Metacognitive Reflections Psychology Writing Assignment

Metacognitive Reflections
Your Name
Your Institution of Affiliation
February 2, 2018
College is perhaps one of the most daunting experiences in a student’s life. For the most part, entering higher education requires more effort, not only academically, but also personally since many of these students are also working part-time to support their needs. This presents a very different environment as compared to high school life where parents mostly support by their children’s schooling thus lessening mental stress for the student. On one this circumstance that college students feel, could lead to positive effects such as it fosters favorable traits like determination and hard-work. However, this could also lead to burnout and even increases the risks on one’s physical health. In order to overcome these problems and function optimally, I believe that college students must be able to at least have three (3) specific characteristics; namely (1) Grit, (2) Focus, and (3) Balance.
The first characteristic – Grit – refers to the courage or resolve of one’s character. As compared to our high school days, the students are less inclined to think about problems in life as they are still heavily dependent on their parents for their schooling, meals, and even luxuries. However, as one learns how difficult life is, it takes courage and strength of resolve to be able to wake each day with the hopes that every sweat and every tear delivers you one-step closer to your goals. The second characteristic that a college student must have is Focus. In our modern-day world, plenty of distractions exist around us, and the greatest of them all (smartphones), is simply within our reach. These small-pocket sized tools allow students to check updates on their Social media, chat with friends, and even play games during their idle time, whenever and wherever they are. Yet, if the argument goes that working students have less time to study, then it is surprising that a lot of these students could check their phone every now and then, spending an average of three hours each day on Social Media sites. In line with our discussion of success, I believe that smartphones are what we call as a “needed luxury”. We need them because of their functionalities, but they are also more like luxuries since we tend to overuse them for things that aren’t productive. While this might be inevitable, it could also be seen that by increasing our focus, we could further decrease our usage of social media, and focus more on things which adds value to yourself (e.g. reading a book, learning a new language, visiting a friend). Lastly, I believe that we also need “Balance” in life. Despite the previous arguments on focus and grit, it must be noted that individuals are not machines who...