Growth Mindset
Growth mindset- is the belief that you can get smarter, and understand that effort makes you stronger. Putting in the extra time and effort leading to higher achievement is the actions of someone with a growth mindset.
Coachable- a part of growth is learning and in order to learn you need to be coachable. Coachable means that you are able to listen to feedback given and immediately began to implement changes discussed by a teacher, manger, coach, mentor, etc. A part of coachability is being accountable and having to ability to confront your own behaviors.
Lifelong Learning - the ongoing, voluntary, and self motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Lifelong learners are motivated to learn and develop because they want to: it is a deliberate and voluntary act. This type of learning can enhance your understanding of the world around and also provide more and better opportunities. Information is power!
Coachable- a part of growth is learning and in order to learn you need to be coachable. Coachable means that you are able to listen to feedback given and immediately began to implement changes discussed by a teacher, manger, coach, mentor, etc. A part of coachability is being accountable and having to ability to confront your own behaviors.
Lifelong Learning - the ongoing, voluntary, and self motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Lifelong learners are motivated to learn and develop because they want to: it is a deliberate and voluntary act. This type of learning can enhance your understanding of the world around and also provide more and better opportunities. Information is power!
Always do your best today and intentionally plan to do better tomorrow.
Being Resourceful
You may be asking what does this mean, being resourceful? Well, Merriam-Webster dictionary defines resourceful as being capable of devising ways and means; the ability to find quick and clever ways of overcoming difficulties.
Throughout life you are going to encounter so many obstacles and challenges. Most of the time these obstacle can be overtaken just by being resourceful. Believe it or not reading will help you improve you ability to be resourceful.
It's all about using what you have to achieve your goals. Here is an example of a person that used their resourcefulness to complete a task.
Susan is enjoying her summer break before her senior year in Destin, Florida. She is on the beach taking selfies and her notification sounds dings. She checks it really quick and notices it is from one of her school officials saying she is missing the ECS form for the concurrent class that she signed up for. She panics because she is not going to be back in town by the time she makes it back to town. She attempts to call the school and see what can be done but it's after hours and there is no answer. Fear is setting in because she is trying to make sure she is enrolled in this course her senior year otherwise she will have to pay way more for the same course when she decides to take it in college as a first time freshman. Through the panic and fear she remains calm and thinks. She remembers there is a website that her college and career coaches designed for her. She thinks, let me go to this website and see what is this form I'm missing. She goes to her internet browser "safari" because she has an iPhone and because she did not remember the website link she went to Facebook where she follows her career coaches. Sure enough there was a link at the top taking her straight to the website. Once their she saw that there was a tab under services for concurrent enrollment and low and behold there on the page she spots ECS form. The feeling of despair weakens as she clicks on the link to the form. As it opens she takes a sip of her fresh squeezed raspberry lemonade. "No" she screams as she looks back at her phone. When the link opened up its to a download form. Not a form that can be submitted online. Now she back in a state of panic. She sits back and throws her beach towel over her head she feels completely defeated. She thinks to herself I cannot afford to miss this opportunity and from the email it seems as this is a hard deadline because it was actually due before the semester ended. So she ponders a minute and then decides to pull her phone back out. She opens up Google maps and does a search for Office Depot. "Yes!", she exclaims 1.9 miles away. She goes tells her Dad all about what is going on and he agrees to take her to Office Depot. She goes and tells them she needs a document printed and since it is only 2 pages it cost her less than $1.00. She gets the form now all printed out and she fills the form out. She then tells the worker she needs to email it back to her high school official. "Ok, what it the email address" the office depot worker ask. She goes to the email that started all this and proceeds to provide the email address where the form should be returned to. Now back to the beach she goes. The next day she gets a text message saying she is now registered for College Algebra for the Fall semester. At that moment she felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment.
In the above Scenario Susan overcame so many challenges by just taking the time to think what she had available to get what was needed done. She used existing knowledge to make the connection to accomplish her goals.
High grades and test scores are not reliable indicators of resourcefulness. So this is a lesson for all of us. It takes the ability to process information emotionally as well as intellectually. Believe it or not in all the jobs or whatever career path you may take being resourceful is what is going to make you stand out.
Throughout life you are going to encounter so many obstacles and challenges. Most of the time these obstacle can be overtaken just by being resourceful. Believe it or not reading will help you improve you ability to be resourceful.
It's all about using what you have to achieve your goals. Here is an example of a person that used their resourcefulness to complete a task.
Susan is enjoying her summer break before her senior year in Destin, Florida. She is on the beach taking selfies and her notification sounds dings. She checks it really quick and notices it is from one of her school officials saying she is missing the ECS form for the concurrent class that she signed up for. She panics because she is not going to be back in town by the time she makes it back to town. She attempts to call the school and see what can be done but it's after hours and there is no answer. Fear is setting in because she is trying to make sure she is enrolled in this course her senior year otherwise she will have to pay way more for the same course when she decides to take it in college as a first time freshman. Through the panic and fear she remains calm and thinks. She remembers there is a website that her college and career coaches designed for her. She thinks, let me go to this website and see what is this form I'm missing. She goes to her internet browser "safari" because she has an iPhone and because she did not remember the website link she went to Facebook where she follows her career coaches. Sure enough there was a link at the top taking her straight to the website. Once their she saw that there was a tab under services for concurrent enrollment and low and behold there on the page she spots ECS form. The feeling of despair weakens as she clicks on the link to the form. As it opens she takes a sip of her fresh squeezed raspberry lemonade. "No" she screams as she looks back at her phone. When the link opened up its to a download form. Not a form that can be submitted online. Now she back in a state of panic. She sits back and throws her beach towel over her head she feels completely defeated. She thinks to herself I cannot afford to miss this opportunity and from the email it seems as this is a hard deadline because it was actually due before the semester ended. So she ponders a minute and then decides to pull her phone back out. She opens up Google maps and does a search for Office Depot. "Yes!", she exclaims 1.9 miles away. She goes tells her Dad all about what is going on and he agrees to take her to Office Depot. She goes and tells them she needs a document printed and since it is only 2 pages it cost her less than $1.00. She gets the form now all printed out and she fills the form out. She then tells the worker she needs to email it back to her high school official. "Ok, what it the email address" the office depot worker ask. She goes to the email that started all this and proceeds to provide the email address where the form should be returned to. Now back to the beach she goes. The next day she gets a text message saying she is now registered for College Algebra for the Fall semester. At that moment she felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment.
In the above Scenario Susan overcame so many challenges by just taking the time to think what she had available to get what was needed done. She used existing knowledge to make the connection to accomplish her goals.
High grades and test scores are not reliable indicators of resourcefulness. So this is a lesson for all of us. It takes the ability to process information emotionally as well as intellectually. Believe it or not in all the jobs or whatever career path you may take being resourceful is what is going to make you stand out.
Integrating Technology
I have found that though students have more technology than previous generations it is not always used in a way that could bring the most benefit.
It is important that you understand how technology can help you. If you are trying to accomplish something more than likely the tool is at your fingertips, no seriously literally in your hand. Your cellphone has so many wonderful qualities that you may not even know. For example in the above scenario about Susan what if I told you she did not have to go to Office Depot. Well, its true she could have used an app to edit the document and then she could have sent it back. Even if she did have office depot print she did not necessarily need to pay them to send the email because she could have scanned and sent the email from a scanning app on her phone.
It is important that you understand how technology can help you. If you are trying to accomplish something more than likely the tool is at your fingertips, no seriously literally in your hand. Your cellphone has so many wonderful qualities that you may not even know. For example in the above scenario about Susan what if I told you she did not have to go to Office Depot. Well, its true she could have used an app to edit the document and then she could have sent it back. Even if she did have office depot print she did not necessarily need to pay them to send the email because she could have scanned and sent the email from a scanning app on her phone.
Apps As Resources
In this section you will see a list of apps I have used to make my life easier. These apps I have used over the years while working on my masters degree and throughout my career both private and public. Mostly all these applications are available on both IOS (Apple) and Android.
DocuSign- This electronic signature is a industry leader. If you need to complete and sign a form without printing it out use this app. It is secured with your own username and password
Color Note- Mostly all your devices have their own notepad system. Color note syncs with Google so you have the ability to sync notes across devices. Unlike those tied specifically to one operating system.
Barcode and QR scanners- These apps are good to have because a lot of resources can be accessed quickly and efficiently. Most companies have realized this is the most effective way to get you to the information without delay. There are tons of these type of apps. The only difference normally are the ads associated with them. (just search you app or play store for barcode/qr scanner)
Microsoft Word- This app is exactly as it states. You will need this to open, edit or even create documents on the go. Make sure you are not using the same language you use when texting.
File Manager/File Cloud/Backup- It is important that you keep all your files together. Whether it is a file downloaded from the internet or files saved from an email. When you are in college and career it is your responsibility to make sure you also don't lose these files, thus having them backed up to a cloud or "drive" service. This gives you the ability to assess them anywhere and not loose them if you loose your thumb drive, phone, etc. ( most devices come with a file manager already; however if you have an iPhone there are specific depending on the version you are currently running. For more information on Apple and managing files click here
Email- Email is an app that is already installed on your device, however depending on your email provider you may require an additional application such as, Outlook. You should always add your email(s) to your device. This will have your email coming to your device like a text message. This is a way to make sure you stay informed and helps you with communication. (Which is a skill employers look for)
Document Scanner- Students always ask "in the scholarship application they ask for a transcript to be uploaded and i was wondering how I would go about doing that?" There are a number of ways to do this while most printers have scanning capabilities, not everyone has access to a printer. Nevertheless most of you all have access to smartphones whether an IOS or Android operating system. In you app store there are endless document scanners. I personally use the one titled " Simple Scan". But you should explore and find one that fits your needs.
The apps are endless so just imagine all the applications out there that will support you in what you are trying to accomplish. These are just a few.