14A - Halfway Reflection

I would tell any student that tenaciousness is a requirement in order to be successful in life. It is not willpower. Willpower can break. It is not stubbornness. Stubbornness leads to foolish mistakes. It is not blind faith; blind faith has no proof that something can be accomplished. It is a quality that can be learned and developed and honed. It requires that you have grit, the unwillingness to give up despite everything in you feeling like you should. You don’t give up because you know the thing you are reaching for is possible despite what anyone else says or does. You don’t even allow your human weaknesses and frailties to cause you to quit.

Personally, I am not one to give up on something I have committed myself to do. However, during one assignment for this class, I had to dig deep to complete it in time. See, I didn’t check to see how many assignments we had for the week. On one Friday morning around 10:30, I was checking to make sure I had submitted my work and I realized I had forgotten two assignments. I had about an hour and a half to complete them. I finished them on time. Correctly.

So, three tips I would offer to the next set of students: make up your mind before you start that you are going to finish whatever you do because it’s worth it; don’t listen to your feelings when they tell you to quit, listen to your head; and know that things are going to go wrong and choose to deal with it on the way to achieving your goals.