Amal Totkay

Tip 1: I could relate this to the book titled, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne that I read a long time ago and this tip is my favorite tip because it helped me get my learnings back from that book. Recently, I am going through a mental breakdown phase and I can hardly concentrate on my fellowship or my quizzes in university. I have 2 quizzes on Monday and I had set a goal of scoring a full 4.0 gpa in this semester but I lost focus. However, this tip sparked something in me, something I can explain but I turned off my laptop after reading this tip and gave myself a break to push myself back on track and I am so so thankful to the Amal team for this encouragement. I heard this voice inside me that reminded me of my goal and that I am the one who can do this and no one else will and now instead of being overwhelmed by the amount of work I have, I rather tried to embrace it. Another learning that I got from this tip is that I am alone on my journey, the pressure I feel is to be handled by me only and when I cannot ask anyone else to do my fellowship or give my quizzes for me then why am I wasting time in grieving. I think to implement this tip more successfully one should have a self talk with themselves to identify their standings and their aims.

Tip 2: Getting out of my comfort zone wasn’t so easy, I tried to put myself in difficult situations but my self confidence got further shattered. I started thinking of situations that do not exist and I couldn’t pull myself out of them although yes they gave a motivation to try for them next time may be with a calmer mind.

Tip 3: I have already started working this tip after my purpose map, I give 2 hours daily to my studies and I have noticed the following:

1. I am able to cover things faster and since the burden of courses is less at the moment it is easy to remember things.
2. I have developed a habit of using sticky notes for little reminders so whenever I am getting off the track I look at them and remember my goals.
3. I am able to participate in class actively as I stay up to date with my lectures and learnings.

I think to implement this tip in everyday life one should realise that an extrovert mindset wins the race. If I keep telling myself that my introvert self is just doing fine then and it is the world that is against me then I will never be able to get out of my comfort zone. I think to apply this tip kaizen approach will help each day. Also, make sticky notes and set your reminders on them on the wall because as we walk past them they will help us to get a reminder and stay on track.

Tip 4: This has been a difficult one because;

1. People find a lot of wrong things or habits in me and it is overwhelming to accept them all at once.
2. People mostly focus on giving critical feedback, I wished very hard if I had gotten constructive feedback instead.
3. My mother is very annoyed with my sleeping habits especially at night so I tried to schedule my sleeping habits to 11 P.M from this week.

To implement this everyday I wish to select people who I think can give me constructive feedback and then I will share with them that I want to change and if they can monitor my improvement each day. At first I will try this for only 7 days and then get their feedback to understand where and what am I lacking in then work more for the next 7 days and take feedback again on a weekly basis.

Tip 5: This tip was more of a fun but deep down I knew I am faking it may be because I wasn’t able to convince myself to accept it fully. I tried to be happy all day and avoid all negative thoughts and these are my takeaways;

1. I remained happy for the first half of the day, I interacted with my surroundings and tried to create a happy environment around myself.
2. By the time I reached home and was alone in my room the thoughts kept coming back to me and I wasn’t able to hit them back.
3. I enjoyed my day when I was around people and I realized that this tip only works when you are around those who you think will love your presence.

This tip in real life can work if I fully convince myself that this is the role play I have to be in everyday. At first it will be hard and may seem fake but may be after time it will become a usual task to me. All in all to develop a growth mindset it is important to push myself harder to accept some part of the tips that I failed to accept, I think if I try to accept 1% of them each day I will be able to change my mindset very soon.