Core Competency Activity – BUILDING GRIT AND RESILIENCE

1. During Quarter 1, what went well for you? Explain. Examples: being back in the classroom, having only two courses, seeing my friends, keeping up with homework, playing volleyball, improving math, helping plan a virtual assembly, becoming more fit. 

Somethings that went well for me in quarter one is that I adapted well to the amount and difficulty of the homeworkAnother thing that went well for me was finally being able to have in-person conversations again, and finding out that my social skills had not disappeared. I got to make new friends, and meet new people; It was quite a pleasant quarter. One final thing that I believe went well was managing my own time and organizing myself properly and consistently for the first quarter. It started out a bit rough (like forgetting to write important dates down, etc.), but I eventually got into the habit of writing everything important down and effectively managing my time to fit my needs. 

2. During Quarter 1, what did you find challenging or disappointing or stressfulExplain. 

Somethings that I found challenging and stressful was the workload. The workload had increased drastically from the previous year. In addition to my already bad work ethic, I was worried I would not be able to adapt to the new workload in time. However, I did overcome this challenge in the end by employing a few techniques I have discovered worked well for me. These techniques included taking breaks in the middle of working to help me gain energy and focus back before continuing to work. 

3. Think of ONE thing you really want to improve in Quarter 2 (and Q 3&4). Examplesschool subject, sport, time spent on homework/studying, playing a musical instrument, leadership skills, a language, photography, a relationshipgeneral fitness.  

One thing that I want to improve in quarter 2 is t0 shorten the amount of time I spend on homework. As of right now, even with all the time management I have done to assist me in completing homework, I just keep spending way too much time doing homework. It has been affecting me both mentally and physically to be doing homework for that amount of time, and I really need to change this. 

4. What are two specific actions that you can start doing every day to get closer to your goalHow long will you spend on this action each day? What part of the day?  

a) One action I can do to get closer to my goal is to stop getting distracted so much while doing homework, especially while doing homework on my computer. I need to start putting my phone on silent so notifications cannot distract me, I need to also to start getting in the habit of not opening a new tab unrelated to what I am currently doing to stop any potential possibilities of me getting distracted. would not have to spend a designated amount of time each day as I would be just reminding myself to do so each time something can distract me, building the habit of not going off-task while doing my homework.  

b) Another action I could do to get closer to my goal is to set due dates earlier than the actual due date. Friends in my exact same situation have told me that this action was extremely effective, as you think that it is due earlier, thus making your brain more focused on the task at hand. I would employ this action each time I get homework, and make my own personal due date 3 days earlier (unless it is due the next day, of course). 

5. If you experience challenges, what might you do to work through them? Examples: ask help from a friend or parentbreak the task into smaller chunks; “google” how other people may deal with similar problems. 

If I experience challenges, or my actions are not as effective as I thought they would be, there are a few things I could do. For starters, I could simply change and try another, different, action to employ instead. Perhaps, it would be more effective this time. Another way I could work through challenges that I experience could be to get help from a friend or parent. If I am asking a friend, I would make sure it is a friend who has gone through a comparable situation before too. This way, I would have a more effective solution to my problem as it is from someone who has also gone through a similar challenge before. Finally, as it suggests above, I could “google” how other people have dealt with a similar problem like mine. That way, I could at least get some inspiration on how to work through those challenges.