found that something that is one of my most common habits is something that people find weird. When I got into high school, freshman year I was trying to find study habits that worked for me and trying to find the most effective way to take notes. Many of my teachers during the time would project a PowerPoint in front of the class and ask us the copy the information. I found myself struggling to keep up with the information on the slides because I was writing too slow compared to the speed at which the class was going. 

    So I told myself that I would try to type my notes instead of handwriting them to try and save time. With this new method, I was able to receive all of the information I needed. I was so happy. I used different colors to organize it, I chose special symbols to use as bullet points. It was visually appealing. However, when it came to looking over the material to study, it was horrible. 

    I was not able to focus, it felt weird studying on a computer after being so used to studying off of paper study guides given in middle school, and I was wasting the time that I thought had saved. Reading pages and pages of notes on a computer was harder than I thought it was going to be. Until I had this weird idea. 

    I sat down at my desk and took out my notebook. Next to me I opened up my computer and pulled up my notes that I had typed in class. What I started to do was read out loud and rewrite my notes on paper. At first, I didn't know if my experiment was going to have a positive result but I told myself that after putting in all that work I had to trust the process. 

    Trusting the process was probably the best decision I had made because I noticed that my grades were going up and I was able to study much more effectively. I still do this study technique until this day. I write down my sloppy notes in school with all of the extra scribbles in add-ins, then I go home and rewrite and recite the information. 

    My siblings like to make fun of me for it because they say it is a lot of tedious work that they never had to do because they are "smarter than me". I have gotten used to the extra effort that it requires, but I am honestly very pleased with the results it has given me. It is a habit that not many do but should!