A Growth Mindset, "Music and the Spoken Word"

There are some amazing things shared on "Music and the Spoken Word"

A Growth Mindset
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell

What we think about others and ourselves has the power to shape our world. How often have we heard ourselves say things like "I’m not a morning person” or "I’m not very smart” or "That’s just the way I am”? If we believe our talents and personality will never change, then they probably never will. If we believe our fate is set in stone, then it probably is.

On the other hand, if we believe that desire, hard work, and persistence are much more important than intelligence or natural ability, then change and growth are possible.1

A high school valedictorian observed that her classmates always thought she was so successful in school because she was naturally gifted with talent and intellect. They thought that everything came easily to her. But she will tell you that the only reason she excelled academically was the simple fact that she studied more and worked harder.

Anyone who plays a musical instrument or runs a marathon will tell you the same thing. Their achievements come of sacrifice and serious effort, not luck or good fortune. Of course, there are those who are naturally gifted in one way or another. But we were not created with a fixed set of abilities; rather, we were created with a deep-seated ability and yearning to improve, to grow, to become more than what we are.

While we don’t have much control over innate ability or natural talent, we can usually control how much we try. We cannot do much about how tall or short we are, but we can control how dedicated we are and how intently we resist giving up. Such a mindset empowers us to step outside our comfort zone and seek new opportunities for progress and change—creating growth and development in place of rationalization and regret. We will then find—to our joy, but not to our surprise—that we can achieve remarkable things.

Our reactions to life's lessons

The greatest problem facing any organism is successful reaction to its environment. Environment, speaking scientifically, is the sum total of your experiences. In plain United States, this means fitting vocationally, socially and maritally into the place where you are. If you don't fit you must move or change your environment to fit you. If you can't change the environment and you won't move you will become a failure, just as tropical plants fail when transplanted to the Nevada desert. Learn From the Sagebrush ¶ But there is something that grows and keeps on growing in the Nevada desert—the sagebrush. It couldn't move away and it couldn't change its waterless environment, so it did what you and I must do if we expect to succeed. It adapted itself to its environment, and there it stands, each little stalwart shrub a reminder of what even a plant can do when it tries!

Life is a landscape.

Do you like landscapes and time lapse.  Well prepare to be inspired.  Life is wonderful and this will show us just how wonderful.

Love of Reading, don't be a grump

Some kids struggle with reading, which in turn makes it so they don't want to read.  Even good readers at times may not want to work on their reading skills.  To work on those things are boring!
But turn it into a game and the desire to participate goes up.  Especially when there are records to be broken.

Life works the same way sometimes.  We get bogged down by routine, and forget what and why we do things.  We need to remember the fun in life and the joy.  Then remember who we are doing everything for--our families (most of us.)

Don't be a grump, enjoy life.

Wes

Printer

Printer

So I couldn't get the printer to copy what I wanted copied the way I wanted, and then when someone asked how i was doing I basically said that the copier wasn't coping the way I needed to. I was a little frustrated because it took 45 mins. Of my time to get pretty much nothing done, then got thinking. It wasn't the copiers fault. It was doing exactly what I was telling it to do. I would punch some commands in and it would do it. It was the operators fault.

Life is the same, we get what we punch in. We may not know the exact things that need to be punched I for what we want out. And if we keep punching in the same things we will keep getting the same thing out. We may have to stop along the way and ask someone. But once we learn what needs to be put in we will get what we want out.

Life is like printer. You get what you tell it to give you.

Wes

You can not bring toys...

Yes this a picture of me. When we first found the photo booth app on the iPad we were laughing so hard. It was a hilarious time. Though out life we have to take little moments and have a good laugh. Sometimes those laughs will be about ourselves, at other times about little or big instances that happen during life.

My son is going to have a grandparents day at school soon. So he asked his grandma if she would come. While he was talking to her about it he told her:
You can bring pictures and tell stories but you can't bring toys or real guns.
When he told me and my wife we died of laughter.

Life is fun enjoy it.

Wes

Beauty all around

I get caught up in every day life and forget the beauty all around. It may not be in a grand scheme, but life has little moment where there is- Beauty all around.

Garden of weeds

Well this could go a lot of ways. But, well I have neglected my garden for a while now. My potatoes are buried in weeds, corn has kind of grown but haven't picked any. Pumpkins and squash are bug infested and dying. We pulled up all our lettuce over a month ago after it got too old. And so forth. We get over run a lot in life and our purpose in life is to figure it all out and make it work. How can we handle something way better after this life if we are lost in this life.
Everything we go though is placed to help us prioritize. Have fun with that.

Wes

Equals Effort

  So I kind of left my last blog hanging.  Yeah, I guess I purposely did that.  I have noticed that more and more, I think especially with technology that our generations are getting lazier and lazier.   We don't want to work as hard any more, and expect just as much or more.  Talk to someone who grew up 50 yrs ago.  It was work work.  And then someone who grew up 70 yrs ago (the previous generation).  They came from the Depression era, and life was work work work.  You had to work, there was nothing just given you, work for it or you had absolutely nothing.
    So the connection in life between success and effort has been lost in a way.  People want to succeed in life and try and do it with as little effort as possible.
  Yes there might be some that have found their place in life, and have made it.  But, most that have achieved anything have had to put forth effort.
  So here it is again, the definition of effort.

ef·fort \ˈe-fərt, -ˌfȯrt\
noun
1 : conscious exertion of power
2 : a serious attempt
3 : something produced by exertion or trying
4 : effective force as distinguished from the possible resistance called into action by such a force
5 : the total work done to achieve a particular end <the war effort>

Nothing in life will be truly achieved without effort. 
You want to succeed in life?  better find some effort.

wes

Success equals

So the past little while I have been thinking about something that makes a big impact on each of our lives. I have known it, but just some things that have been said by different people and things I have read have made me start to ponder this topic a little more.
One story is of a group of leaders that went forth among the people and did declare the word unto them. And then it says "And Alma, also, himself, COULD NOT REST, and he also went forth." What make a man not be able to rest,and gets him up to go and do? It seems some people in life have it and others don't. Or do we all have it, with some knowing how to cultivate it while others are not sure how. And if so how do they get it.
Another story talks about a man that "could not be restrained"
Then I heard someone say, and I have always known this but something went to clicking inside, "their achievement level is directly related to their level of effort."
So I went and looked effort up in the dictionary.
ef·fort \ˈe-fərt, -ˌfȯrt\
noun
1 : conscious exertion of power : hard work <a job requiring time and effort>
2 : a serious attempt : try <making an effort to reduce costs>
3 : something produced by exertion or trying <the novel was her most ambitious effort>
4 : effective force as distinguished from the possible resistance called into action by such a force
5 : the total work done to achieve a particular end <the war effort>
Examples
He put a lot of effort into finishing the project on time.
It wasn't easy, but it was worth the effort.
We need to expend more effort.
Origin: Middle French, from Old French esforz, esfort, from esforcier to force, from ex- + forcier to force.
First use: 15th century
Synonyms: elbow grease, exertion, expenditure, labor, pains, sweat, trouble, while, work

More tomorrow
Wes