Have you ever thought about how you should stop procrastinating so have I and that is what the FIRST PGP/careers 10 project is about. It’s not exactly stopping procrastinating but it’s about bettering your life with small changes in your habits to shape success this year and beyond. The project was centred around this book called “Atomic Habits” a self help book. For our final project we made an artifact that was presented with our PrePOL.
Man i thought the book “Atomic Habits” was going to be pretty boring to be honest but after a few chapter I was starting to understand the flow and found it to be pretty enjoyable. The main idea of the book is if you follow the 4 “Laws of habit making” it will be easier to make/break them.
1st Law make it obvious show what goal or habit you want to do have things signaling you want to do whatever you want where you can see them.
2nd Law make it attractive, it should that your habit or goal is enjoyable, an example working out with friends, listening to music while studying, or drawing while note taking (if you have good memory.)
3rd Law make it easy, remove as many obstacles from your habit as you can, ex. Putting your computer in “work mode”, having a gym bag ready the day earlier, meal plan.
4th Law make it satisfying, when completing a goal it should be not exactly a relief that’s it’s over but you feel good like you improved even if just a bit, you can do this by giving yourself a reward after the thing is over.
Another thing that should go into consideration when making/breaking habits is the Cue Craving Response Reward. The process that happens when you make a habit good or bad.
Ex. Cue I’m feeling nervous Craving: I want to bite my nails Response: I will bite my nails Reward: my brain gives me dopamine a chemical that makes you feel good.
With all the newfound knowledge about how habits are formed we were tasked with creating an artifact that would be presented at the PrePOLs, the criteria was relate it to the book a law or chapter, have it be a tool to help a video or your choice, and talk about it on the blog.
My artifact was made using the law make it obvious but the two parts displayed a different law kinda, the actual artifacts were 2 miniature self made Lego sets that’s show what I should be working on. The reason I made it out of Lego is because I see a people on YouTube doing stuff like this and I though it was going to be easier than it actually was.
Make it obvious this one was made with the intention of keeping my room clean,and I like the way it turned out, it was the easiest one to make because I made the room and just scattered parts around.
Make it easy is the next and I wanted to eat healthier so I made it a model of a kitchen to remind me to meal prep or at least put some thought in it. It was definitely harder because I didn’t have anymore baseplates and had to use a copycat one that was bigger than Lego so I only used the sides, and making the background items used up a lot of creativity.
This part was really great becuase they made it easier to explain the laws to others and I was able to express my creativity and knowledge about the book.
My response to the driving question “how can small changes in my habits shape my success this year and beyond evidence of learning?” They can shape success a lot depending on how often changes are made, like the book said small improvements are still improvements. Depending if you stick to your habits and systems and you know they are positive you should do pretty well.
My final opinion on the project is I wish it was taught in grade 9 or have an extra course that you can sign up to do in grade 7 or 8. My reasoning is if we set up kids to succeed in the future they will have a better chance of success.