Halfway Reflection

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

 Organization is key for this course. On the first week of school, I put all of the assignment’s instructions and due dates into a Google Doc so that I would always know what to do and when to do it. If you are not organized, you may miss assignments or be confused about due dates. Canvas calendars and to-do lists can only be your friends for so long. Sometimes they do not show assignments, and that is when the trust is broken. To keep up with the course requirements, you definitely need to have, or develop, great time management skills. It is important that you are thinking about this course many times throughout the week. You cannot complete the course activities the day before the due date because many times there are interviews involved. You need to get information from REAL PEOPLE to succeed with your business idea, whether you want to pursue it after this course or not.  It is so easy to let coursework slip away from you, especially when you see that peer reviews are only worth one point. Don’t worry about the grade! It is more important to grow as a student and an entrepreneur than it is to get an A. Also, never skip the peer reviews. You’re only putting your peers behind by not giving them the feedback that they need to excel in this course! Stay organized, watch the lectures and put time into the class and you will see the benefits.

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?

There have been a few weeks where I felt like “giving up” mainly due to the stress that I had outside of the course. My biggest personal issue with my attention to the course occurs because my schedule doesn’t allow me to go to the live lectures. I have to find time to watch the lectures outside of the allotted class time and that is sometimes a struggle for me. College life is so busy and sometimes it can be hard to hold a grip on all of the tasks that you have been given. As stated previously, time management is key in this course. If you make a schedule of when you will be working on your courses each week, college life is so much easier. I got through the difficult weeks by improving my time management. Even if I don’t get around to watching the lectures until Thursday night, I am still working all week on the assignments given, especially if interviews are involved. I feel like I have developed a tenacious attitude through the past few months because of my new found love for learning about entrepreneurship. Although I am using my business idea in the course to learn aspects of the entrepreneurial process, I hope to be able to apply what I’ve learned to my own real business one day. I am very determined in the sense that I strive to actually learn how to be a great business woman and I think it really helps me navigate the course easier.

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. Never be discouraged by reviews in the course. Your classmates are here to help you and only want the best for the future of your assignments and business ideas.
2. Prepare for things to come up. This goes with staying organized and having good time management. There will always be things that come up unexpectedly and with no plan, you won’t prosper.
3. Don’t procrastinate. Although it’s very easy to procrastinate in college, I would recommend getting rid of that habit now! Saving everything until the last minute does not only bring you stress, but the possibility to not get everything done. Many parts of this class can’t be held off, such as lectures and interviews, so say goodbye to procrastination!