The College Transition ~ What Writers Can Learn From Athletes ~ Routine is Key! ~ Comp131

                Another thing that, I half way introduced, is that can really help you with more than just studying is having routine. When I go to practice I grab my instrument and music, find a practice room, get everything ready, tune, and then do my scales. I do this every time I practice. When I was on a competitive swim teem, after dry land exercises we would grab out stuff put our goggles on, and swim a 200 free warm up. Throughout my experience in sports and music I have found coach after coach after teacher rely on routine. As it turns out there is some science behind this whole routine thing.
               Normally it is called conditioning, but I originated with the pavlovs-dogs project. According to Kendra Cherry Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who came up with the idea of classical conditioning (psychology.about.com).That is what trainers use now a days to train animals for everything from simple house training to cercus stunts. In fact if you have ever house trained your dog or taught him to play fetch you can probably thank Pavlov. Pavlov went on to win the 1904 Nobel Prize for his work studying digestive processes, but he is most famous for the pavlovs-dogs experiment.

                There is a long back story to why Pavlovs did this experiment in the first place but the actual experiment was this.

                “The sound of a metronome was chosen to be the neutral stimulus. The dogs would first be exposed to the sound of the ticking metronome, and then the food was immediately presented. After several conditioning trials, Pavlov noted that the dogs began to salivate after hearing the metronome.” (psychology.about.com)

                So basically the reason routines are so important is that they can do half the work for you. If you have a routine for studying you brain being the genius it is will be ready to focus and study. This does work. I’ve tried practicing violin and skipping my scales and the result is usually an hour of staring out the window or thinking about all the things I have to do when I’m done.

              The biggest mistake people make with this idea is that your brain will kick into gear after doing your routine twice, but Pavlov trained his dogs for months before he got his results. I guarantee you that the reason everyone tells freshman that they need to make good study habits now is because it does take time. I’ve been playing violin for almost twelve years now and I only noticed that I had a routine a couple of years ago.

Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. “Pavlov’s Dogs How Ivan Pavlov Discovered Classical Conditioning.” about.com. IAC/InterActiveCorp, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <http://www.about.com/>.

The College Transition ~ What Writers Can Learn From Athletes ~ Finding Your Place ~ Comp131

                 Being able to focus is extremely important for musicians. When you’re preforming the nervousness’ takes care of that for you but day to day practice can be excruciating, and the same thing goes for athletes. You can’t play your best in a game if you can’t focus and get stronger during your practice. And when it comes to schooling being able to focus can mean better papers and less time you need studding.

                Athletes have there playing field and musicians have their practice rooms. Having a place to study can help as only as you only study there. If you have a place where you do nothing but study, going there is like flipping a switch in your head that helps you focus on studying. A lot of scientists are saying now a days that you should only use your bed for sleep, because of the same reason. Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, Joanna Saisan, M.S.W., and Robert Segal, M.A. say that “Use your bed only for sleep ... That way, when you go to bed, your body gets a powerful cue: it’s time to nod off” (helpguide). When I’m in a practice room my brain knows that it’s time to work. So find a place to study and don’t do anything but study there.

                I don’t know if you noticed but the biggest part of having a place is NOT DOING ANYTHING ELTS THERE! One of the easiest way to make your place useless is to text or do other stuff in your pace.  To get yourself to focus, eliminate distractions. That means no cellphones or video games or anything else that distracts you. You don’t half to have a study place to do this, but if you do have a place make sure there are no distractions.

               If you’re like me your brain will do anything to keep you from focusing including making you remember things you really do need to do. My solution to this problem is to have a note pad and pencil with me at all times so I can write done all the things I need to do and the things I want to do so I don’t half to think about them while I’m practicing. Also I usually only have an hour at a time I can practice, so instead of looking at my watch (or phone) a thousand times I set an alarm for when I’m done. That not only saves time, but takes my mind off of where I need to be so I can focus on what I am doing

Works Cited

Smith, Melinda, M.A., et al. “How to Sleep Better.” helpguide. Robert and Jeanne Segal, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleep_tips.htm>.