Posts Tagged ‘environment’
I came across a post by Guy Kawasaki yesterday titled The growth Mindset. I have made a few posts about goals and I think that the pursuit of constant personal growth is also really important. Guy and Carol Dweck talk about how people with different mindsets will end up with different goals and different paths. I think this is an excellent article and have listed a few key point I think are important.
The two mindsets
The first is the person who thinks people are limited with the talents and abilities they are born with. This can also include the environment they are born into as well. They view these factors as how much or what they can achieve in life. The second mindset is the person who believes they can learn and accomplish whatever they want. They generally believe that how hard they work at something is more important than how good they are to start with. I obviously agree with the latter, and I believe you will find that most very successful people would say they would too. In many events in life, whether it is sports, business, school, or politics; the person who wins isn’t necessarily the one who was the best. It is usually the person who wants it the most and is willing to work the hardest.
Pursuing Constant personal growth
1. Set your goals very high and create a strategy to achieve them. This will allow you to keep learning and keep stretching for the next level. It is much better to set your goals high and fail then set them low and succeed. However, you can break your ultimate goal down into smaller goals to gain confidence in accomplishment.
2. Instead of coming up with reasons why you can’t, come up with reasons and methods to how you can. People achieve amazing things everyday that most thought were impossible. Focus on how to do it and don’t let yourself think about the negative.
3. Think positive and tell yourself you will achieve it. The mind is an amazing thing. Once you set it in your mind that you will achieve something your brain goes to work on how to accomplish it. I had set goals to study in Japan as a college student even though the costs were much more than I was able to afford. I told myself that I was going to go no matter what. I started creating strategies on how to get there, and was able to work even harder because I had a focus. The hard work paid off and I was finally able to study at Waseda University for a year on a full scholarship.
4. Don’t allow people to pull you down. People will have a million reasons why you can’t accomplish your goals. In most cases the truth is they have never tried themselves and are afraid to do so. If you want something bad enough, just go for it. In many cases the same friends and family who might have told you it was impossible will cheer you on once you start into it.
5. Fail and learn. The best way to get better at something is to fail. Failure is not the end of the game, it is just one of the steps. Don’t be afraid to fail and you will increase your chances of success dramatically. This has been extremely true in my Japanese language studies. I used to get embarrassed to make mistakes in front of people. But I soon learned that I would remember a word much better after I had butchered it in a conversation. You will also find that the people who are really great at languages (and other things) are the ones who just keep trying.
6. Adjust your goals over time. Set your goals high. When you achieve them, set new goals. Don’t feel that goals are too high. If you set your mind to something, you will be amazed at what you can achieve. Don’t let anyone or anything limit your mindset.
Books
So today is Earth Day (in Japan). The fact that there is only one day for the earth, and not even a holiday, reminds me just how serious our situation is. There are a number events that last at least weeks, and yet earth only gets a day. It seems easy to agree that our environment is getting worse and worse, yet so few people seem to care.
However, I think (I hope) we might be on the brink of a change. As gas prices are raising and other natural resources are becoming more scarce, things like electric cars (which I will be writing another article on shortly), solar panels, and water purifiers are becoming more and more prosperous. And as everyone has proven so far, it takes money to drive us to action.
Using a Nintendo Wii in the classroom? That’s right. Johnny Lee has created a program a few programs that can turn the Nintendo Wii into a virtual white board for under a $100 (machines that normally cost several thousand dollars. Not only can who write directly to the white board, it also works as a mutli-touch screen allowing you to turn and move the images. You can find his You Tube videos below.
There is a lot of technology out there that can be used for educational purposes, and while I personally think that too much computer learning is not a good thing, there are times when this type of technology can be very useful.
He has also created a design for way for to view the Nintendo Wii in 3D using two LED attached to a set of goggles. Since a student can navigate their way in a 3D environment, this could be great for things like leaning astronomy, geography, or taking tours though ancient cities. Find the the video below.
There are a number of these types of hacks that can be done to save money or find a new use for a current item. For instance the Nintendo DS can be turned into a palm pilot, a calculator, a notepad, a dictionary, a phone. You can find a lot of applications for the Nintendo DS here. The Sony Playstation 3 can run the Linux operating system. Finding better and cheaper ways to teach in our schools could save a lot of dollars for our schools and help keep the kids more interested.
Johnny Lee on TED talking about the programs he has created.
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