The Pyramid of Success

John Wooden

25 Blocks

Industriousness: There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hand work and careful planning.

This means hard work. For everything you do, you must show hard work. When you start to work, the manager always wants to see that you're a hard worker. You care about your job that you will get everything done without hesitation. There would be no slacking off or distractions. Before anything, you must have a plan. How you're going to get where you want to be and how you are going to accomplish it. Every dream of yours requires dedication and hard work. You have to not fall behind in school and make sure you keep up with all your classes. Everything will be stressful but at the end it's going to be worth it. Some people out there probably look back at when they were in school and tell themselves, "I wish I wouldn't have slacked off in high school, I could be where all my friends are in life." 

Friendship: Comes from mutual esteem, respect, and devotion. Like marriage it must not be taken for granted but requires a joint effort
Friendship is often in most schools. A person that you find that understands you, making him/her your friend. It's a wonderful feeling of friends having your back, keeping you company, and they are interesting in your point of view. There a few friends and then there are many, you don't just want some person, you want someone that can be trustworthy. Having a few friends is beneficial, they are your true friends since they are willing to spend time with you. Having a huge group of friends can be good as well, very fun times are awaiting people with a huge group of friends. All it takes is for one hangout to occur and there is a awesome afternoon. That type of bonds should never be fondled with. One wrong move and it can cause damage to that bond, less likely but be well aware. You care for them, respect them, losing them with break your heart. You can accomplish many things with a person that you get along with than a complete stranger.

Loyalty:To yourself and all those depending upon you, keep your self respect.

Loyalty is very important for every single human being to have. Showing loyalty to others proves how respectful you are towards others. Loyalty really marks you as a wonderful person. It's for the best to be loyal to others since not showing loyalty is disrespectful. Almost like respecting your seniors, the elderly, your friends, a higher ranking individual, and family. You must show your loyalty to others so you won't be seen as a bad person. People will respect you for how good you are treating others, showing that you earned their respect, and the cycle continues. Don't waste your breath on being loyal to people who don't respect you. There are times where you are loyal to everyone but you don't receive the respect the individual is suppose to give. Showing loyalty is key to getting respect.

Cooperation:With all levels of  your coworkers. Listen if you want to be heard. Be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.

We all cooperate in something in our lives. Whether it's in school or in a program or even at home, there is cooperation. It's mainly in when working together with someone else is when cooperation is key. Cooperating with your team can really change the outcome of your grade. The team will rely on each other and as expected, there will be amazing progress from the team. Without cooperation, you will be looked down upon and you will set yourself with a bad image. No one will even bother to work with you since you don't cooperate. Showing that you can cooperate will change everything, less stress for the whole group. Cooperation isn't just making your own way to get the job done, but the best way for the whole team can be less stressed, no confusion, and no frustration to get the job done. Cooperate so then everyone will be happy that you tried your best.

Enthusiasm: Brushes off upon those with whom you come in contact. You must truly enjoy what you are doing.

The second cornerstone of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is an emotion. It’s how you feel about what you’re doing. If you’re not excited about your life, why should anyone else be? If you’re not excited about your work, why would anyone else get excited? It’s hard to attract customers, employers, subordinates, even a life partner without enthusiasm. You have to be enthusiastic about you so that others are enthusiastic about you and your prospects for success. The difference between success and failure is often small. The difference between big success and run-of-the mill success is even smaller. Enthusiasm is a critical component that makes the difference!

Ambition: (For noble cause)

Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something, it needs determination and hard work for you to be considered a ambitious person. What do you strive for in life? What are you willing to do to put more time on? I'm ambitious on certain things in my life that I'm interested on. I'm willing to work hard and work smart on my appearance, mainly my body image. I'm willing to feel pain, become filled with sweat dropping from my body, surpass my limits to achieve the dream body. Another is my future, mainly what will I work on and what would I like. I'm very ambitious to become a police man, I will get yelled at, it will be frustrated, always on high alert, and be 100% CTR. I'm Ambitious enough to still have the same dream and to still strive for it. I would love to have a family. I will be willing to spend time with my kids, love my wife and kids, take care of everyone, waste huge amounts of money than normally, and raise them well. I have ambition, I'll do whatever it takes to reach my goals. Everyone has their own dreams and reached and completed their goals, I'm sure you can to.

Alertness: "Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve."

Alertness is being aware of your surroundings. This applies to school work, education, driving etc. If you're not alert on what's going on, you don't know what can happen. When you typically think of being alert, goal setting does not come into play. We need to stay alert while driving, be aware of our surroundings when we go from place to place, and work to remain focused and sometimes awake doing everyday tasks. Sometimes we work through our daily tasks without even thinking about them. We go to class, say hi as a formality to people we may not really know and finish our days not really thinking about whether we moved closer to any goal we had set for ourselves. In our hectic, busy and cell-phone filled lives, we may feel as if we are always alert because we are always on the go and connected to everyone and everything. Rather, the opposite is true. With our heads buried behind computer screens and phones, we may miss half the people that cross our paths. We may miss beautiful scenery or the opportunity for an important face to face conversation with a loved one or even someone new. It is often difficult to quiet our minds and to remain still, but this is when the most alertness occurs. We become completely present with our thoughts, where their taking us and what we want from our lives. Through quiet observations of ourselves and others, we become increasingly alert and sensitive to other’s needs as well as our own.

Initiative:"Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it."

Initiative means having the courage to take action and make decisions. Keep in mind that we all are going to fail at times. You must understand this and not fear failure. None of us is perfect. But if you are afraid to fail you will never do the things you are capable of doing. If you have thoroughly prepared and are ready to give it everything you've got there is no shame if you fail - nothing to fear in failure. But fear of failure is what often prevents one from taking action - from using initiative.  Failure to act- lack of initiative - is often the greatest failure of all. Use good judgement based on all available information - and then use your initiative. A mistake may occur, but if it is not because of carelessness or sloppiness, poor thinking or rash judgement it must be accepted as part of your journey to success. The same is true everywhere in life. Initiative quickly but not carelessly or in a hurried manner.

Intentness:"Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on it's achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent."
  To have intentness means you are focused on your goals. When you have your mind set on a specific objective you want to accomplish. This is an important building block on the pyramid block of success. An example where this building block would be used would be for a competitive player. They will have their mind set on just winning. But this skill should not be exaggerated and you shouldn't be selfish. You should have your mind set on your goals but you shouldn't bring others down to accomplish yours. 

Sincerity:(keeps friends)

Sincerity is the mortar that binds together the blocks of friendship, loyalty, cooperation and team spirit. Therefore, sincerity is also necessary to reach the apex. Sincerity may not make a friend, but it will keep one. It often takes a while to be validated, but once a person knows that our word, character and steadfastness have withstood the test of life, a firm friendship can be established and maintained. When we realize that a friend can be counted on during times of need. When we see that his or her values don’t blow around in the breeze. When he or she stands up for us, we are far more appointed to stand up for him or her—and vice versa. Be the person that knows how to keep friends and help them out with any problems not the ones that leave them when they need you the most. Show that you are always going to be there for them no matter what problems you encounter. Show sincerity when they need to be comforted from

breakup or family loss. Don't lie to them and show they can trust you. 

Adaptability:(To any situation)

Adaptability is being able to adjust to any situation at any given time. In life, we all know that we can only be sure of a few things, specifically death and taxes. We can also count on change. We need to recognize change, grow with it and learn from it. Since change is inevitable, people who are inflexible, bullheaded or stubborn will never make it to the apex of the Pyramid. If we want to succeed, we must readily adapt to circumstances as they unfold—this includes both what we cannot change and what will take some time to change. If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward.

  

Condition:"Mental-Moral-Physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated."

To condition you must prepare mentally and show moral restraint. So it is with us – we have to nourish our bodies, our minds, and our souls to be at the top of our game. On the physical side, it’s a blend of proper rest with a regular exercise regimen and a healthy diet. On the mental side, seek to learn at least one new thing every day. Also learn how to be mentally tough so you can withstand the inevitable ups and downs. Your condition depended on two things – how hard you work and how well you behaved when living in the outside world. You must condition into a new school or new job and do the things you need to do. If hard things come your way you must not give up. Keep on pushing through and you will make it far enough.

Skill:"A knowledge of and the ability to     and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail."

 To have skill it means you are good at a certain thing. Whether it's a game, or reading, or learning, you can do it no matter what. Skill is used in many things today in life as we know it. If you want to go out for a sport, you need to have some skill or experience for that particular sport. In school, you must have the skill to learn. The skill to always want to do your homework and help out the rest of your classmates no matter what. There's this quote by Will Smith and it states, "Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft." This is saying that it takes a while for someone to have and get the skill that they want. Everyone has a talent. You may not know it but soon you will find it and embrace it. On the other hand, skill is something you must work hard to get. It takes time and practice for people that play sports to get the skill they need to play the game correctly. If you work hard enough, then the skill will come to you. Don't give up no matter how many times you failed at doing it. 

Team Spirit: "A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all."

Team spirit is the ability to cooperate and work well with others. You show each other that they can do it no matter what. You give supportive advice and help them succeed throughout anything. You have consideration for other people and don't let them give up. If they need help you are with them through it all and making sure they get it no matter what. The thought of being in a sport and having your team by your side cheering you on is the best thing in the world. This can apply to schoolwork and doing your job as well. In school, your friends will be there for you to make sure you past the test you need. They will give you a shoulder to cry on and remind you that you're not alone. In your job, your co-workers can help you on how to better your assignments or whatever it is your doing. In life, there are going to be people that want to see you fail but you shouldn't let it get to you. As long as you have those few friends that are going to be cheering you through all the good and the bad are the people that you want in your life. The ones that work well with you and help each other succeed. 

Honesty: "Honesty is the best policy."(Benjamin Franklin)

Honesty is something that is very hard for everyone to do. Being honest is the best solution, but not easy to admit, especially if you have done some wrong of any kind. I would be honest to my mother and father so then there are no confrontations, be honest with them means you love them dearly and would never hurt them. Of course, it's also easy to be honest when you are telling the truth. Knowing you have the answer to the solution, why lie, being honest is obviously what you should do. Honesty is important for maintaining trust from your family, friends, and any kind of relationship. Being dishonest with be the opposite, not being trusted from everyone around you. It's for the best that you are always honest. Always trusted and always relied on. Honesty is the best policy.

Resourcefulness (proper judgement): "Make the most out of what you have."(Anonymous)

"If you have a dream, if you have something you've always wanted to do, look within yourself because that is where resourcefulness resides; and go for it."(Jennifer Witterick)

Resourcefulness means the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties. This means you are able to get over the bumpy roads you encounter throughout your life. You are able to enjoy what you have even if it's not what you expect. You make the most of what you have. You find ways that will make you happy no matter what. For example, I will make sure someone is happy even if at the time I'm not. It's just me but I love seeing someone else other than me with a smile on their face. It makes me happy that I'm able to help people and do the right thing without being asked because I know I would like for someone to do the same thing for me. Be motivated to make the best of what you can because things happen for a reason. If there is something good that happens, take the chance because it might not happen again. Take all the opportunities that you get and go with them. Who knows maybe it will be the thing you have always been looking for. So make the best of what you have because you only live once and enjoy life as it is. 

Poise: "Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation."

"The key to winning is poise under stress. " This quote has meaning because it challenges you to stay calm even in hard situations. If you be yourself then you're already winning no matter what. Being under stress people tend to lose their minds and become someone they aren't. When I'm under stress I can't concentrate anymore and tend to give up. I still haven't learned how to control myself but now I do. Poise will help me calm myself down and be ease. I will be myself because being yourself will help you win in life. If you change and become someone that you aren't then you will be too busy focusing on that rather than yourself. You must learn how to come with ease in any situation and not make things harder on yourself. You have to stay calm and breathe and be yourself. Don't change who you are for anybody. Be yourself and they will like you for who you are and not who you want to be. If someone doesn't like who you are then it's because they want to be like you and just can't. Don't change, just be calm; ease no matter what. 

Confidence:"Through preparation breeds confidence"Gerald Bell in"The Carolina Way"

When you have confidence, you are never doubting yourself for what you do. When always keep your head up and keep the positive thoughts in your mind. You won't let negative things get to you because you know you are able to make it no matter what. You trust yourself in everything you do whether it's presenting or turning in an assignment. For example, I must work on my confidence for today at 6:30 pm. I will be presenting our IDP in front of many important people and I'm so nervous. I must keep in mind that I can do it and my group and I are going to do great on the presentation. I will keep my head high and breathe before and during everything. Everyone must have confidence because if not, that will hold them back. They will be too focused on the "I can't do it" and not on the "I can do it." If you know the things you are going to say and have everything memorized, then it shouldn't be a problem for you. Don't panic because it will bring you down. Have the confidence you had once you started the project to the ending of everything. If you keep it high and not let negative things get in your head, then nothing will be the matter anymore. 

Reliability: (creates respect)

Reliability is being able to count on someone and have their full trust. Someone who is trustworthy of what you say or do. One way reliability comes in handy is when doing a school project. For example, I had to rely on my team members for IDP to get all their slides done and show up for the showcase. I also had to rely on them to show up for our call to action presentation at Huntington Park City Hall. When you rely on someone, you show them that they can trust you no matter what. You are there to keep your word on the things you say. If you say you're going to show up for the presentation, then show up to it. Don't lie to not hurt someone's feelings. I want to be someone's friend if I see they are reliable and I can trust them. If someone has shown me many times that they aren't trustworthy at all, I have to let them go. I can't trust someone that doesn't keep their word. People that you can rely on would be your family. I have grown to realize that you don't quite have friends in your life. You have people that you know and talk to but that's it. You can have one or two best friends, the rest are just people you talk to. The ones you talk to won't be reliable. You can call them your "best friend" but who knows if they're as trustworthy. My family and my two best friends have always been there for me. I can trust them no matter what. On the other hand, the people I talk to I can rely on them but not all the time. I know they do things behind my back or make up fake excuses to not hang out with me. Depend on the people that are trustworthy and keep your trust, not the ones that play around with your trust and prove to you they can't be trusted. 

Fight: (determined effort)

Fight is a determined effort to do the very best we can do. It's digging in, gritting our teeth, standing our ground. When we have fight, we are always ready to respond. We are quick but we don't hurry. We make fewer mistakes because we have the level of our intensity under control. A player with fight has a contained fire burning in his or her belly. This emerges as focused passion. Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time. I always want to win, but I never fight with an opponent. My fight is within me. It is the struggle to be the best I can be at whatever I do. There is no such thing as losing when we've made the effort to do the best we can. No matter what, you are a winner no. As long as you know you went out and did the best you can, you already won. No everyone in life is going to win and not everyone is going to lose. If you do lose, don't give up. Use the mistakes you made and learn from them. If we use our fight and determination to do our best, success will take care of itself.

Competitive Greatness:"Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge."

True competitive greatness is a learned trait that has been taught or discovered by anyone who has ever achieved greatness. To be great at anything in life including athletics, you need to have the skills, passion, and desire. To be truly great and achieve competitive greatness, you need more than this. You have to have that internal motivation to be your driving force. Sure you can become great utilizing external motivators, but if you can’t motivate yourself from within, and that is not the true, driving force that makes you tick; then I don’t believe you can ever achieve true competitive greatness. The first step towards competitive greatness comes from being competitive. Children in today’s society are taught that there are no winners and losers in sports; that just being involved makes everyone a winner. I agree to a certain point, everyone involved is a winner because they are putting a great effort into their sport; however, these children know better. They know whether or not they won or if their team won, so why not just tell them. Everyone can celebrate the fact that they have participated and gave their best effort, but the earlier these children learn the importance of competition in the world, the better off they will be.

Integrity: (purity of intention)

You could say that integrity is always doing the right thing, even when no one is looking, and even when the choice isn't easy. Or, you might see integrity as staying true to yourself and your word, even when you're faced with serious consequences for the choices that you're making. When we have integrity, we're whole and in perfect condition, and we're not compromised by awkward "inconsistencies." When we live our lives with integrity, it means that we're always honest, and we let our actions speak for who we are and what we believe in. Integrity is a choice we make, and it's a choice we must keep making, every moment of our lives. Living a life of integrity means that we never have to spend time or energy questioning ourselves. When we listen to our hearts and do the right thing, life becomes simple. Our life, and our actions, are open for everyone to see, and we don't have to worry about hiding anything.

Faith:(through prayer) Believe and Achieve. Positive Belief.

When you have faith, you believe that something will go as planned. You keep your head up and go on with life. When you have faith, you always have hope and confidence. You have to believe that you will get things done when you need it. You have faith that you're going to do good on the test you took or that you're going to get that dream job of yours. You can say a little prayer, if you believe in the lord, and believe that he can make things happen for you. Having faith comes with believing in yourself first. If you don't believe in yourself, then you won't have faith in the things you do. Keep your head high and don't let those goal buster come into your life. Kick them out because you know that you're going to be successful in the future. All of your hard is going to pay off. Believe in the things you do, because dreams do come true if you have a little faith in yourself. 

Patience: (Good things take time)

When you have patience it means you wait for your actions to come into place. Waiting patiently can build up anxiety because you just want to know the answer really quick. If you have the patience to wait, then good things will come. Good things come for those who wait. You can do so many good things in your life, but you're not going to get rewarded right at that moment. It will all take time. In time, good things will come to you for all the CTR experiences you had while growing up. If you don't have patience, then nothing will come into place. For example, when you apply for your dream college. You send in an application to attend the college you've wanted since you were smaller. Days, weeks, and months pass by and you still haven't got an email back. You get so impatient that you apply for the second college you wanted and get accepted in about a month from sending in the application. Months later, you received an email from your dream college saying you got in but you already enrolled in the classes for the upcoming year in the second college. Since you didn't have patience to wait for the email back, you now have to attend another college for a whole year until the next year to attend in the college of your dreams. Good things come for those who wait. There's nothing wrong with having a back up plan, but there's also nothing wrong with waiting. Patience is the key to success.

  

10 Keys to Personal Power

Brian Tracey

Key 1: Clarity

"Have vision. Determine what you want to be, do or have in life.  Have a sense of direction and know where you’re going.  If you do not have clear specific goals in life, you are doomed forever to work for others who do."

  Clarity is the quality of being clear knowing what you want to be and do in life. This key helps you in the future because you will be prepare you and you will kinda get a idea of what you are going to be and do in your life. Also to write down goals to help you accomplish them, like a Life Planning Goal Journal which will help you a lot and every time you complete something you write victory next to it to know you do it and need many more to goal. And you can write down goals that will take super long. For example, I want to go to Paris and your a 12 year old thinking ahead which is good to know what to do with your life.

Key 2: Competence

"If you commit to excellence, opportunities will always come your way. The harder you work, the better you get."

All want from you is to try your best at things. Giving your all to everything that you do. School is number 1, trying your very best means having a chance to be successful. Closer to reaching your career dreams by having amazing grades. Graduating with honors and being remembered as a student that really committed to school. Colleges and Universities will want you, which gives you a lot of opportunities to be successful. Which goes to show that the harder you work, opportunities will come your way. All because you stayed committed to your future. I would want to not only graduate but improve in my health and talents like drawing,singing,playing trumpet and guitar. If I become committed to myself on those perks, expect that i'll be successful.

Key 3: Concentration

  "Make the best use of your time. Ask yourself “Is this the best use of my time?” before you start anything."

Concentration requires you to put effort on what you are doing. Depending the activity or assignment, the more concentration you are using. Concentration is the what we all do to complete something, but don't waste the energy to start concentrating if it's not what you want. Think about it, why would why play violin, if I want to play trumpet, waste of concentration. When you really desire this activity, you can surely tell that he or she is concentrating. Putting there efforts on one instrument, concentrating on what note to play and how they are performing. Concentration really helps but comes at a price, anyone can break your concentration or even yourself. Try not to doubt yourself or overthink while you are concentrating, which it can break the concentration. It can also happen in assignments, that when you really should concentrate. But the again what subject are you struggling with and what are you passing. If you are very good at a subject, don't waste your energy on it, instead concentrate on the one you are failing. Knowing this will result in good scores. 

Key 4: Common Sense

• Train your mind
• think things through
• listen to your intuition
• learn from setbacks

Common sense is what we all need, apparently not everyone has it. Without it, it makes you look dumb, no matter how smart you are. A degree means nothing if you don't have common sense on you. I've heard of a saying for common sense that I found very interesting and convincing. And I quote,"It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have an education and no common sense." You have to be paying attention more often than usual. From simple instructions to simple jokes, you have to be smart about it. Train your mind so the more you know, the better you have of not making a fool of yourself. Think about it, we might all think fast, but being proficient of your answer is better than a wild guess. So please, think about what is going on and never make a fool of yourself.  

Key 5: Creativity

"Except the fact that every human being is a genius.  The hallmark of creativity is asking questions.  The people who are most creative ask the most questions."

Creativity is a very interesting word, for the fact that you are committed to that will show you the beauty of it. Creativity is all in us, half of our brain would possess creativity. The other half would be intelligence. You see modern and past art, that is a good example of creativity. Imagining the image in ones head, using multiple colors to make it more appealing, even decoration or adding important details in your art. Art in the past was very detailed, describing what happened, it's been the same from generations and generations. People today witnessed the beauty of creativity, some have it naturally and some put it to practice. I draw myself, not going to lie, it was amazing, right when I'm officially done, I have a huge smile on my face seeing my work that took long and a lot of patience be finally done. I start on with another drawing, because art is infinite, why stop when I become even better now. Creativity is infinite and it will never stop, having that set of mind will take you places.  

Key 6: Consideration

"The quality of your relationships with other people will determine your success in life."

"Develop the people skills you need to become a better communicator.  Take courses in listening, speaking, etc."

"If you were to learn one new word a day, within 5 years, you’ll be the best educated person in history."

When I say consideration I mean that you have to consider everything that could happen due to a choice you make. Also, this key which is consideration can be used when you have to think about others before you choose to make an action. By think about others, I mean that you have to think abut how they would feel or think when something is said or done. It is great to be considerate because you should want everyone to like you because when people like you, they can put in a work for you. When I say, put in a word for you, I mean that they can back you up when you are in a bad position. An example of this can be when you are blamed or falsely accused of a crime you didn't commit. If a person such as a principle or teacher like you, they could help you and back you up because they know that you are a great person. Being considerate will get you for in life and help you be more well liked by others.

Key 7: Consistency

"Dependable, steady predictable work is always superior to fast spurts of work."

Be consistent in your relationships, your family, friends, your boss, your work.  Be the person that people can depend upon.  That if you say you’ll do something you do it.."

Being consistent means to always bring your A game and keep on giving effort in a steady way which is not decreasing or slowing down. When you are consistent you are never dropping, you aren't going down. Being consistent means to not increase nor decrease, it means to be effective over time. Being consistent at work is a great way to keep your job because when you are consistent at work, you are still putting in as much work as when you started to the job with the best amount of effort. Consistency is also something very important to athletes of all castigators. This is because if an athlete starts to show signs that they are slowing down, then it might be a early sign of losing.

Key 8: Commitment

"No success is possible without commitment.  The ability to commit yourself whole heartily is the basis of achieving all success."

"Become totally absorbed in your work.  Be totally committed."

This is what I expect from everyone, since everyone commits at something they love, required, or have to do. Commitment is very important for everyone. Since that's the only way to do everyday chores, requirements from school, etc. Students who commit to their work will expect a good future with good grades and good talents. Students that don't commit to what they have to do will expect a disastrous future ahead of them. It would never happen if you just do what you have to. No success is possible without commitment. If you want to improve on a sport, stay committed to it, in exchange, amazing talent at the sport. Now Academically will have to have full commitment in order to pass the class. That's just how it works, at least you gain something that can help you in your future in any career you are going for. Commitment can even be in our social, being committed to a person can make you gain a friend that will support and commit for you and you for him. Also in relationships, the happy and long lasting couples are the committed, making everything go very amazing. I would say, when I have a family, I would stay very committed to keep my loving wife and amazing kids, I don't ever want to lose them and be seen as a bad image, that's why I stay committed because it is important to me.

Key 9: Courage

"The fear of failure is the single greatest reason for failure in life."

To have courage you must not let the fear take you over. You have to conquer your fears in order to be able to do what scares you the most. To have courage it means you aren't afraid of standing up for what you believe in. If you see someone bothering another person, you will go up and tell them to leave them alone. You will be able to stand in front of an audience and give your explanation on what you believe is right. If you let your fears take over you, then you won't get anything done in life. There's this quote is the movie Cinderella Story and it states "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." It refers to baseball or softball and its for the players to remember if you keep the thought of striking out in your mind, then it will keep you from playing the game. You will be too focused on striking out rather than actually having fun and enjoying the game. It's good to have courage because then you will feel you can accomplish anything in the world. Tell yourself you can do it and at the end of the day, you will accomplish anything. Do what scares you the most because after you will feel good about yourself. You won't be afraid of accomplishing anything else. 

Key 10: Confidence

"You only get confidence by doing things over and over again ."

I believe confidence has a really big meaning to life. Everything that you ever accomplish and finish during your life was because you believed in yourself. You told yourself "I can do it" even if you felt like you couldn't. You believed in yourself even if other people doubted you throughout life. You always kept your head high and not let people's negative thoughts get to you. You believed in yourself when you took the finals for your school. You believed in yourself when you turned in those assignments for your grade to be good. If you ever get into the position where you feel like you won't be able to accomplish anything in the world, look at where you are now. Look at how far you have come and tell yourself that it's too late to back down now. Have confidence in your work, your relationship, your education etc. If there are people out there telling you you can't do it, don't take it personal amd let it tear you down. In fact, prove them wrong. Show them that no matter how many times they doubted you, you still came up on top. If you let people's words get to you then you won't be able to go on living life. Those words will be replaying in your mind that you will soon believe the lies these people are telling you. Let the words be an inspiration that YOU CAN DO ANYTHING. You will get that dream job of yours, you will become successful as anyone else in this world. Success starts with believing in yourself. 

Winter Break

Once break started, I quickly went home and slept on the couch with pure joy. The fact that we don't have school for 3 weeks was heaven, until I realized that time goes by fast. Christmas was fun, we all had gifts and many as well. Family came over from Mexico to celebrate Christmas with us. But as always I got clothes, the upside is that they were amazing clothes. We all eat food in the back and waited till midnight to open presents. Then once new years was coming we went to Las Vegas to celebrate it there. We stayed two nights in flamingo hotel, very,very, pink. We saw actual flamingos and had fun in their pools. Then we walked all of Las Vegas and let me tell you, it was tiring and a lot of girls in costumes, I wanted to take a picture with them, but my mom would ground me if I did so yeah. We saw the fireworks from our hotel room, it was Caesar's Palace launching the fireworks. It was amazing, a sight for sore eyes.

  

Class Evaluation

1. The thing I like about the class is the people in it, my friends and a very good teacher. I would go the class better since my friends are here.
2.  The thing I don't like about the class is that the teacher is sensitive, even if you try to explain yourself, he shows complete denial on what we say. Another is that we only do quotes, barely in December we started to do codes, like he doesn't have any idea on what to teach us.
3. How about more stuff to teach us earlier than later, so far its just quotes and thats not what I'm here for.
4. My participation when he tells us to raise our hand for an example. I make good examples to catch and eye on the teacher and the students
5. I do my best, that's why I have an A
6. Sorry but only in class, in my house, I have more stuff to do than a journal. I have main goals and side goals already in mind, I don't need no journal to keep track on what I want to do.
7. In a way, I would like to be CTR, for the greater good for my future.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey

Habit 1: Be Proactive

"Habit 1 is the key to unlocking all the other habits and that's why it comes first. It says, "I am the captain of my life. I can choose my attitude. I'm responsible for my own happiness or unhappiness. I am in the driver's sea of my destiny, not just a passenger."This is very important in our daily lives. For people who are unfamiliar with the word, proactive means, well, being active. By that, I mean not laying in bed all day, using your phone, and do nothing else all while laying down. Have you ever heard people tell you to be proactive, not the commercial for clearing acne but do you hear that sometimes. I sure hear here it plenty of times, it also counts if they say, be active. Playing a sport, exercising, drawing, doing chores etc. are all parts of being proactive. Sure you might be lazy an d ask yourself," I don't want to go outside,"you have to silly. I'll even say your proactive if you go outside sometimes. Being proactive is like an addiction, once you actually, and I mean actually have fun and do something you are interested in, you'll never be on lazy again. It also helps the mentality get rid of that laziness if you really try and not give up. Like if you have to do chores, not even hesitate and you complete the chores and the ones you weren't even told to do. To be honest, it works, I was very proactive to a point that my mom put a big smile on her face. That moment, when I saw that, I never wanted to make that smile fade away.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

"Control your own destiny or someone else will." (Jack Welch)

Destiny is what is meant to happen for your future. Everyone has a destiny, whether you know, I know it, your friends know it, family knows it, neighbors etc. Basically, you here the word destiny in many places. Whether people say it in general, in movies, video games, the list goes on really. For me, I would say my destiny is to become a high ranking officer, have a family, and have my own kin. What's your destiny, ask yourself for a minute. Think hard and long about this. If you want you can comment about it,"just saying." Like I said, everyone has a destiny whether you agree with it or not. You could try to change your destiny, I'll give an example."Imagine that your a bad kid right, and you do bad stuff of course. But people say that he is a troublesome kid to you specifically. And say that if you keep this up, you won't survive the board game called life. You wonder, is that my destiny, to fail and not be what I want to be. Many just don't care but you, you can change that destiny and rearrange or discard it all together. It is possible to change it, succeeding will mean that you do it, a new destiny, a new you." Well, you control your destiny after all, don't let people control or change or destroy your destiny, it's based on your decisions that make your destiny come true.
Habit 3: Put First Things First

"Organize and execute around priorities." 

 This habit talks about how you should put the urgent things first. For example if you have a test for one of your classes the next day, you should stay home and study for it. You always put what's important first and then do everything else that isn't important after. You may have an essay due but you chose to listen to music, hang out with your friends etc. That's being a procrastinator. You always say you're going to do it but you get busy doing other things that it never gets done. 

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

"Think win-win or no deal."

This habit is talking about how you should always think positive about yourself and never negative. Positive thoughts will help you be successful in life and it will let you know that you are going to achieve all those goals you have set for yourself. If everyone you know is giving you a hard time then ignore them. Don't let their negative comments affect your way of living and succeeding. Just always keep in mind that you can do it or you are going to make it. That will help you stay confident with your school work by just repeating to yourself those words. In the end you will only have yourself and your happiness. You are the only one that knows what you want to do and how you are going to achieve that. You will be the one to pick yourself up every time that you feel like falling and giving up.

 Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood

"Diagnose before you prescribe."

What this habit is talking about is that you must first understand what is going on and then you will be understood by the people. You can't expect for someone to understand what you are teaching them if you don't understand what you are learning. Before you do anything you must stop to think about what you want to do. If someone is talking to you, you should listen to what they have to say and then add after any comments or questions you have for them. Don't interrupt them if you don't know what is really going on. Don't assume someone is doing good because they have a smile on their face. Take the time to understand what people are going through in order for them to understand you. You both can understand each other by listening first and then talking after. Before you criticize someone, wait until they tell you the whole story. In life there is always going to be a "listen before you speak," a "try before you want to quit" etc. You must know how to do the things before you want to jump into conclusions and judge someone by the outside. Don't judge a book by it's cover will take you a long way. You learn how to take the time to get to know someone without being judgmental. 

Habit 6:  Synergize

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (1+1=3)"

To be honest, this word is kinda hard to understand by itself. I'm going to try to explain this word the best I can. Synergize is teamwork, and we all know what teamwork means. To help each other accomplish a goal, rather than doing it by yourself. We are all smart, but sometimes we struggle to handle it all on our own. By synergizing with someone else, they give you even more ideas or help in their point of view. You may know what the project is and what to do, but even you run out of ideas. Having someone with you can help you, tell you what they know and what to do, the more the better. That's teamwork for ya, more ideas, more help, synergize can really change what you are trying to accomplish.

Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw
Four Dimensions of Self-Renewal: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Social/Emotional

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--
you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

As you renew yourself in each of the four areas, you create growth and change in your life. Sharpen the Saw keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the other six habits. You increase your capacity to produce and handle the challenges around you. Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish. Not a pretty picture, is it? 

 Feeling good doesn't just happen. Living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. It's all up to you. You can renew yourself through relaxation. Or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything. You can pamper yourself mentally and spiritually. Or you can go through life oblivious to your well-being. You can experience vibrant energy. Or you can procrastinate and miss out on the benefits of good health and exercise. You can revitalize yourself and face a new day in peace and harmony. Or you can wake up in the morning full of apathy because your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone. Just remember that every day provides a new opportunity for renewal--a new opportunity to recharge yourself instead of hitting the wall. All it takes is the desire, knowledge, and skill.

7 Habits Reflection:

The 7 habits was good way of becoming a better person. Helps me a lot to change myself in different ways. One of them being proactive.