Inner Critic
Revise: Reflect on how to begin to channel this toward inner guide, instead of self-defeat. How can you change the language you're using with yourself? It is okay that I did not like the grade I received, but instead of thinking I couldn't write a timed essay I should have thought about how I could revise my grade and worked on bettering my writing skills and preparing myself for the next test by writing timed practice essays on the topics suggested by the TA.
Inner Defender
Reflect on how to begin to channel this toward inner guide, instead of self-defense. How can you change the language you're using with yourself? Instead of blaming the TA when I received the grade back I could have taken her comments to heart and used them to strengthen my next lab report, or I could have met with her to discuss what she expected of the next lab report and received exact instructions so that I could make a better grade on the next one.
Inner Guide
Reflect on how this type of self-talk resulted in positive behaviors and outcomes. When I wrote this paper I only created one draft- the final draft. But, when I received this grade back I immediately began to figure out ways I could better my writing. By thinking like this I was forced to pay closer attention to details within my next assignments and learned the importance that rough-drafts have on the writing process. I also began to think about my ability as a writer in a more positive way and learned the importance of putting full efforts into all assignments. I was able to make corrections on this assignment and by finding ways I could improve my writing I brought my grade from a 72 to a 92.
Reflection: This outcome was interesting to work through because I had to focus and think about how I reacted to bad grades rather than just react. I saw more often than not that when I got a grade back that I was not happy with I just wanted to find ways to improve my grade instead of blaming my professors or getting down on myself for the mistakes I made. I think that I tend to gravitate towards the inner guide voice and think about how I need to correct my actions because I grew up playing sports. I played softball for over ten years and honestly I was not the most talented or athletic player on the team; I had to work on skills. That being said, I had to think a lot on bettering my skills. As a third baseman I would miss routine groundballs and immediately try to think of how I could fix my mistake fast and be able to field the ball before the next play. And as a pitcher the game flowed how I allowed it to, so if I missed the location of a pitch or the ball did not have the right movement I had to think of how to correct that error so that I would not get down in the count or make a bigger mistake costing baserunners.
Credits:
Created with images by Unsplash - "typewriter typing retro"