14A – Halfway Reflection

Tenacity provides perspective in placing short-term difficulties in the context of a higher goal. It is the thread that binds all innovators, entrepreneurs and problem solvers to one another, separating bona fide success stories from the wannabe entrepreneurs.

Tenaciousness is a competency.

The behaviors that I have used or developed to keep up with the requirements of the course include creating a schedule and managing my time wisely. Online courses allow students to decide when to complete assignments in their own time. At the beginning of each week, I look over which assignments are due, and determine which days to set aside to complete those assignments. Since there are usually two to three assignments due every week in the class, I set aside a day to complete each one. Procrastination is a slippery slope and happens quite frequently in online classes, so students must stay organized and stick to their study plan. Time management is crucial in an online course, which offers flexibility in one’s schedule, but that freedom can also become detrimental if a student lacks time management skills. Most students tend to underestimate how much time should be spent on an online class, which requires around the same amount of time as a traditional course. By following my weekly schedule, I have never missed a deadline for entrepreneurship.

Tenaciousness is also about attitude.

A moment when I felt like “giving up” was when I did piano competitively in high school. My piano instructor and I decided that I would enter the competition with Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor, also known as the Revolutionary Etude. However, as the date of the competition approached, I found myself more and more overwhelmed due to the fact that I didn’t have the piece completely memorized and that I was struggling with the cross-rhythms in the piece. It got to the point where I considered giving up entirely and dropping out of the competition, but what pulled me through was my piano instructor, who listened to me and guided me through the areas of the piece I was having trouble with. I ended up placing third in the competition and am grateful that I didn’t give up when I found myself faced with challenges. I feel like I’ve developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months and the experiences that have most contributed to this are taking the most amount of credit hours that I ever have this semester or being an officer for a student organization.

Three tips.
Three tips I would offer next semester’s students about fostering the skills that support tenacity and developing the 'tenacious mindset' are 1. Set realistic goals and expectations for yourself, 2. Actively compete with others, whether it’s your peers or friends and 3. Always be aware of what you currently have. By setting small and achievable goals, it enables you to move in the right direction, stay motivated, and make changes in your life feasible. While setting goals is difficult for most students due to their expectations versus what can be realistically accomplished, they can be changed to fit into one’s schedule. Competition is always present in marketing and advertising realms and presents itself in one’s daily life. Students tend to perform better when they have a competitor to measure themselves against, and this can be used to one’s advantage. Competition between those in the workplace can improve motivation and productivity while encouraging members to cooperate and work together more effectively. While it is tempting to focus on things to improve, by focusing on what you have can turn out to be just as helpful, if not more. It is highly likely that as a person, you are a lot more successful than you give yourself credit for.