MAT510 Homework Assignment 1

Homework Assignment 1

Due in Week 1 and worth 30 points

Describe a work task, a hobby, or another activity that you regularly do, and sequentially list the various actions you take in order to complete this activity. Consider the complexity of your list and the amount of steps required to complete the activity.

Answer the following questions in the space provided below:

Differentiate the main actions between doing and improving your activities.

Determine the overall manner in which variation has affected your activities.

Type your answers below and submit this file in Week 1 of the online course shell:

My task would have to be going to the gym to work out. I do this daily and in all fairness it can be time consuming. I get up early then rush to clean up and feed as well as walk my two dogs. Because I belong to a group of health clubs I have to determine which I will go to, pack if not already packed then begins getting ready to go. I know when I get up for the day that I’ll be working out so I tend to just shave and brush my teach, get on running shoes, pants and a sweatshirt. The last step before I finally get in my car and drive off is to grab my daily vitamins and protein shake. I’m a vegetarian so this is essential to my day. I could get into the long routine of working out and getting ready to head to work and/or preparing for my later journey to the church but instead I’ll note that I must find and map in my head the nearest health club along my path to work or the church as both of these are my job.

To answer the above questions:

Differentiate the main actions between doing and improving your activities.

The main actions in performing the above routine task and improving would be actively engaging in the activity versus preplanning and re-planning for efficiency. My actions are the getting up, getting ready to go, taking care of the other routines that are necessary to get to the task at hand and then fueling up for the task. The Improving action takes place in my mind before, during and sometimes after the task because time is of the essence and any options I have to reduce unnecessary steps or compact actions into a shorter timeframe make the time I do workout better and more useful to my day. I have found several ways to improve from mapping out better locations for when I’m not working for the day or working in my parish or at Verizon. Depending on the time and day I head out to the nearest location all prepared for a good workout and because I know all of the locations well I’m able to constantly improve more and more.

Determine the overall manner in which variation has affected your activities.

This is a good question. Variation to me really means trying new things to determine what works best. For instance I used to prepare everything for feeding and cleaning my dogs as well as getting together clothes and my shakes in the morning but found I’m still a little tired. Now I prepare everything at night while I’m wide away and use the drive to begin to get myself into Gym-Mode. This has not cut any corners in the steps needed to get me there and ready to go but used the energy from the day before to logically get prepared. I also now prepare my protein shakes and meals a few days in advance in bulk so that I do not need to repeat these steps days on end. I prepare my gym clothes only once or twice a week so that this step is reduced as much as possible. In the course of time I’ve learned ways to wake myself up quicker and used this routine task to put a positive spin to my day.