Halfway Reflection

Tenaciousness is a competency

To meet the requirements of the course a few of the behaviors I have used are; time management, research, and focus. Specifically, time management has been the biggest part of keeping up with the course. I write a rough hourly schedule out for the entire week each Sunday. This allows me to allot time to the course work, free time, and other current obligations. Getting the blog posts done a day or two before the due date is always beneficial. Moreover, I do research regularly for the blog posts. Whenever you are given assignment to find opportunities or see potential opportunities in a newspaper, do not just do the minimum requirements. To make intelligent blog post and comments I research the topics and dig into the who, what, when, and most importantly why. Lastly, you have to stay focused. Many times watching video lectures can become monotonous and writer's block seems to always hit me when I want to write a blog post. Do what you have to, to eliminate distractions like going to library to do your work or plugging the headphones in to stay focused.

Tenaciousness is also an attitude

To be honest I have not had a moment when I felt like "giving up". I have had moments where life gets you in a rut and course work is the last thing you want to do. You have to have a mindset about life that no matter the challenge you will accomplish what you need to. Some people call this a tenacious attitude, but growing up this was expected of me and was just called hard work. What pulls me through is that working through challenges will make you a stronger person and many times there are others relying on you to pull through. If you realize that someone else is depending on you, I tend to put more responsibility on myself to have success. With regards to the class, when you continue to get No's or response that you were not expecting that shoot down your ideas you do not just fold up shop and quit. You take a step back, see if the criticism is fair, and then adjust and continue forward. Tenacity does not guarantee success, but tenacity ensures that if you are faced with failure you can restart and continue to try again.

Three Tips

- Surround yourself with like minded people. When you are influenced by those that have the same tenacity and ingenuity it will rub off on you and when you do face adversity you can draw strength from their influences.
- Live, sleep, eat, and do everything with a purpose geared to helping you to your goals. If you are continually thinking about your goals you become what others may call obsessed. Your obsession will drive you and you will develop a tenacious mindset.
- Take time to reflect. You may have the will to accomplish a task, but sometimes we do not have the proper tools or approach to succeed. Reflect on your experiences and adjust how you approach a situation in order to have the desired outcome next time.



Below is retired SSG Travis Mills. He is the ultimate representation of tenacity. He lost parts of all four of his limbs from an IED in Afghanistan. He not only had the will to survive, but is also an advocate for veterans and a motivational speaker. His charity uses the motto:

 "Never give up. Never quit."

If you want to know what real tenacity is I would say that his story would help clarify. Whenever you think about the the challenges you face, sometimes they seem minor compared to other's. If you want to find out more about his story the link is below.

http://www.travismills.org/