I have had it.

[ninevirtues]

I am learning things that I do not care about, even a tiny bit, except that I must know them to pass the boards.

Here's a partial, by no means exhaustive list of the things I do not care at all about but must learn:

- How to position someone in bed after they've had a stroke
- How to prevent decubitus ulcers (bedsores) in someone who can't move
- How to fit people for wheelchairs
- How to perform chest PT (whack people strategically on the chest until they cough stuff up, then measure how much stuff there is and assess its color and consistency)

Worse yet, my professors have a way of making the things that I am interested in painful to learn. Arrrrgh. Like physiology, say.

Fine. When all else fails, resort to outright bribery. I hereby decree that if I am good with my schoolwork, I may buy a bike part. (I'm gradually upgrading a road racing bike and building a cyclocross bike. Because I'm not working, and I'm on a small budget, I"m struggling with my own personal covetous consumerist desires for nice bike parts.)

Fine. I may have them. I just have to work for them. They are a reward for good effort. Now to structure the deal.

I ought NOT to say "I may have a new bike part if I score well on my exams." That's an outcome goal. I can study perfectly, and still not score well.

I also ought NOT to say, "If I spend X hours studying, I can have a bike part." Hours spent does not guarantee that learning has occurred.

Hmm... I can say "If I walk in feeling thoroughly prepared for the exam, and I can honestly say I did my best at each one, then I may have a bike part."

I'll let you know what transpires....

Comments

Re: Hey, tell me more!

[ninevirtues.livejournal.com]

Hmm... wow, a lot of that I hadn't considered before. Thanks!

I'm experienced at setting measurable experiential goals ("complete this workout") and experienced at setting measurable production goals (clean this room) but how do I set a goal for studying that is not tied to the outcome? (If the professor writes a really tough exam, and everyone scores an 80 on it, "Score 92 on the exam" is not a realistic or fair goal. Likewise "score better than 90% of my classmates" depends equally on their effort and mine.) "feel prepared when I sit for each midterm" seemed like the best I could come up with, but really now, it is not specific and measurable. And if it only takes me ten hours of studying to be prepared, I don't want to set a goal that I should do 12. How would you set a goal that ensured you put in good effort to study, but didn't require you to produce anything specific?

Re: Hey, tell me more!

[kf6gpe.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Hard one --- like you, most of my outcomes are pretty measurable. And of course, I forget that with all of your training, you'd be pretty good already at the athletic ones!

How about: "Pass the test and be honestly satisfied with my score"? There's something discrete and measuable here --- either you pass or you don't. And in general, I'd like to think that between knowing you and knowing how tests are likely to be, if you study, you'll pass; the catch is whether you'll be happy with the score! So, from that perspective, passing is the measurable part, but you can also ask yourself afterward if you're satisfied, given the level of difficulty. Did you genuinely think you did well? Goal met. Disappointed because although you passed, you got a 80% on a test that you and everybody else thought was easy? Maybe not, then.

It's a little fluffy around the edges, but I'd try it and see how it worked.