Create a Positive Mindset
Morgan Ivey
Professor R. Dollieslager
ENG111
11 September 2014
A person can be classified as a Creator or a Victim. Creators choose the favorable decisions that make a better outcome in their lives, while a person who is a victim will feel as though they are not in control of what will happen in their lives (Downing 42). Everyone has been through a time in their lives where they either had a Creator mindset or a Victim mindset. If possible, a person should always have a Creators mindset to push themselves to do the right things, as well as, being prepared and creating their own lives.
Professor David Mirman discussed the mindset of two students being a Creator and a Victim in his online blog. The professor states in his online article, that people who want to be successful must adapt to only a Creator’s mindset (Mirman). In the article, students were told to get their textbooks by the following class, if they had not already got it. Two students came unprepared the following week and told the professor that the bookstore no longer had the textbooks, so the professor told the two students to try and have it next class. One of the students came to class the next week without the textbook and blamed it on the bookstore. The other student found the book online, used, and cheaper than sold in the bookstore.The student who didn’t achieve the goal of getting the textbook would be considered a Victim because he/she did not physically try to get the book. While the student who did get the textbook is the Creator because she went out of the way to achieve the goal of getting the book by the next class. In order to be a creator, Professor David Mirman says in his article, to ask yourself, what can I do to better the situation (Mirman).
Being a Victim describes a time a person blames a bad situation on someone besides themselves. A time I was a Victim was when I had a very important paper due for school; it was my final paper of the year and worth a lot of my grade. I procrastinated till the night before the paper was due, and instead of finishing it completely I turned it in half way done. At the time, I was in high school, so my teachers were more lenient than college professors, and I asked my teacher if I could do extra work on it after she graded it to get some points back, not full points, but just some extra credit to add to the score. My teacher agreed and let me add more information to my paper for a better grade. In order to change myself from being the Victim again, I realized I should have started the paper in much more advance and not had waited till the very last minute.
My mom is an example of a Creator, because she achieved her goals. She grew up doing gymnastics, and it was her dream to open her own gymnastics center. A long time ago, she started off holding gymnastic classes in an old courthouse in Newport News, but as the time went on the classes and students increased, and the space was too small. Instead of staying in the same space, she took it upon herself to gather a group of parents and go talk to the city council about finding a bigger warehouse to hold the giant equipment, and big enough space to hold multiple classes and more students. That place is called, Riverview Gymnastics Center, and it still stands today with my mom running it. Parents who came from the old courthouse now bring their grandchildren, and kids who took classes at the courthouse bring their kids to the new gymnastics center and congratulate my mom on her success in finding the perfect center to hold classes. My mom is a strong woman who would not take no for an answer and would fight to keep her dream alive.
I choose to always have a Creator's mindset because making my own choices and creating my own life is a huge accomplishment. As a student, I plan to push myself to be the best of my ability, and I know I can accomplish great outcomes if I put my mind to it. Being a Creator is one of the best feelings, because just knowing that I am doing the right things and preparing myself for future success releases stress off my shoulders as a struggling college student. At times I do feel like I’m being the Victim by wanting to give up, but once I realize I’m better than that I pull myself together and find that creator’s mindset. Never have that mindset of a Victim because it will only bring someone down in the future.
Works cited
Downing, Skip. On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Boston: Wadsworth, 2014.
Mermin, David. "Do You Think like a Victim or a Creator?" You Are the Prime Mover. 2 Jan. 2012. 11 Sept. 2014.
<http://youaretheprimemover.com/2012/do-you-think-like-a-viectim-or-a-creator>.