A promise to myself… here are some new things I am planning to try in my approach to learning.
I really hope that this year I can try and set myself more realistic goals and not push myself too far. I think that I can become an overachiever at times and want to get things done as soon as possible. This causes me unnecessary stress and becomes an extra burden for me. I hope that this year I can try and steer away from my tendency to overachieve and try to set more realistic goals for myself.
On the contrary, I also think that I sometimes take the easy route out and give myself too many breaks when I’m starting to feel down. This is a big fault that I see in myself and I would like to try to refrain from doing this. I think that breaks are good in moderation but when there are many tasks to be done, there shouldn’t be many breaks (which is a habit I tend to have.) I’m not exactly a last minute person and like to get things done as soon as possible but I also think that when I’m in a stressful position, I tend to procrastinate. I would like to stop myself from this mentality and try to work on my mindset when I’m stressed.
Some new things that I definitely want to try with my approach to learning are working on collaborating and communicating my ideas verbally in class. This is because whenever I’m unsure about a question, I tend to steer away from answering. I think that this has to do with my mentality against failure. I fear failure and think that getting something wrong in class would lead to this (though I’m constantly told that this is not true.) I definitely want to get out of this mentality and throw away the thinking that making mistakes is equal to failure. Therefore, I think the first step for me to achieve this is by raising my hand more in class and contributing more even when I’m unsure if I’m completely correct.
I also want to try branching out more and working with a variety of people in class when doing group projects. Like everyone, I usually stay pretty close to my friendship group and don’t try to get to know other people or work with them so this is something I want to work on. I think that there is a lot of useful insight and perspectives that can be gained from working with different people and I would like to be able to look into different points of view.
Another goal of mine is to stop becoming such a control freak in group projects because this is definitely another tendency that I have. I always need to be on top of things and have control when working on these projects. However, trust is very important in these situations and I hope to work on these things as I progress through high school.
Lastly, I want to work on being kinder to myself and a better friend to myself. I think that part of this is to do with giving myself some leeway and trying to not overstress myself. My habits and behaviors definitely contribute to this and my fixed mindset also have a big role in my stress. I think that working on my mindset and mentality will definitely also really help with this but the main action that I can take is simply getting out of my comfort zone and taking action that I haven’t before.
In one word, I would say to achieve all of these approaches I need to become more open-minded and be more confident in myself on a day to day basis. I tend to doubt myself often and stick to my closed mindset but I think opening my mind to new possibilities and opportunities is going to definitely help with my stress levels and improve my learning this year. I think that this definitely won’t help me to completely abolish all my bad habits but it will be a great first step to accomplishing my goals and promises.
I really like how you are acknowledging your weaknesses, and it is sometimes really hard to do so. I notice that in most of your promises, you are wanting to be more confident and I know a lot of people that don’t have to say the confidence to say so. Great job. I hope that you successfully fulfill your goals and promises.