14A – Halfway Reflection

For this exercise, I'd like you reflect on the past two months. In your post for this exercise, pretend that you're talking to a student from next semester's course. What would you tell them?

I would let them know that this class challenges yourself, entrepreneurship targets the brain to get the best ideas out of each person, but not only that, this ideas will become projects and one day can become something real and that can benefit as a experience and a life teaching opportunity,

1)    Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I have learned that I am capable to make my concepts into something tactical that can be developed in the future, I have had the idea of my solar panel project and this class has helped me with the feeling of hope that this one day will become a personal achievement.

2)    Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I have had many instances in my life where I felt like I should just give up, but the moment when I felt it more was when I was dealing with facial paralysis and the medication due to an accident I had around 4 years ago. It was a very complicated situation, back then I was studying petroleum engineering. The most challenging semester was when I first started taking the medication, I was enrolled in mechanic physics (5 units), organic chemistry (4 units + lab hours), calculus (4 units) and English (3 units) and that’s a total of 16 units. My facial paralysis caused me to have one side of my face without a sense, my cheek and forehead felt numb, one of my eyes would hang a little but enough to make my eye permanently twitchy and watery, one side of my mouth would hang and sometimes while drinking water it would fall from the hanging gap. The medication would target the nerves on my body in order to heal them and I would get therapy session with shocks of electricity on my face. It was a constant uncomfortable feeling that wouldn’t allow me to concentrate on homework or any other daily activities. The medication was schedule for me to take one pill every 12 hours for 4 years, problem is it would be so strong I would fall asleep after 30 mins of taking it. I would fall asleep during class, sometimes taking quizzes or tests and it got to the point where I fell asleep for my chemistry final… it costed me the semester. Luckily, with help of my family I was able to find the motivation to keep on pushing, these things happen for a reason, and I am glad it happened because it got me to where I am now and one day to achieve something greater. For the past two months I have found more motivation, it was a dream for me to study business at UF, so this challenges me to work harder than I did before.

3)    Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

1.     Believe in yourself: it leads to success.

2.     Focus on your process and not on the outcome: the process help us learn, this class leads you to where you want to be with great information contributed during lecture.

3.     Invest your time in this: shaping an idea into a project takes time, not only in class but at home challenging yourself with a problem-solve mindset.

Picture with mamá :) my greatest motivator!