Weekly Report 1 8/16/18 - 8/26/18
On the first day of school, I went up and shared information about myself as a preliminary exercise in oral skills. On the third, I went up and shared about myself again, but in a longer, more proper format, as something of a diagnostic exam. My prior experience in presentation skills and prepared speaking was of great assistance here, and there is no doubt in my mind that they will continue to be used and refined in the future.
Public speaking practice aside, the week (and a half, technically) was something of a gentle introduction. Calendar overview, check, weekly reports overview, check, assessments overview, check, general conduct code, check. There will be piles of work to complete later, so the goal right now would be to acquire the necessary mental preparation to effectively tackle the gauntlet later.
Significant breakthroughs did occur, however, and particularly so in what I determined was to be my guiding quote of the year: “Fail faster”, attributed to no one individual in particular, but which I attributed to James Portnow, from whom I first heard the mantra. It really is a mantra - it has more meaning to me now that I’ve pondered over it for a week than it did when I initially stumbled across the aphorism in James’ Extra Credits episode. I practiced failing faster in my introductory speech, when I opened my ears to the criticisms of many, and I will have to continue practicing failing faster in research, writing, speaking, and other areas. This requires me to be asking for feedback. I will ask for feedback.
Overall, I cannot yet accurately assess the level of diligence and stress that the next week will require and offer, respectively, but I hope to see the philosophy of “Fail faster” set stone within me, so that I may overcome the initial pain of failure and see and seek criticism as what it is meant to be: helpful.
LEVEL CLEAR.