Lesson #1: Identify your weakness and give language to your emotions.
As cliché as it may sound, individuals often downplay their emotions, or are not in-tune with them because they assume that socially, they are just supposed to respond. Respond to what? Respond to situations whether they have knowledge of it or not. Whether they have a clue or not, “just go along, you’ll be fine,” is the common response they receive or the response that think they will get. While the “wing it” attitude exalts character strengths like being a risk taker, when it comes to your emotions, it is best to understand them. Contreras speaks on building a support group, aka networking. The panel also encouraged that you speak your concerns aloud and do something about them. Lesson #2: Seek a solution “ The one thing you have to do is reach out for help.” –FLOTUS. Sometimes you cannot do it alone. Feel free to research, to ask a friend, to exploit all the possible resources available when you do not know how to handle a problem. “You cannot do this alone, and you should not do this alone.” –FLOTUS Lesson #3: Self-management While it is important to understand your position, and seek a second opinion, the importance of being your own overseer should not go unobserved. As rapper Wale discussed, college taught him to be “self-made.” Wale learned that he could not count on mom or dad to be behind his shoulder guiding him into the steps that he needed to take. The rapper, developed ambition, which today is at the base of his lyrics. As your own boss, you need to have your own wake-up calls; “you wont get fired” as your own boss. Therefore, you need to work not only hard, but work smart. Be preemptive and self-critical. One of the tips that struck me the most in the 35 minute video of the Summit, was Mrs. Obama’s speech on hard-work. In my last spring semester at Baruch College, I took the course “Psychology of Learning.” This course, taught by the incredible Catherine Good, Ph.D., focused on teaching students how to recognize their learning abilities and improve their approach to learning.
Basic summary of what I learned in this course:
In a study by Carol S. Dweck and Ellen L. Legget two methods of learning are introduced. Dweck and Legget identify learning approaches that create patterns of behavior. Although individuals who practice both of these approaches have the same goals, their approach and motivations are entirely different. The approaches are labeled mastery and performance. The idea is that the adaptive approach is characterized by placing emphasis on learning. The behavioral patterns that accompany this approach focus on the malleability of intelligence and hard work (not giving up). The second approach is considered maladaptive and performance oriented. The idea behind this is that the maladaptive learning pattern encourages “helplessness” by pursuing easy tasks. Learning is looked upon as a fixed entity. They believe one is only “good” at the things that “come naturally.” If they fail, they are prone to give up, or brag about the things that they are good in. Mrs. Obama, however, encourages the graduates to not be “afraid of hard work,” in other words, for us to adopt a mastery approach to life. If it’s too easy for you, then you’re probably not working hard enough, she continued. On that note, Mr. Duncan closed “Find what you’ll do every single day if you didn’t have to make a nickel.” |