January 27

This article taught me some very important lessons about how to actually get your work done without getting overwhelmed or giving up. One of the main ideas that I got from this article was that you need to actually do the work, not just learn about what you need to do. I can’t spend all of my time trying to figure out how I can do all of my work, but instead, I need to just go for it and start working on what needs to be done. Actually committing to a project is also something else that I need to work on. In the article, Mr. Oldford said, “You cannot fear failure, and you cannot let it hold you back from experimenting and trying something new.” This is an important lesson because fear is what has been holding me back a lot with this project. The fear of making mistakes or making someone mad, when really what I need to do is just stand up for what I know needs to be done and get it done. Another important idea from this article is that you can’t do everything. You need to play into your strengths to make sure you can actually do what you need to get done. For me, I need to use the fact that I am great at convincing people to do something to my advantage. Even if that is just telling Barbra that she needs to let me help her raise money or telling the man in my neighborhood that he needs to start taking better care of his animals. A third important idea from this article is having a mentor or someone you look up to. For me, that is my friend who graduated last year from the IB program. I am able to ask her for advice on not only my CAS project but also on how to manage my time and how to get my IB work done. Below I have screenshots of a conversation between me and Barbra (who is the lady that owns the animal shelter I help out at for my CAS project) that is talking about me getting a fundraiser to help get more money for her shelter.