Gabrielle Miller
19 September 2017
English 111
Adopting a Creator Mindset
Creator and Victim Mindsets
Many people thing that they know what a Creator and a Victim are but, do they genuinely know what the mindsets of each include? According to a college professor Dr. Skip Downing, defines a Victim Mindset as "A Mindset that keeps people form seeing and acting on choices that could help them achieve the life they want, "and defines a Creator Mindset as "A Mindset that cause people to see multiple options, choose wisely among them and take effective actions to achieve the life they want." Most people who lack ambition and drive tend to play the role as a Victim, but those who have ambition tend to go a great deal further and be successful in what they are striving to accomplish.
When I went looking fir an acceptable definition of a Victim, I came to a teaching blog written by Professor David Mirman. In his blog, he described a time when two students came to class without the book they needed. They were told to bring the book to the next class. One student chose not to browse around and never found the book. While the second student looked around online, and found a cheaper price for a book and was able to pay for shipping that would get the book to her on time. The first student chooses to blame the bookstore saying that they still did not have it, and while the second student found it. Professor David Mirman says that "Victims don't tend to achieve the result they wish for while Creators create their own outcomes"(Mirman).
Since I had read many articles on what Victims and Creators are, I have realized that I have played to a role has a Victim once or twice in my life. The first time I realized I was starting to act like a Victim, I was in the eleventh grade. I was taking one of the harder courses at my school, and it was a test day. I walked into the classroom with my head held up due to that fact that I had studied. Mrs. Bonta was my teacher, and she was saying all the rules of the test, "No talking," "Keep your eyes on your own paper," and finally, "When you are done hand in your test and then work on something else quietly." That is exactly what I did. I waited for what felt like weeks for the grade to be posted, and when I received it I was shocked, I had just received the lowest grade of my life which happened to be a 60. My father asked me that night, "Well, Gabby what did you receive on your test?" I was speechless. I did not like my grade, and I knew he wouldn't either. I told him the truth, and he asked what happen and what caused me to receive that kind of grade. I simply told him, "I'm not a great test taker and the material I learned and studied wasn't on the test." That was the first time I played the Victim card, and hopefully, it will be the last.
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that my father was smart, I just didn't realize how smart. While talking with him one night, I learned that when he was younger, he used to slack off and he tended to play the role as a Victim. When he got to his junior year of high school, he realized that playing the role of a Victim wasn't going to get into a very good college, so he decided to change his ways. He started studying, and spending extra time with the teachers to insure that he received a good grade. By the end of his junior year,not only had he caught up with his class, but he was ahead of them.
I have successfully graduated from Warhill High School in the year of 2017, and I started college the same year. For the rest of the fall semester, I will try my best to live up to my expectations of the student that I know I can be. I will take two hours out of my day, everyday to study, review my notes which were taken during the lecture, making flash cards, reading my textbook, and taking pratice tests and quizzes that can be found online. I am studying whenever I get a free moment. I plan on staying at Thomas Nelson for about two years, and then I plan on transferring to either Virginia Commonwealth University or Old Dominion University. Once I transfer I hope to join either of the school's nursing program and graduate with my bachelor's degree.
Works Cited
Downing, Skip. On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, 7th ed. Boston: Cengage, 2016.
Mirman, David. "Do you think like a Victim or Creator?" You Are The Prime Mover, 2 Jan. 2012, http://youaretheprimemover.com/2012/do-you-think-like-a-victim-or-a-creator . Accessed 18 Sept. 2017