Half-Way Reflection

Some things that I have learned in this class:

1. Tenacity is a skill. It is not a personality trait or something you are just born with. It is the practiced ability to keep on even after failure. Many times while recording videos I would make some mistake that meant I had to start all over, or maybe even interview a new person. With enough practice though, you develop a mindset that simply isn't satisfied until the job is done. Interviewing strangers is definitely difficult, but you will adapt to it if you force yourself to. Just push through, the beginning is the hardest part (of the first half).
Organization (as with everything) certainly helps to keep up with the workload. Scheduling out your time so that you know when you will be available to complete each activity is an invaluable skill to have.

2. Tenacity is about attitude. I already touched on this above, but tenacity really is just a refusal to see failure in a negative light. Be encouraged each time you do something wrong; if you are always doing it right on the first try you aren't actually learning anything and the course is of no benefit to you. On that note, it is also important to try to complete each exercise to the best of your abilities, rather than just the bare minimum. I myself have struggled with this, but I can tell you in hindsight that I got a lot more from the experiences where I went beyond what it took to just click the true button in the declarations.

3. Three tips:

• Allow yourself ample time to record the elevator pitches. Each time it ended up taking me nearly twice as long as I thought it would to get a decent take. Don't be fooled into thinking it is a sixty second exercise plus video editing.
• Try to work ahead. In this course you have the freedom to work as far ahead as you want (within reason) due to the style of exercises you complete. Many times last minute things have come up that prevented me from returning to my computer to complete an assignment. Twice I have saved myself by simply doing one or two assignments in advance. Be tenacious.
• In developing an excitement about the work, I found it really useful to picture the course as a checklist. Each time you make that declaration, you are one step closer to course completion.