Feedback Thoughts
In 6 Bad Mental Habits that Sabotage Your Success, the author constructs her advice well. Rather than just saying what you are doing wrong, which I have seen some authors do and just leave it at that, she gently encourages the reader to be positive in concrete ways. She suggests making an extra effort to focus on what you can do rather than what you can't or what's holding you back. She suggests being less harsh with yourself by talking to yourself like you do your good friends, which is something I learned to do not too long ago. It helps immensely. The author seems to understand that you can't just throw ideas at people and make them figure out how to enact them. It helps to be helpful. The author does this in the way that she points out problems and offers simple, concrete solutions.
In Recalibrating the Perfectionist Mind, though it is after a longer description, the author of this article also begins to offer solutions to letting go of perfectionism, such as making a written list of strengths and reviewing them as a sort of self-affirmation. The author also suggests developing a recovery ritual so that is easier to move on from failure rather than spending so much time ardently avoiding it. My recovery ritual currently involves a string of profanity, then a series of cleansing breaths, but it's a work in progress. I suppose it's still better than breaking down in the face of failure. The author ends by talking about turning perfectionism into positivity, something that resonates with me.
In the end, you must find yourself. I don't mean going out and travelling, though that can certainly lend itself to discovery. You have to go inside yourself and root around until you find your center, then you must hold onto that piece of yourself. I believe once you grab onto that bit of your soul, then you can venture out, gather feedback, take the pieces that are good for you, and carry them back to your center, allowing the rest to float away. Then you can grow, rather than fall apart.
In Recalibrating the Perfectionist Mind, though it is after a longer description, the author of this article also begins to offer solutions to letting go of perfectionism, such as making a written list of strengths and reviewing them as a sort of self-affirmation. The author also suggests developing a recovery ritual so that is easier to move on from failure rather than spending so much time ardently avoiding it. My recovery ritual currently involves a string of profanity, then a series of cleansing breaths, but it's a work in progress. I suppose it's still better than breaking down in the face of failure. The author ends by talking about turning perfectionism into positivity, something that resonates with me.
In the end, you must find yourself. I don't mean going out and travelling, though that can certainly lend itself to discovery. You have to go inside yourself and root around until you find your center, then you must hold onto that piece of yourself. I believe once you grab onto that bit of your soul, then you can venture out, gather feedback, take the pieces that are good for you, and carry them back to your center, allowing the rest to float away. Then you can grow, rather than fall apart.
by Jim Shine
Hi Rachel, It was interesting to read what you had to say about mental habits and re-calibrating. I think that is very important to think positive as well. I can also relate a bit to the part with a string of profanities. It was cool reading what you had to say about these topics. Hope you have a great semester.
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