organization and peace through learning challenges

I am very excited that the Learning by HEART challenges have been added to the course this semester. I think that happiness, empathy, attention, reading and time management are some of the most vital skills of life. I could even argue that I think they are more important than the education I've received through this point because all of the knowledge I have accumulated means nothing if I cannot manage my time, connect with people, and live my life happily. It is not often that a course offers material on these subjects, so I am very eager to do some of the challenges and read more about how I can improve in these areas. 

Out of the topics covered, I am most interested in reading more about happiness and time management. While I do think I am a happy person, I do feel myself getting very frustrated about small issues or getting really put out when wrong thing goes wrong in my day. I think if I had a mindset of more overall happiness and was more focused on all of the good things I have in my life rather than the negative, it could help keep some of these feelings at bay. I need to learn to let go of the things that I cannot change and not let them bring me down. The challenge that most interested me in the happiness section was the happiness jar. I think its a really good idea to write down all of the good things that happen because I could see the jar physically fill up with the pieces of paper which would be a visual reminder of all the wonderful things that happen. In addition, if I ever was feeling down then I could reread all of the things and revisit the happy feelings that I felt whenever they happened. 

A meme describing a valuable life lesson. Photo created by: James Dubreze

The second area I would like to work on is time management. Even through the first week of this course, I felt myself getting behind and starting to get stressed about everything that I needed to complete. The first week is difficult because we have been on break and have not developed a routine for the semester yet. However, I think using better time management would have helped me complete more assignments without the grace period and would have eliminated some stress from my week. In addition, I think strong time management skills are vital to have because I will always need them. Even after graduated, I will still have work deadlines and things I need to get done. Therefore, I would like to develop these skills now while the resources are easily available and are in a perfect environment to practice and strengthen them. In my eyes, it would be a total waste to not take full advantage of these challenges and use them as an opportunity to grow.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the jelly bean video that was posted in the blog to introduce the idea. I had seen it before, but it was a good reminder to take full advantage of my time and live life to the fullest. I think its so easy to get bogged down in the responsibilities I have or in the feeling that my life is "hard" because I have to balance my time between classes, jobs, and friendships. It was a good reminder to shift my focus and cherish each moment and use it intentionally to further either my relationships, my knowledge or my skills. The last thing I want to do is look back on my life and regret the time I spent jealous of people who had more free time, or stressed about classwork or worried about the future. Rather, I should enjoy every moment I've been given and learn whatever valuable lesson I can from each situation thrown at me. 

the first step towards a growth mindset

While I had never heard of Carol Dweck, I had heard of the growth mindset. It's interesting because the first time I had heard about it was actually my Intro to Business class last semester. My professor was encouraging us to read a book that maybe Professor Dweck had written that was about the growth mindset and he explained to us what it was. It fit nicely into the class because a lot of people did not do well on the first exam, and he was encouraging us to not get discouraged and give up but rather have a growth mindset. He wanted us to learn from our mistakes to do even better on the next exam. I remember that afternoon after class I called my mom to discuss with her what he had said.

Just keep going: action overcomes fear.
Image created by Laura Gibbs 

Thinking back through my education, I think I have a growth mindset. I went to a very challenging college preparatory school that was very difficult in high school especially. During that time, I faced a lot of academic challenges where I would have to study a lot and was faced with feeing very tired and very discouraged at times. However, with each grade I got back that wasn't the score I wanted or whatever the situation may have been, I would always try to discover how I studied wrong or different ways that I could improve for the next time. I agree with the ten year olds in the studies who said that they liked a challenge! I enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone because I do not like feeling anxious. I know that if I do something enough, it will start to feel easy and everyday. This is why I like to try new things and overcome the feelings of nervousness or anxiety that I may get before doing something that scares me. 

Some other aspects of my life that I think this applies to is my career search. Last summer, I was looking for an internship and didn't hear back from several of the advertising agencies that I had applied to. An agency I was very interested in working at offered me an interview, but I couldn't get to Fort Worth, Texas on the day they wanted to interview and the offer ended up falling through. After that process, I felt discouraged about my future and had feelings of maybe I was in the wrong major. However, with the growth mindset, I could look at my attempts not as a failure, but as "not yet" like Professor Dweck had mentioned. Sure, I didn't get an internship last summer, but that doesn't mean that I won't ever have one or that advertising is the wrong field for me. It just means that I was not going to have an internship yet. Now, with another year of classes under my belt and some experience working for the student-run advertising agency in the Gaylord College, I believe that I will be an even better candidate since I have more knowledge and experience to offer. 

Education and career aside, I feel like I could also apply the growth mindset to other areas of my life as well. Like the thirteen year old mentioned in one of the videos, I could also apply the growth mindset to my relationships. I had never considered doing anything like that before today, but I could see how it could be beneficial. I wish as a freshman I had heard about this because I felt frustration in that I was not making new friends as quickly as I would have liked. If only I had known that it didn't mean that I was failing at assimilating, it just meant I wasn't feeling close to people yet. I think this could be a huge turning point in how people approach relationships especially because they take so much time to grow. Deep friendships don't form overnight, but rather over longer periods of time as you get to know and trust someone. In addition, I think it could be helpful because friends get in fights or have disagreements, and that doesn't mean the relationship has failed. Rather, it is just a challenge and if you run from the challenge, it could have a huge impact on that friendship. The growth mindset could help sustain the friendship and even improve it by learning how to communicate with each person and learn what bothers them, what makes them happy, how they feel loved and cared for, etc. 

Some of my personal goals this semester is to balance my time better. Last semester, I was very stressed trying to balance between two jobs, classes, and a social life. I have organized this semester where I think my schedule will flow much better. However, I am still worried that I may be trying to do too much. Some classes I am excited for are advertising media and this class. Advertising media because I think I will learn a lot from my professor about advertising and how to create great campaigns. He seems very knowledgable and works for a firm in L.A. that controls $16 billion dollars of advertising money around the world. Therefore, I think I can glean a lot of knowledge from him. I am also excited for this class because it will push me out of my comfort zone and force me to be more creative. I have a problem with reading a story or something and getting stuck with a one-track-mind. The re-telling of the story we did earlier this week was difficult for me for that reason. Here, the growth mindset could come into play because I can lean into the challenge of developing my creative process to come up with new stories and think of really good ideas rather than just going with the first idea that pops into my head and writing an OK post. In addition, this could help with my advertising career since it is such a creative field. 

Morgan's Storybook Favorites

The first storybook that caught my eye was Kindergarten Shenanigans. The title was the first part of the blog that caught my eye because of the unique name. From the overview, it sounds like the title accurately represents what the blog is about. The topic is fairly familiar to me because I think we’ve all heard fables or stories were supposed to learn lessons from at some point in our lives, especially in grade school. In addition, I can relate to sitting down on a rug during the day during Kindergarten to hear a story and take a break from the day.

I like how the author styled the introduction to the story. They took on the persona of the teacher asking her Kindergarten students to take a break from their math lesson and listen to the story. In addition, the teacher elaborated on some of the lessons the kids could learn through the stories. The language was simple but I think that was some of the appeal to me. It made the storybook seem relaxing and inviting. Like I could sit down and leisurely read them without have to focus too hard.

The layout of the stories was appealing to me. I liked how there was a quote or a “life lesson” in italics at the top of the story. I thought that was a good way to put the reader in the right mindset for what they were about to read and could help them interpret the story better. I would like to do something like this in my post if possible. One thing I did not really like was how pictures broke up the writing. For me personally, I like it better when all of the writing is together where I can read the story in it’s entirety without being interrupted. I feel like it helps my thoughts flow, especially in shorter stories like these. Also, I feel like the author could have found more interesting photos so this is something I would attempt to do in my storybook.

The second storybook that looked interesting to me was The Temptation of Zeus. I think stories about temptation and lovers always is interesting because there’s a sense of danger and excitement. I also like how they tied in the Greek gods and the mythology that goes along with it. I think the title accurately represents what the storybook is about because it is all about the other goddesses that Zeus was tempted by. This topic is rather new to me because I have not studied Greek mythology before. I know some about it just by learning through media and other references, however I have never read any of the stories. 

When I first clicked on the blog, I was not a huge fan of the colors used. Probably because I am a girl, I would not choose to use grey and black for my storybook. However, the introduction was interesting to me because it touched on each of the goddesses they planned to talk about and mentioned some of Zeus’s powers such as shape shifting. It made the stories seem like they were going to be interesting and full of detail.

Layout wise, on most of the pages, they had a picture on the top of the page and then the writing underneath. As I mentioned above, I prefer this layout. In addition, I liked how the bibliography was at the end of the writing. This way, it didn’t interrupt the story, yet all of the information needed was present.

The third storybook that intrigued me was Shakespearean Gossip. I am a huge fan of the T.V. show Gossip Girl, so the name coupled with the image on the opening page really grabbed my attention. Also, as a girl, I enjoy gossiping with my friends and talking. I am curious how the writer pulls gossip out of the Shakespearean stories and highlights them in their writing. This topic is not entirely new to me since I have read several Shakespearean plays throughout my education. 

For the layout, I liked the photos that the author chose. I think they helped add another element to the story that was not there before. I also liked how they included a lot of quotes throughout their story to add more credibility and help keep the story succinct.

Shakespearean Gossip storybook

An overview of the untextbook

When looking at the different options for the Week 2 and 3 readings, the first unit that grabbed my attention was Bible Women. I was looking through the biblical stories because faith is a very large part of my family life at home and has always had a big role in my parent's life. While I was living at home, faith was one thing that they really tried to emphasize and pass down to my siblings and I. Through all of my years going to church, though, I have not heard many sermons on the women in the Bible. There are so many strong, intelligent women who are written about. However, they do not seem to get studied as much as the men. I am interested very interested in reading more about them.

Another unit that caught my eye was the one titled Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories in the Weeks 4-5 readings. Egypt has always been a fascinating and exotic place to me. It blows my mind that humans built the pyramids before there were machines or construction equipment like in modern day. Upon reading the overview, I was even more intrigued. As I mentioned earlier, Christian faith has always been a large part of my life which means I have never really considered other beliefs about how the Earth was created. I have also briefly studied Ra, Isis, and the other ancient Egyptian gods in my Humanities class in grade school. However, I would like to know more about them and their role in the ancient Egyptian's lives.

Barque of the Sun-God, Ra

The third unit that caught my eye is the Arabian Nights unit. Whenever I think of Arabian Nights, I think of the Disney movie, Aladdin. While I'm sure Aladdin is not the most accurate representation of Arabia, I think it would be interesting to read the Arabian Nights unit and see if I can tell if any inspiration for the movie came from the stories. In addition, I think the "nesting" technique would be cool to read because I'm not really familiar with it. I think the concept of stories within stories sounds challenging to follow, but I think it could also add a new dimension to the stories and make them more interesting.

Introduction to a girl who can't stop watching Mad Men

Hello everyone!

My name is Morgan Clifton and I am a junior at OU. I was originally born in Fort Worth, Texas which, for those of you who don’t know, is about 45 minutes from Dallas. I was born and raised there and spent my entire life there until I moved to Norman, Oklahoma for school. I even went to a Kindergarten through 12^th grade preparatory school so, as you can image, moving was a huge transition for me. However, I love OU and am so happy I took the leap and moved out of state!

Here at OU, I am a part of many different organizations. The one I am probably most involved with is Kappa Alpha Theta. I’ve made so many friends through Theta and have been so blessed by the opportunities it has given me! In addition, I am currently an assistant account executive at Lindsey + Asp Advertising and Public Relations. Some of you may know, but for those who don’t, Lindsey + Asp is a student-run advertising and PR firm housed in Gaylord College. We have real clients from the OU and Norman community and do real advertising for them. Since I am an advertising major, it has been such an amazing experience and such a great way to get hands-on experience that I would not have gotten otherwise. Also, since it is on campus, it’s super easy to fit into my schedule during the semester.

 In the future, I would love to get a job at a major advertising agency in Dallas, Texas. I think Dallas would be perfect for me because I love the feel of a city, but don't know how well I would do in one as big as Chicago or New York. If I could live in an apartment in downtown Dallas, I think I could capture the bustling feeling without it being so overwhelming! Also, Dallas has become a huge hub for communications which creates a lot of opportunity in the marketing and communications fields! 

Back home, I have a younger sister who is a senior in high school this year and two stepbrothers. My sister’s name is Natalie and my stepbrothers’ names are Ryker and Reed Richardson. It’s been really interesting living with them because it was just my sister and I until my senior year of high school. Imagine all of a sudden getting two brothers! While it has been an adjustment learning how to live with boys, its been really fun getting to know them.

In addition to my siblings, I also have many pets. At my dad’s house, I have a dog and a cat. My dog’s name is Molly and my cat’s name is Chubby Princess. I kid you not, it is Chubby Princess and the name fits her perfectly. She is a huge, fat Calico cat. She always demands her way and, because she is so persistent and will not stop yowling until she does, she always gets what she wants.

Personal photo of Chubby Princess; Photo from December 2015

At my mom’s house, I have two dogs. One’s name is Maggie and she is a black lab, Catahoula mix. The other dog’s name is Brooke and she is a Shepherd mix. Don’t tell my other pets, but Maggie is my favorite pet by far. She has one eye that is half brown and half blue, and a coat that has so many different blacks, browns, and greys in it that its really unique. She’s also the sweetest, calmest dog you will ever meet. Even as a puppy, she wasn’t as interested in playing as she was in just laying at our feet and being around everyone.

Picture of Maggie as a puppy; photo from Fall 2012

Some other random facts about me is that I love any types of carbs- bread, potatoes, pasta, you name it. I also really enjoy reading if I have any free time. Over winter break I read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and loved it. I highly recommend it to anyone who liked Gone Girl. In addition, I started watching Game of Thrones and Mad Men and am obsessed with them right now. In addition, I really like the TV show The Good Wife.

I’m looking forward to getting to know each of you throughout the semester by reading your blogs!