Week 15 Growth Mindset

Luck: Personal Meme

I made this meme on the AutoMotivator site. The phrase "Luck is simply when preparation and opportunity intersect" is a quote that my grandfather told me a couple of years ago. This always stuck with me because I think there is a lot of truth behind it. I think a lot of times it is too easy for people to blame the success of other (or more specifically the stagnation of themselves) on "luck". While there might be some degree of chance to it, I think that blind luck is a very rare thing. I am a firm believer that everyone who is extremely successful, like the Bill Gates or the US when we landed on the moon, put in a tremendous amount of time and energy to get to where they are. It reminds of the book "Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell. It talks about stories of success and how those who are very successful at anything put in their "10,000 hours". In order to be success, you simply have invest a lot of time and energy into it and if you want to GREAT you have to put in your an extraordinary amount of work ("10,000 hours"). 

Reading Evaluation: Week 15

I think my favorite readings from this semester would probably have to be the Life of Buddha from the Sacred Texts website. I really liked this because Buddhism is something that has always struck my attention a little bit, so it was nice to be allowed the flexibility to chose stories like this one if you felt inclined to do so. Also, it was an online, public domain edition, so I was able to read the stories whether I was at work or at home or on campus somewhere.

I found that breaking up the reading into little subheadings that correlated to the each episode within the story I was reading was very helpful. This helped keep everything organized and I knew exactly where to find the information I was looking for whenever I was working on my writing.

I found that there was a fairly heavy emphasis on reading. I know this is just a personal preference, but I think I would have been able to come up with adequate stories from doing just one reading diary per week. For example, breaking up Part One of Week 5's into two parts, so 5 episodes for Reading Diary A and 5 Episodes for Reading Diary B (since they were usually 10 a pop). As far as the comments, I felt that was well balanced. It allowed us to read other students stories, but was not overboard.

My advice for people is to take the time to find a reading selection that you actually enjoy. If you just pick the first thing you see, you might end up forcing yourself through the stories. This is take more time and will be reflected in the storytelling. But when you're genuinely intrigued by what your reading, it no longer becomes an assignment, it's just a way to pass the time, almost like a hobby?

Reflections: Week 15

This class has been a wild ride. To be honest, at first I thought it was going to be a hassle because of how busy the first couple of weeks were. However, looking back on it, I'm glad those were so busy because I wouldn't have been able to navigate the course sites and blogs without them. Once I got into the groove of the reading diaries, stories, and projects, the course was totally enjoyable. There were many aspects of this course that I enjoyed, but I think my two favorite things were the storytelling assignments and the growth mindset assignments.

The Storytelling was a great aspect of the course because it allowed for some creative expression, something that is usually lacking in other college courses where you just regurgitate information. I had never considered myself to be a story teller by any stretch of the imagination. While I still think that would be a stretch, it was fun getting to sharpen those skills a little bit. Having to write one every week really made you stretch your imagination, I think that was what I liked the most about it.

The growth mindset was great for me because it was something that could be applied to all of my classes and even life outside of school in general. Those assignments really make you conscious of your attitude about what you are doing and help you channel the struggles and stress of college and change them into something positive. It is amazing how much you can get done simply by changing your outlook on the various tasks that come before you. This is something that I think is very beneficial and can have long-term impacts on a person's development.

Like I said, there was a lot of stuff about this course that I liked, but I think these two aspects were probably my favorite.