Productive Environments
During our recent group tutorial, we shared our personal work preferences. A peer shared how working in the library rather than at home boosts productivity and focus. This is a sentiment that I can relate to from my undergraduate days. But since then, I have discovered my optimal working hours are late at night, from 9PM to 4AM. Even when I was in libraries, I was not able to fully focus until it starts getting into the evening. I found that night time brought on focus and motivation that my daylight hours lacked.
During my previous roles in marketing, daytime was filled with meetings, presentations and brainstorming sessions, which was productive but in a way that rarely allowed for deep work sessions. My solution was unconventional but effective for me personally: doing deep individual work in the later hours of the day often at the expense of my own time to compensate and to capitalize on my night time energy. This adjustment significantly boosted my productivity and motivation, and also aligned with my natural rhythms, enabling me to efficiently manage projects, write copy, handle budgets, and review contracts with heightened focus and fewer distractions. I’ve even gone as far as to negotiate working hours with my previous managers to enable to me start my days later, aligning my work hours with my peak mental awareness.
However, this approach has been met with some concern from our tutor. Especially for when I step into “professional employment,” and also concerns for when I eventually “start a family,” and how it would potentially disrupt my family life. While I value the perspectives shared, I stand by the effectiveness of my method, which has served me well across academic and professional settings in the past few years. I also do not believe that this has negatively impacted my current commitments to this course either as I have barely missed or is late to classes, don’t miss deadlines, and actively engage during tutorial sessions.
Task Optimization
We also discussed task optimization strategies during the tutorial. It was suggested by our tutor that starting with the easiest tasks isn’t always the most effective approach, as it can leave important tasks pending and might just merely satisfying for short-term dopamine rushes when you cross a task off the list. This makes sense, because completing tasks and crossing them off the list does feel really good. However, in my own personal experience over the years, I’ve found that breaking down tasks and tackling simpler tasks first helps me gain momentum and ease into the more complex ones. This method has proven effective for me over the years, helping me with my focus and motivation, so I think I will stick to this as it has worked well for me.
The Value of Blogging
We also discussed the role of blogs and learning logs during the tutorial. I’ve been consistently updating my blog not just as a requirement for Unit 3, but as a practice I started back in Unit 1. For me, blogging is a tool that helps me manage my workflow and maintain clarity in my thoughts. It’s one of those “simple tasks” I mentioned earlier that eases me into tackling more complex work. Through writing, I am able to reflect on my past actions, plan my next steps, and clarify my train of thought. If I ever find myself confused about the direction of my project, I can look back at previous entries to understand the evolution of my ideas. Starting to blog was something new for me this year, and it’s proven to be really valuable. It’s something I plan to continue doing long after this course ends.
During our discussion, I was asked about whether I struggle with the nervousness of posting publicly and perfectionism. While some peers voiced their hesitations about sharing unpolished thoughts, I’ve never really struggled with perfectionism in this regard. I believe blogs are naturally iterative. They capture our evolving thoughts and even our mistakes. These errors are not just acceptable, but I feel like they are essential. You are able to track how ideas form and your iterations of the idea, offering a transparent view of your evolving ideas.
For those struggling with the idea of blogging due to perfectionism, I suggested keeping their blogs private. This way, they can still reap the benefits of documenting their journey without being self-conscious. They’ll still be able to maintain the reflective benefits of blogging while safeguarding personal comfort.
Gamer Stereotypes: A Sticky Subject
The discussion moved on into my intervention and how it has shed some light on the complex dynamics within gaming cultures. I shared an observation from my intervention about a participant who noted a friend’s outspoken and heinous behaviors online, compared to his more reserved and shy profile in person. And also, a girl gamer who feels more comfortable in in-person social interactions because she gets a lot of harassment online. Our tutor pointed out that this highlighted a notion that gamers are more comfortable online because it shields irresponsible behavior. This notion does seem to have some credibility, especially with the two cases I have observed from my intervention, but this is a troubling yet common stereotype.
This stereotype is an oversimplification that ignores the diversity within the gaming community. When we were discussing this stereotype, I recalled(I didn’t share this during the tutorial, I remembered this in my head) an earlier tutorial where a tutor referred to gamers as “incels,” which I find to be very unfortunate, good thing it was promptly corrected by another tutor who was also in the same conversation. These experiences showed the persistence of these forms of negative stereotypes within our society, which is a narrative I’ve always wanted to dismantle, including in my earliest “how can” question and intervention.
Refining My Research Question
These discussions pushed me to refine the focus of my project. I am now narrowing in on gamers who are not just seeking anonymity online but are genuinely interested to improve their real-life social interactions. My revised question, “How can young gamers who struggle with social interactions in real-life scenarios but wish to improve be supported to enhance their social confidence?” aims to target and assist those genuinely interested in growth.