Assignment 14A: Halfway Reflection

Tenaciousness is a Competency

            In order to keep up with this course, I tend to look ahead and plan out how I am going to attack each assignment. So, in effect developing my own ENT 3003-time management tactics. I usually need to stay ahead of the game when completing a number of researching/writing assignment such as these. If I do not get them out early, I will simply not want to do them and this can be disastrous when many of the assignments require interviewing many people.

A typical work week for ENT 3003 for me usually begins with me looking at the 2 or 3 assignments that are due that week and two assignment that are due next week. I like to look at what the future assignments entail so I can add different interviewees into my schedule. I usually also try to post to my blog by Thursday so I can start on my next round of interviews/assignments and find time to think over my idea and hopefully improve it.

I, also, learned to look deep into a problem and ask the underlying why questions, not just the surface level questions. The bug assignment really helped me with this!

Tenaciousness is also about Attitude

            I can honestly say I wanted to give up at Assignment 7 when we decided on what idea we wanted to stick with throughout the rest of the course. I originally had an idea that only really applied to a small number of people (mainly the people that I work with). The idea revolved around making putting away lane lines at the pool easier. However, there are not many other people who share this problem that I can interview because I work with only 40 people and I knew that they would give me the same answer: “Lane Lines are so annoying!” And repeating that 15+ times would look ridiculous.

            I wanted to choose a topic that I was passionate about or something that I had experience with. I had the idea that I am using now (food allergy tests) in the back of my mind but I was having trouble improving it or solving a problem. I also did not want to appear stupid in my blog posts -like I didn’t know what I was talking about. However, I realized that this is what the class is for. The course revolves around peer feedback and that is meant to push you in the right direction and improve, not crush your ideas. It was finally understanding and accepting this that pushed me through complete Assignment 7 and also gave me the attitude to look ahead so I can plan for the future assignments. This way I will not be lost like I was for #7.

3 Tips

          1.     It’s all about that Time Management. A big killer to assignment motivation is stressing out over all the assignments that have to complete. This course can be easy to manage if you schedule it the right way. Like I mentioned above, maybe take time to look at the assignments scheduled ahead so you know what you are up against. Who knows maybe you’ll hit a spark of inspiration and get ideas for upcoming assignments.

          2.     Always stay hungry. What I mean by this, is do not back down from your work. If you are really passionate about a subject let it show. Stay alert for those ideas and opportunities that appear in assignments, campus, and Gainesville community. 

          3.     Accept Feedback. This is one of the most important things I learned so far during this course. Do not let a negative or critical comment hold you back from completing an assignment. Do not let it cause you to abandon your idea. The feedback is here to help! Let it inspire you and motivate you to go on.