Half-way Reflection

"Tenaciousness is a journey motivated towards success!" --Britt L.
Picture by Patrick Wernhardt

1)      Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

a.       A behavior I continuously use, and in the process of becoming better at is time management. There is a good grouping of assignments due each week. It’s tough when you have a full time job and two other classes to keep up with. It truly is hard to find time, but I’m not giving up. I’m trying my best. This is where I have developed a tenacious attitude. Some of these assignments seem easy, but are not. I just need to find ways to approach them differently to make it easier. Another behavior I have used is creative thinking. This course has definitely enhanced my creative thinking skills. I find myself continuously reflecting, evaluating, and analyzing in order to improve my ways of doing things for this course and for myself. Self-confidence is a behavior that I wanted to become better at, and I am fulfilling that with this course. It takes guts to go up to random strangers and ask or say things you wouldn’t normally do. This is building a comfort level with yourself and just being around other people. Networking is also a behavior that I’m using. Maintaining a blog and posting on Yellowdig helps you connect with other people. This brings me back to self-confidence. Feeling free to express your ideas and feelings helps build self-confidence.

2)      Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

a.      There’s been a few times that I felt like giving up. It seems like time is a huge factor for me lately. These assignments can be time consuming. There are other times when I feel like I couldn’t do some of these assignments, because I can be shy. What helped pull me through is developing a new perspective on the assignments. Thinking that these assignments would help me build on certain skills, and even could help develop new ones that can be valuable to my future. I definitely feel like over the past couple months that I have developed a tenacious attitude. The experience that mostly contributed to this is recording people on video. There are a lot of people who feel weird about being recorded. I would be one of those people. It’s harder to find people who are okay with this outside a college environment.

3)      Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset’?

1)      "Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them." --Anonymous

a.       Don’t think of the assignments you do in the class just a grade you need to get. Think of it as an activity. Have fun with it. These assignments are to help build a better ‘you’. Go build your self-confidence.

2)      "Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life." --A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

a.       If you don’t feel comfortable doing something one way, try another way. Develop different strategies. Enhance your critical thinking and creativity. There is always more than one way of doing things.

3)      "The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary." --Vidal Sassoon

a.       One of the nice things about the course is grading yourself. There will be some students who take advantage of this freedom in a negative way. Your success in this course reflects your effort. If you don’t put the time or effort in, you will only hurt yourself.