Okay, first of all, to those who say we've definitely demonstrated tenacity by making it halfway through the course, count me out. Don't get me wrong, I want to be tenacious--I'm just not there yet. But I will get there, and here's how:
- Determination - I have failed (by my standards), but I won't allow my less than tenacious performance keep me from evolving. Ain't nobody got time for wallowing.
- Analysis - Looking at why I've fallen short and how to fix it is not only who I am, it's a great skill for self-improvement. And school. Analysis is clutch in academia.
- Persistence - Determination's cousin, persistence, is the other half of the puzzle for pushing through. I'm a serial procrastinator with A LOT on my plate so if I let this one slide, and I have, I only get halfway. It's like the Yellowdig pin on motivation porn--look it up!
So it's about DAP for me. When I missed two rounds of points for customer interviews because I couldn't get people to stop and talk to a camera, I didn't let that stop me from getting audio for round three. DAP! Interviewees still tried to run, but I got by.
Sometimes it's about celebrating small success. I missed x assignment but found an awesome pin on Yellowdig about revolutionary period panties and the beautiful brains behind them. Win!
Are you starting to see a pattern? Burst out of the safety bubble where courses all look the same, require the same things from you and grow. Get curious, explore, for Christ's sake forget about your grade. That's right. I said it. Forget about your grade. It's difficult to do; I promise it's worth it. Liberated learners gain more than those tethered to the boulder obligation.
I also highly recommend Yellowdig. Yellowdig, Yellowdig, Yellowdig.
I really enjoyed reading your post. It was very interesting and different compared to a lot of the other posts I have read. You really took a risk with some of the things you said especially with the whole forget about your grade thing, which I have to admit was a risk that paid off. It makes your post a lot more impactful and will definitely stand out in the minds of those who read it. I am sure you will do much better as this class goes on and I wish you the best of luck. Here’s a link to my blog if you want to check it out.
ReplyDeletehttp://nkent3003.blogspot.com/2016/02/half-way-reflection.html
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI am definitely right there with you where it comes to having to step outside your comfort zone and grow. I too have had to let some assignments go, mostly due to personal reasons, but like you said you can make it up on Yellow dig. Knowing that you can let a certain number of assignments go and not detrimentally impact your grade has been very helpful. I feel the tenacity shows through when you complete those assignments that you really do not want to but push through anyway. Good luck as we push through the remainder of the semester. You can view my blog post here: http://jww3.blogspot.com/2016/02/half-way-reflection.html
Jim