Introduction

I always ask myself what is the main purpose of anything specially when I do homeworks, projects or quizzes because there is more than just grade, there is learning which is more important than anything. For this project, in my opinion, the main purpose is to self-reflect about ourselves and what do we (students) have construct our future which means following certain steps in order to accomplish our desire goals. There is nothing more important to think about our future and to become a better person every day.

Part 1: Thinking in Writing

“A penny for your thoughts” -popular quote
The previous quote was the first thing that came to my mind when I’ve heard that we have to write my thoughts and look for patterns which is unusual, original and therapeutically at the same time for a college project. Well, since my thoughts are a mess, it was hard to find patterns. However, after recording a certain amounts of notes (5 or 6), I just started to catch something fishy going on my thoughts that not only affects my behaviors and also my daily life in many aspects. One of those remarkable aspects is worry in general that goes from college homework, chores, and decisions that can literally change my life in just seconds. My life is constantly chase by an uncertain future which I can control partially for the decisions that I make in the present, and that is why when I try to make a choice I think about that 4 or 5 times, and also all the possibilities of the choice can let on either for good or for bad. For example, recently I was thinking about break up with my girlfriend because she was cheating on me, so I was thinking what words should I use in order to break up? How can I express myself in a way that I won’t hurt her? How can I break up with her at least in good terms? And finally what consequences can carry that decisions and in how that decision will change my life? So I have to go over and think about that. One method that I use in order to clear my mind of doubts is meditation and breathing techniques, and also it keep me concentrate in the solutions of the problems and as my hypnosis master told me “concentrate 10 % in the problem and 90% in the solution.” So I decided no matter if my decisions are correct or I make a mistake, at the end, I am going to learn from that decision and keep growing as a better person every day. Another series of thoughts that are always in my mind are my personal goals in life which can be academic, physical, and to make the world a better place to live. One of those dreams is to get my Ph.D. in robotics and go to Japan to study the technology over there or work in a company, and I know that I am not very smart. However, I am going to make my dreams comes truth by studying hard, even though; I procrastinate a lot specially in my homeworks. I am not giving up. Also, I am carefully planning the steps to archive that goal, and working in the main idea of my Ph.D. thesis which is the primary steps, and became a great scientist like my heroes such as Nicola Tesla, Richard Feynman, and Carl Sagan. I have to work hard and challenge myself every day not to be best but to archive my objectives, and probably discover something new that is going to change the world for better. Who knows?

Part 2: Thinking Visually (i.e., Represent Your Thoughts as Photos)

https://flic.kr/p/qi7yzX -> This picture represents my worries about life in general such as the homeworks, chores, and projects I have to do which constantly are in my mind.

https://flic.kr/p/qhUpLQ -> This photo represents how I have to work hard and be curious in order to accomplish my dreams and being constant is important in order to complete my goals.

https://flic.kr/p/rePvMA  -> This photo represents all the questions that I always asked myself when I have to make any decision in my life because I have to analyze the situation in order to make a proper judgement.

https://flic.kr/p/qXmukq -> I personally like this picture because it shows how I meditate and relax in my free time and think clearly about my worries and in this way it is easy to find solutions and organize everything I have to do.

https://flic.kr/p/reM3nt -> In this picture shows that I have to walk a long path in order to further and further and do not behind no matter what. The guy at the end of the corridor is me.

https://flic.kr/p/rePM1w -> In this picture I am looking to my “dream table” which contains pictures of my dreams such as robots, future technology, inspiring quotes, and my heroes. This is really inspire for my and always be in my room just to remind me all the goals I have to accomplish.

Part 3: Thinking Reflectively (i.e., Reflect on Your Thoughts and Plan Your Future Thoughts in an Essay)

 
It’s the year 2020, and it’s been a while since I just graduated from City Tech. Currently, I just finished my master degree in robotics already. In addition, I just started to work in my research in order to get my Ph.D. in robotics at Cornell University. Even though, it is a long way to go, I find myself optimistic and with a lot energy in order to complete this long task which is my investigation in order to produce new technology such as flying cars and artificial organs in order to help people. In order to accomplish all this great future, first, I am going to talk to my past self about all the problems in deep. Second, I am going to give him some solutions to those problems. Finally, I am going to talk about all the benefits if he follows these advices.

First of all, sometimes I look back to my past and reflect about the many obstacles that I’ve encountered in my life such as overcoming my lack of concentration, trying to not procrastinate, and being more responsible with myself and my daily activities. If I were able to talk to my past self, I would probably say to him, “Hey, look you will have a better future if you can concentrate more in your responsibilities rather than worry about them, just think about solutions and remember what my mentor used to say think 10% about the problem and 90% about the solution, and I know you always worry about your projects and homeworks. However, you don’t complete them on time. Also, stop watching youtube videos for several hours, and I know you like to watch anime and sometimes watch some educational documentaries.
In addition, you are always worry to make decisions and sometimes you think deeply about taking the next step, at the extent, that you have think about 5 times in order to take ore not that step. Furthermore, you procrastinate a lot and that is one of your major problems since we were kids, for example, you literally wait until the last second in order to do any kind of homeworks or assignments like that time you did a presentation in power point just 3 hours before the class starts or that time when you did your essay like 1 hour before the class begins, and I can give you more examples, however, reflect about that problem. Finally, I have to tell you that it is fine to worry about the future in general because you can’t control it entirely, just partially, however, keep in mind you have to work hard for the future you desire, and follow the next advices I am going to give you.

First, what you can do for the procrastination problem is that you have to write down all the homeworks or the chores you have to do, then, write the number of order of that chore or homework by enlisting the hardest ones at the beginning and the easiest ones for the last, so you will feel more confident when you finish the difficult tasks and you would most likely to continue to finish with the rest of your homeworks. Another option is that you have to dedicate certain numbers of hours for a specific homework such as 2 or 3 hours depending of the difficulty of the task itself because some college projects can actually take 4 or 5 hours and try to finish before the stipulate time. In addition, if you have to do a long homework, try to divide it into little sections. This is a well-known strategy for large tasks because you can visualize better the whole structure when there are little pieces that you have to put them together.

Second, for your lack of focus, keep doing meditation. As you know, you have to close your eyes and do not think about anything which is the hardest part because your brain will constantly pop up ideas or something that will distract you so easily. Try to do this kind of exercise every day for about an hour in the morning before you have to go to class. Another option is that you have to do any kind of hobby that helps you to concentrate such as figuring out a long puzzle, practicing Chinese calligraphy, or reading a long book for about at least 1 or 2 hours straight. Overall, these kinds of exercises are going to help to boost your focus.

Third, I know you always worry about your future because you cannot control certain aspects of it such as you do not know if you are going to have an accident or you are going get sick. Nevertheless, you have to go according to your future plan which is you have to get your Ph.D. in robotics and go to Japan in order to expand your knowledge in technology about robots. Also, in order to do this, you have to work hard which mean you have to constantly practice by reading books about the topic, making some circuit and studying them in details, and constructing and modeling any kind of robot with certain purposes which is going to assist any person. Try to challenge yourself every day with different kind of activities such as building new robots or doing work-outs in order to be fit.

Another advice is that you have to always follow your dreams no matter what, even though, if someone laughs at you or say that it is impossible. As I told you before, focus on your passions and dreams and do them step by step such as the heroes you admire that are posted in your dream table like Nicola Tesla, Michio Kaku, or Carl Sagan that were really recognize scientists that worked really in order to accomplish their goals and you have to follow the same example like them and you have to became a great scientist. Also, if they have published some books, read them and try to imitate their style and adapted to yourself. Remember always you have to keep forward no matter what and do your best.

In summary, the first thing I will do is try to organize myself by making a schedule where I am going to write all the duties I have to do such as my homeworks or chores, also, in the same calendar, I am going to write the estimated time of that homework that is going to take in order to finish it. For my lack of Focus, I am going to practice meditation in the morning before college at least three times a week for an hour and do some hubbies such as puzzles and read books for at least 30 minutes. In addition, I am going to challenge myself by doing new kind of projects related to robotics and build new models of circuit and study them in detail, also, writing all the results that I get from them in my free time. Furthermore, I am going to study all the characteristics of my heroes and learn from them by reading their books or watch videos about them and adapting all that I learn in myself. Overall, I going to build a new version of myself like my future self and do my best every day. Thank you future self!!!

-Introduction

In this project I took my time and effort of self analysing my thoughts and how these thoughts affected me. Also how these thoughts reflected on me and my motivation.

-Thinking in Writing

In my daily thoughts, I’ve noticed I have an equal consistency of thinking about food and walking my dog. I think that’s because, I really like food and my dog is very important to me. I like to think that my thoughts are of an average teen, where I wake up brush my teeth, eat, shower and etc. Just an ordinary day for me. Then later at night I start to wonder if my friends are gonna get online or whether or not we’ll destroy or get destroyed. Sometimes when I get a bunch of homework in one day I start to think and think and my head just starts to hurt and i start to get stressed out. When my day comes to end I think how many hours I’ll get of sleep and what am I gonna wear for the next day? My thoughts get really dark sometimes (I don’t wanna sound weird) but when I’m not distracted and just lying down I tend to think of what happens after one dies, is there actually a Heaven and Hell? People sometimes just talk about religious things and then that gets my mind traveling elsewhere. When I’m with friends I usually look at them and then wonder “wow we’ve gotten so old, next think you know we have wife and kids”, when I’m around then I tend to look back at the past and think about all the funny things that had happened between us or if we’ll actually be in contact in 5 years or so, will we look different or just have facial hair. When I’m playing with my dog I sometimes just stop and look at her then I get myself thinking where did she come from and why were dogs put on this Earth, I usually have really dark thoughts or just very idiotic thoughts, and sometimes I just think too much I give myself a headache.

-Thinking Visually

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:16pm PST

My dog is a very important “figure” in my life, she makes my life less stressful. Shes very playful and everytime I look her I wonder to myself “where did she come from?”.

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:12pm PST

My bed, the thing I always come to at the end of my day when I’m super tired. Bed is life and at the end my day I just go to sleep.

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:10pm PST

What I always think of at the beginning of the day. Right after I wake up its the first thing I think about because I have to stay minty fresh right after I wake up. Its also part of my routine and hygiene.

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:03pm PST

When I’m hungry, food is life. When I can’t find anything to eat I whip something up for myself like this beautiful sandwich. Food is a very important part of everyone’s life and food is just a part I’d my everyday life.

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:12pm PST

This picture represents not only the night but, the darkness. The thoughts that sometimes comes to me at night, the weird dark thoughts that I get when I think too much, the thoughts that sometimes bothers me.

A photo posted by Kelvin M… (@kmoneng1101) on Feb 20, 2015 at 4:03pm PST

My controller represents my hobby that I have. Getting online with my friends and joining lobbies. I guess you could call us “gamers”. Gaming is a favorite hobby of mine when I’m done with all my homework/projects, because right after I know I’m worry free and I can just game on.

-Thinking Reflective

In the time ahead, I am in an office with a team of developers talking about our future plans and deadlines we have for the release date. I see myself getting ready to use my brain and hands to get creative with the team. Today we start to put on the final touches on the game were developing, having while doing it I probably would not see it as a job, more like a hobby since a job is not really a job if you enjoy it. I will be on my computer and papers drawing, designing characters and maps for multiplayer games maybe even create a soon to be popular character. Create an awesome campaign with a confusing but interesting story, being a game designer can even take me to places like Tokyo or Montreal since there are famous game studios located in those places. The way to reach your goal is getting over the obstacles in your life it can be difficult but when you accomplish it, it will be worth it because of what you can achieve.

• Introduction

That was a very interesting assignment. People are always busy with their daily routine and it is very hard to stop for a moment and just start writing down what is happening with you at the moment.

In this project, I took time out of my daily thinking and put my thoughts under consideration and analysis. Watching how it can reflects my motivation and affects of my brain.

I never have daily dairy or blog (even though it is very popular in the 21st century). But I always have a daily planner, which helps me to organize my daily schedule and be aware of upcoming events. I would never write my thought down and later analyzed them if professor Ellis did not give us this assignment.

• Thinking in Writing

So, that was a day, when I woke up with “Napoleon” plans to make my dreams come true and work harder towards getting where I see myself in the near future. Analyzing even that sentence, I can tell that for the past couple od months the idea of starting the new path in my career or just growing professionally is coming to my mind almost every day. Maybe because of the age factor or because I start being around a lot of successful and ambitious people, make me realize that I need to channel my energy and knowledge towards achieving this goals. I love the fact that I wrote down that phrase: “ Starting from now for myself I need to set up priorities, things that I need to stand for and work hard every day.” It is very promising to see that I am trying to motivate myself even in my daily thoughts. I became more organized in the past few years and living away from home in such huge megapolis as New York City, gave you a lot of uncertainties and teach you every day to get up and fight for your future, your rights, your beliefs and be more faster, more aggressive, more competitive than yourself yesterday.

I don’t think that I am the kind of person who will have live journal. I am very introverted about my personal thoughts and opinions, but its quiet an interesting experience to have a chance to look up for what was on your mind at that moment, why did it bother you, why you were overthinking this particular situation or thing. It is probably will be very helpful in my self-analysis.

• Thinking Visually

1) It was Friday when I wrote my “Day of Thoughts” and I was on my way to Shabbat Dinner that evening. This picture shows material with special brachia (prayer), which covers Challah bread. I love traditions and enjoy sharing them with my friends. It was a perfect end of that day.

2) On my way back home, after thinking all day about my career path I decided that when I will get home and I will start looking for posts regarding finding jobs. While I was on the train I opened Facebook and saw this post on the page of Hospitality management group.

3) Also that day I got an e-mail with all my 1099 forms which was not the most pleasant reminder that tax season is here and its time to pay the taxes. That definitely was not a highlight of my day.

4) I got my Amazon delivery, which contained all my books for this class, and tea that I tried in my favorite French dessert place next to my house. Now it is the time to kill this long cold winter days and commutes with a good and necessary reading.

5) Maybe after reading of the first chapter of Medina or just feeling less active, I went to the gym. I love to work out and I am trying to do it more regularly plus for the former athlete it is not that complicated to stay in shape. Just all the gyms are overcrowded and I want finally jog or ride my bike in the Central Park. I do really miss spring.

6) I found this quote on somebody’s instagram and found that it is a good motivation point for me right now. There are not lot of text but there is exactly that point – time to focus!

• Thinking Reflectively

It is very hard to analyze your present. I think it is even harder to predict your own future. If somebody will ask me today to imagine say and myself back in 2010: “Where are you think you are going to be in 2015?” I will never answer…

We can only plan and work hard for our goals or just wait patiently for something might or might not happen to us. You can easily create a path in your head and lead towards what you want or take some risks and opportunities and change your path completely.

Do not forget that there is an age factor. It is getting much easier to form your goals, plan your actions, plus your experience are helping you to avoid making wrong decisions and waste your time.

I realized that my main focus is career. And in the next five years I will put more efforts in getting the position I want. To join a corporation that I am planning to work for. Finish college with good grades and follow my dreams.

Sometimes when I am analyzing where my mind was, when I was in my early teenage years, I realize that I did so many mistakes and wasted my time on the wrong jobs, with the wrong people… Timing is a very awkward thing. It can help you to recover through the problems, but sometimes it limitation can cause you stress, also sometimes the timing is just not right.

I wish I could have a time machine. Even thought, I heard many times, that it is my life experience and I should get the best out of it. Right now, time management will probably be my main goal. Right time management. I need to pay more attention on my sleeping habits because they affect my mood, productivity and health in general.

I need to create an extra time for physical activities and meetings with friends. Time for extra reading and exploring new things.

Introduction

In this project, I have written down and reflected on my thoughts. In addition, I expressed them visually in photos to make my point even clearer. I used my thoughts that I collected, and learned how to use them towards self-improvement by imagining myself in 5 years from now. This has been a very exciting project, and I must say that I have learned a great deal from it.

Thinking in writing

Looking at my day of thoughts, I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about school, the future, food and how to manage my time in the best possible way. I am not very good at managing my time, so it actually surprised me how much time I spent thinking about it. When I woke up the morning on my “Day of Thoughts”, I had to rush down to the subway without eating breakfast in order to get to school on time, and I thought to myself that I should have gone to bed earlier that night before, but I find myself so easily caught up in small things and I forget what time it is.

Thoughts about school is popping up in my head all through the day, I usually think about homework I have to do and processing the things I have learned through the day.  I tend to spend more time thinking about homework, then I spend on doing it, which is stupid. I think the reason for this is that, again I’m letting myself get distracted too easy. I keep telling myself “A little break would be nice” and suddenly I find myself watching Netflix or looking at Facebook or Instagram instead. I would rather do it effectively and be done with it, rather than spend hours of looking back and forth between my book and phone. Food is also something that is constantly on my mind, when I’m in class I tend to think about what I want for lunch and dinner today, I start to plan my meals for the whole day. I guess food is important to us humans by instinct, but to me I think it’s more important than most people and it is kind of annoying to think about it all the time.

I have noticed that I spend a lot of time and energy thinking about homework, although I always stall doing it until the last minute. This is something I want to be better on in the future, I think it would help me a lot to put my phone away until I’m through studying.

Thinking visually

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/15999988033/

I found myself thinking a lot about the future in my day of thoughts. I’m not sure of what I want to become, and what I want to do. So I took this picture of the sky, because the sky represents something open, endless and full of opportunity.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/16619098732/

This I a picture of a stack of books. I took this picture because I spent a great percentage of the time thinking about school and homework.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/16618616221/

This is a picture of my laptop and some books. It shows how I easily my computer lets me get distracted from the work I need to do. I should do my homework, but it is so hard to get away from the computer.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/16619735805/

I took this picture of my fridge, because I constantly think about food. From the time I wake up in the morning, I start planning what I am going to have lunch and dinner. I love food.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/16618617191/

This is a screen shot of my phone. And it shows my alarm ringing, and I have to choose between the “snooze” button, or actually wake up. I’m usually extremely tired in the mornings so I tend to push the snooze button. But I want stop snoozing in the mornings and actually get up and have some breakfast and a shower before school.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130756212@N06/16593775886/

In contrast to my other picture with the laptop and the books. This is a picture of an open book. It represents me actually doing my homework without letting myself get distracted. I would rather just do it, and be done with it, than always stalling and doing it last minute. I hate that I do that, and it is something that I want to improve about myself.

Thinking reflectively

The year is 2020, I have just received my college degree, landed a part time job and life is great. After college I was so sick of school, and I did not want to settle down and get a full time job, house and kids immediately after college, so I got a part time job to save up as much money as I could to travel the world. I have always wanted to see India, South Africa, Brazil and Hawaii. So I am planning to go there when I have saved up the money.

Back in college when I attended City Tech, my major was Communication Design. But I soon realized that I wanted to become something different. I wanted to be an architect. It was much harder to get accepted into an architect school, but the job is more exciting and the salary is way better. So if I could go back in time and give my present self an advice, I would probably tell myself to set school as my first priority in life. I look at education as a key that opens doors for you in the future. If you have the key, you have the opportunity to choose which doors you want to open. But if you do not have any or not enough education, many doors will stay closed forever.

In this essay, I will be making an argument to myself on how I will work in order to progress and achieve the goals that I have set for myself, which is my desire to upper my grades. I will be discussing how to better manage my time, prioritizing school in front of “distractions”, and making more specific plans for my future.

I soon realized that if I want to succeed in school, I had to be able to manage my time more efficiently. The way you should do this, is to be more conscious of how much time you usually spend on daily tasks, like getting ready in the morning, eating breakfast, and doing homework. I know that I had the tendency to underestimate how much time it actually took for me to do something. But by getting more aware of how much time you actually spend on these tasks, I know it would be much easier for you to make a plan of how you want your day to be. I think you should make a schedule would be very helpful for you because I know that I was not very good at managing my time. I often ended up late, because of poor planning. I also had the tendency to stay up way later at night that I should because I had homework I needed to before I could go to sleep. This caused me to get less sleep than I needed to function a hundred percent. After reading the sleep chapter in John Medina’s Brain Rules, I learned just how important sleep was for me. Lack of sleep can actually affect your memory, attention, mood, and logical reasoning, which is of course really bad because I wanted my memory to be working at full capacity in order to do well in school. Showing you just how important sleep is for the brain to function properly, a particular study revealed that as little as a 26 minute nap increased NASA pilots’ performance by 34 percent. Reading this chapter made me realize that you need to make a schedule in order to get time to do your homework and still have time to do the things you want to do. This will also hopefully give you enough time for a good nights’ sleep, which you know is very important.

I remember always getting distracted by social media, Netflix, videogames, and so forth when I was supposed to do my homework. I wanted to be able to do my homework without being mentally distant and looking back and forth between my books and my phone. When you do your homework you should devote your full attention to what you are doing. I know that you think homework can be boring sometimes, but it is better to just get it over with so you can spend more time on the things you would like to do. I remember that I enjoyed and still enjoy watching TV, Netflix, looking at social media, playing videogames, and hanging out with friends. But I wanted to have my homework finished first so I did not have to worry about that when I was having fun. Because I used to worry a lot about the things I had to do and it was causing a lot of unnecessary stress. So I would advise you to do your homework immediately when you get home from school. I know that you have already told yourself this a dozen times, yet you have not made a change. I think you would gain a lot by making some a plan to help you in the right direction.

The first thing you should do is to get rid of all the distractions surrounding you. You probably have your phone in your pocket, or somewhere near you at all times and I know how much you get drawn towards your computer. What you should do is to literally put your phone away and turn off your computer, and even more important, keep them away until you are done with whatever you have to do. Then when you get bored with school work, you will have nothing better and more fun to do, so you will quickly return to your work. This sound very easy, but I know from experience that it can actually be the opposite. So whenever you are having trouble with following these steps, you should ask yourself if checking Facebook is really more important than your education and future. The answer is of course no. Spending all of your time watching Netflix and playing videogames is not very productive and will not get you very far in life. When you look at the goals you have set for yourself in the future, the steps to get there does not involve Netflix and videogames. So whenever you do not feel like doing your homework or pay attention in school you should remember that in order to get where you want to be in life, you have to prioritize school in front of friends and distractions. I am not saying that you should not have fun, I am simply saying that you should wait until you are done with everything you have to do first.

Five years ago, I did not have my future clearly written down on paper like some people do. My future was something blurry and exciting and I did not know how it would turn out. But I knew some parts for sure, like the fact that I wanted to travel when I had received my college diploma and that I wanted a nice house and family, but more than that I did not know. As I said in the introduction my major when I first attended City Tech was Communication Design. But I got really uncertain if it was the right major for me. I found it exciting, but it is very hard to get a full time job in that field, and the salary can vary a lot. I remember that I wanted something a little more certain. So I thought of becoming an architect, but I did not know which school I wanted to attend, or what city I wanted to live in. As soon as I knew the answer to one question, more questions would appear. So what I think you should do is to do more research on schools and majors. Research is the first step to making a more specific plan for your future. I think this would be very helpful for you, because I know how stressed out you are about your future. If you want to become an architect I would recommend that you give it a shot, and that you devote your full attention into research and school to make this happened. If you make a plan for your future, it will improve your motivation towards school and that will upper your grades, which will allow you to get to where you want to be.

I really want to upper my grades in school because I believe that good grades and education is key to getting somewhere in life. Managing my time more efficiently, getting rid of all the distractions surrounding me every day, and making a more specific plan for my future are all good advices that I will do my best to follow every day. I think that if I listen to these relatively simple advices I will eventually reach the goals that I have set for myself, and move towards a better future.

Introduction

This project literally changed my life. It’s insane how a simple activity like the ones I had to do for this project changed the way my mind functioned three weeks ago. Before going in deep with this project I did not really payed any attention to what was on my mind during my walking hours but after the day of thoughts, I started realizing my thoughts are very important and they reflect how I am as a person. This project was also very helpful because it showed me what was lacking off in my life.

Thinking in Writing

An average day of mines I wake up thinking on how my day is going to take off. The times when I don’t have school, I usually work on my craft. My craft is fashion design. During my day of thoughts I was making a jacket I designed. My mind was so into the garment I was making that nothing else was on my mind but ideas of how to make my garment better. I am a person who gets bored quite fast so I had to switch up what I was doing. I later grabbed my math homework and started looking through it, another thing about me is that I hate math, so my thoughts about math are always “who created math”, “why do we need math”, “ugh”, etc. I hate this kind of thoughts. One reason is because it makes me lose my focus on school. I was analyzing how I passed my math remedial class, which I thought was hard even though in reality was not, but the secret was that even when I thought it was hard I made my mind believe it was easy and that way I learned a lot more than what I was learning with my ignorant way of thinking about math. I notice that I also think a lot about my future. At times I zone out thinking if I’ll get to my goals in life and it feels real while I’m there. But I’m sure I’ll not get there if I focused so much on how my life would look in the future and not about the work I have to do right now to get there. After writing this I want to start focusing more on my craft and not get bored with it, I want to have fun with the fabrics, textures, the sewing, the draping, etc. Also with math I want to be able to love it and not hate the moment my break ends and I have to head to my math class.

Thinking visually

This image represents how fast I work on my craft and sometimes it comes out wrong. You probably don't see anything but I do. The flaws with this is the white thread in between the fabrics. The thread is always supposed to be the same color as the fabrics.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 17, 2015 at 10:43pm PST

This image represents how fast I work on my craft and sometimes it comes out wrong. You probably don’t see anything but I do. The flaws with this is the white thread in between the fabrics. The thread is always supposed to be the same color as the fabrics.

This picture represents the passion I have for my craft. Every Day when I wake up and see this it inspires me to keep working harder and harder on my dream. I also want to learn how to be patient and to wait until I have a plan to go ahead and create something.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 17, 2015 at 11:08pm PST

This picture represents the passion I have for my craft. Every Day when I wake up and see this it inspires me to keep working harder and harder on my dream. I also want to learn how to be patient and to wait until I have a plan to go ahead and create something.

This picture represents the bored math problems I have to go through on my math course. Which I don't like but I tell my mind I like so I can learn them.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 17, 2015 at 11:11pm PST

This picture represents the bored math problems I have to go through on my math course. Which I don’t like but I tell my mind I like so I can learn them.

This picture represents the fact that math isn't just about numbers, it's about shapes, it's about architecture, it's fun, this is the way I want to feel about my math course.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 17, 2015 at 11:14pm PST

This picture represents the fact that math isn’t just about numbers, it’s about shapes, it’s about architecture, it’s fun, this is the way I want to feel about my math course.

This picture represents the idea that I spend to much time zone out thinking about my future instead of doing what I have to to right now to get there, it's like my goal is right there so close to me but It's getting farther because I'm not doing what I have to do on time.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 17, 2015 at 11:22pm PST

This picture represents the idea that I spend to much time zone out thinking about my future instead of doing what I have to to right now to get there, it’s like my goal is right there so close to me but It’s getting farther because I’m not doing what I have to do on time.

This picture represents how I want to feel about my future. A car starts at point A and ends at point B but between A and B there's a road that car has to take. I sometimes think I'm on point B when in reality I'm on point A. I wanna feel as if I already left point A now I'm on the road to point B.

A photo posted by Bryan (@jimenezbryanrules) on Feb 18, 2015 at 8:02am PST

This picture represents how I want to feel about my future. A car starts at point A and ends at point B but between A and B there’s a road that car has to take. I sometimes think I’m on point B when in reality I’m on point A. I wanna feel as if I already left point A now I’m on the road to point B.

Thinking reflectively

I’m Bryan Jimenez and I’m twenty four years old, I’m now graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology. At FIT I met a very special person who I am now engaged to and we are working together on our fashion dream. During my student years at FIT I did a lot of internships that allowed me to network in fashion, photography, and art. Thanks to this new friendships I made throughout college I am showing a spring/summer ’21 “Ready to Wear” collection at New York Fashion Week. My fashion career has grown so much in just five years, from sewing at my room to having my own showroom. It’s unbelievable how far I’ve come. During this essay I will argue to myself on how I can become successful by changing the way I was thinking five years ago. Four things I would have done in the past would be to focus on school, on learning the basics of anything before going in too deep, on practicing more exercises, and appreciating everything I have in my hands now.

People say there’s no reason to go back on the past since nothing can be done or change, but I personally wish that a “going back to the past” machine existed. If I could go five years back on my life I would definitely focus more in school. During 2015 I was attending City Tech it was on my second semester, I had a part time job and I was also working on my clothing line. That entire year my least prioritized responsibility was school. I set work and my career goals before school, which was not good because I lost focus and I was not taking school serious so my grades immediately went from b’s to -c’s. Due to my grades going down I had to stay another year in City Tech to get my grades up so that FIT would accept me, which I felt like it was unnecessary because I had the chance to get good grades and I didn’t use it. If I had gotten better grades in college I probably would not have to take all these exams my job and college is now requiring me to take. If I was to speak to the kids in high school or college I would highly recommend them to focus on school. There’s nothing more important then school and that everything will fall into place as soon as school is done.

Everything we do in life requires some type of learning. Some learn visually , some study and some are self taught. I am an fashion designer and everything I know about fashion I have learned myself, I learn how to sew by practicing everyday and even though I know how to sew and construct garments I can say that I am not the best at it yet. If I could go back five years to when I first started sewing and designing I would tell myself to focus on basics before going big. When I first started pursuing this fashion dream I was 17 and I wanted to rush the process and that cost me not money but time. Time because I would always do something wrong while I was sketching or sewing and I would either have remake what I did wrong or most times I would have to start over. That costed me a lot of time which could have been used to learn other techniques. After a year of rushing my work and having to remake project after project, I finally understood that I had to learn the basics before I can move anywhere else, I then started over doing simple stuff such as t-shirts, sweaters and on and on, trying to make it as perfect as I could and I can now five years later say, those lessons I learn while remaking garments taught me that the process is very important and everybody has to go through it to become professionals on their craft.

If I had the opportunity to go five years back from now and someone told me to do exercise I would probably tell them “I don’t have time for the gym”. Five years ago I really did not have any time for a gym. But what I did not know is that I did not have to go to a gym to practice exercise. A book that change this mindset of mines was “Brain Rules” by John Medina. Medina talks on how beneficial exercise is not only for our body’s and health, but also for our brain. After I finish reading “Brain Rules” I realized that I was just killing myself if I didn’t practice any types of exercises and so I started walking longer distance than my usual walks, riding my bike more often and from there on I started the hobby of doing some type of exercise everyday.

Family it’s the best gift men has. Five years ago I knew that sentence but I was not seeding on to it because I was too busy living my own life to the point that I did not realized that I had a family wanting to spend time with me. Like I said earlier I wish a going to the past machine existed so I can appreciate not only my family but everything god has handed me. As soon as I started working on the arts and fashion Everyone around me started telling me “you are so talented”, “one day you will make it” but I didn’t really saw that talent in me until now, maybe because I was making garments the wrong way or maybe because I didn’t have the skills an average designer has after some time in the fashion world but the point was that I was learning and I did not recognized the beauty of learning. Now every time I learn something new about any topic not just relating my craft I feel proud of myself because I finally understood how to value everything I have and learn everyday.

I remember how bad I wanted to be on my twenties five years ago, now I am twenty four wishing I could go five years back, the irony of life. My life it’s really not bad at all for all the mistakes I made throughout my teenager years but it can be a lot better if I had payed more attention in school. If I was giving the opportunity to attend school again I would definitely cut everything and everyone off to focus on school work. On the other note my fashion works are where I pictured them being five years ago. I am glad I learned the lesson of practice during my journey and thanks to that lesson I am who I am today. Five years ago a lot of my friends were into fitness and doing exercise but I wasn’t and I regret not associating with them as much earlier in life because now it’s really hard for me to do exercises everyday. Now that I am 24 I am still the same slim boy from college and even thought I am not ashamed of how I look I still wish I was a little bit more fit. I can believe it took me five years to start appreciating everything I have in my life, it took me to open my eyes into the real world and see how other people live and how I live. And that’s how my story ends.

Introduction

In this project, I reflected on my thoughts and practiced focusing on the future for more effective results. I learned that three simple habits can change the course of your whole future. Healthy eating habits help you to concentrate in class, spacing your time out can help prepare for future assignments, and positive thinking prevents stressful situations. 

Part 1: Thinking in Writing

Based on my day of thoughts, I realized how much I dwell on things of little importance. For example, I lost my metro card in the beginning of the day, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for almost the entire day. Also, I woke up feeling bad about not making it to my neice’s show at school and I beat myself over it the whole day. To be honest, a metro card and a show should be the least of my problems. I also came to n otice that I get hungry a whole lot. About 6 times a day I find myself wondering what I’m going to eat next. I feel like my life lacks excitement and I spend way too much time zoning out into random things like television, iPhone apps such as Instagram, Trivia Crack, Facebook, etc., and food. I need to focus my attention more to things like school and homework, and work. Even at work, I’m thinking about how long until I get to go home and eat! I need a hobby. In conclusion, I’ve decided that I will try to make the most of my days with more positive thinking, using my time more productive and efficiently, and get into healthier eating habits!

Part 2: Thinking Visually (i.e., Represent Your Thoughts as Photos)

http://instagram.com/p/zQ7Ey9wJsl/?modal=true
This is a picture of food. I chose to post this because throughout the day, I tend to constantly think about what I’m going to eat next. A lot of my daily thoughts consist of food.

A photo posted by Jennifer Garcia (@jennifer.garcia2) on Feb 18, 2015 at 5:33pm PST

This is a photo of my six-year-old niece, Alyssa. I live for this little girl. During my “Day of Thoughts”, I missed one of Alyssa’s shows. I really ruined my whole day to know I let her down.

A photo posted by Jennifer Garcia (@jennifer.garcia2) on Feb 18, 2015 at 5:38pm PST

This picture is my metro card that didn’t want to swipe. Because of this here metro card, I just missed my train. This caused a ten minute delay in my schedule. Because of this, I missed my second train, causing me to be late to class by 15 minutes. This incident also ruined my day.

A photo posted by Jennifer Garcia (@jennifer.garcia2) on Feb 18, 2015 at 5:34pm PST

I chose to put a picture of my “Brain Rules” book because I’ve come to the conclusion that I spend too much time doing pointless things. I think I need a hobby and to focus on better things such as homework.

A photo posted by Jennifer Garcia (@jennifer.garcia2) on Feb 18, 2015 at 5:38pm PST

I took a picture of a Michael Kors bag because it’s supposed to represent money. Something I rather focus on is getting money so that I can buy all the materials that I want.

A photo posted by Jennifer Garcia (@jennifer.garcia2) on Feb 18, 2015 at 5:32pm PST

This last picture is a train coming. I took this picture to show that I want to make it a habit of being on time. It’s a much better view to see a train coming than to see it leaving.

Part 3: Thinking Reflectively (i.e., Reflect on Your Thoughts and Plan Your Future Thoughts in an Essay)

Dear Jennifer,

Right now, you are a full time student at City Tech and are working part time. I know it is kind of hard trying to balance school, work, and your boyfriend, but don’t worry because it will all be worth it in the end. You will eventually become a successfully licensed CPA and have your own business. However, everyone goes through what you are going through right now. In this letter I’ll show you what to focus on to achieve your goals. Right now, you need to concentrate on having a healthier lifestyle, learning how to manage your time better, and filling your mind with positive and productive thoughts. You will see how doing these three things will lead you into having a more positive and prosperous lifestyle.

One thing that I have changed were my eating habits. I was eating a lot of fast food (Burger King, pizza, Chinese food, McDonald’s, etc.) and it really affected me in many ways. One way that it affected me was by not giving me the energy that I needed to be able to stay focused during my classes. I felt tired all the time and I put on a lot of weight, about 20-30 pounds. By eating healthier, I found myself more energized throughout the day. I would concentrate in my classes, I was punctual, and took great notes. I also would get home and still had the energy to do homework, and all my assignments ahead of time. I generally had more energy throughout the day which helped me focus in all my courses. This is important because that brings me to my next point, being prepared.

By being prepared and having better time management life goes smoother. You are going to have to start giving yourself more than enough time to do things. For example, if you know it takes 20 minutes to get to school don’t leave the house 25 minutes before your class starts. Give yourself more than enough time to get there. Also, always make sure you get your 8 hours of sleep or longer. It helps your brain focus more the next day, as well as keeping you alert in school. Stop waiting until last minute to do homework and assignments. When you extend your time, you get to put in more effort and you have more time to go over and check your own work to make sure everything is correct. When you wait until last minute, you rush yourself and end up making careless mistakes. It can add stress to yourself as well. If you space your time out correctly, you can easily avoid putting pressure on yourself. By constantly rushing and living life in the moment, you can stress yourself out which may cause frustration. This brings me to my final point, having a more positive outlook on things.

You have the tendency to focus more on the negative. Instead of making the best out of a bad situation, you concentrate on the negative and let it ruin your day. I learned that one positive thought everyday can have a huge impact. Ways to practice this habit are by always trying to see the good in a problem. Imagine how things could have been worse. Also, think of ways to make the situation better because most problems have solutions. However, if a problem occurs where there is nothing that can be done about it, move on from it. There are going to be times where things happen and you can not change it or fix it, but don’t linger on them. Acknowledge that nothing can be done and walk away from the problem. By practicing these habits you not only are going to save yourself a ton of unnecessary stress, but you will also be having a more positive mindset towards new problems. When you think happier thoughts, your day will be more productive because your mind won’t be distracted by negativity. By having a clear mind, you will also be able to focus on everything that needs to be done. Everything falls into place with each other.

Three things to focus on that will improve yourself for the future are concentrating on having a healthier lifestyle, learning how to manage your time better, and filling your mind with positive and productive thoughts. By eating healthier you will be more energized and alert throughout the day. By managing your time better you will be more prepared and less stressed. When you focus on the positive things in life, your day goes smoother by stressing less on nonsense. It can also clears your mind from negativity which leaves space to focus on things worth paying attention to. I took these steps and it brought me exactly where I needed to be in life. These three steps are the key to success and the faster you start working on the them, the quicker your life will change for the better.

Sincerely yours,
New and Improved, Jennifer

Introduction

In this project are reflected all my thoughts and feelings. I collected and wrote them down to express in words what is in my mind every hour of the day. In addition, I expressed them visually in photos, to represent them even better. I used all the thoughts that I focus the most in my present and the ones I want to keep thinking in the future to be a better person. My audience will be able to understand my way of viewing life. Also, I imagined myself five years from now, and wrote about  the things that I would recommend to my present self to think about and focus on to be able to acquire the things I have always wanted. I imagined the things I consider that I will capable of understand in my future and recommended them to my present self. This project helped me to analyze myself and observe deeper the things I should keep thinking and the ones I have to focus on to get all the goals I want to achieve in life.

Thinking in Writing

After writing about my thoughts I have noticed that since I wake until I go to sleep I have different thoughts on my day that  sometimes do not have nothing on common, but they have their own reason and objective in my life. I think about everything, I am the kind of person that analyzes everything around me.

It is Saturday morning, right now all that comes to my mind is the importance of being happy in life because it does not matter the things you have or what you want to have is what you feel and the people that surround you every day that matters. I am not trying to consider myself a philosopher but I think too much about life and why do things happen. Also, my days are based on thinking what I need to do every hour of the day, I am trying to be more organized than I was yesterday, I do my best to keep in mind a “to do list” for the day. Having a moment on your day to do nothing and think about everything is one of the best therapies ever.

Last week, my grandmother had a big surgery and my youngest nephew was born in the same day, so these days I have been thinking a lot about them. I just think that is ironic that some people are very sick and trying not to die while others were born just a second ago with thousands of opportunities to make a difference in this world, trying to adapt and do the things right. Who wouldn’t like to go back in time and do the things better? Well, I do, but those things that I have been through in life made me what I am and I do not want to change the experience I got.

It is my first semester in college, at this moment most of my thoughts are about studying, doing homework and organizing everything for the next day. Every day, I think a lot about school because I want to do my best to be the person I visualize in my mind; someone that enjoys and possesses good knowledge of what is doing to have the ability to help the people.

As many of the New Yorkers, most of the times I have to take the public transportation, I hate it and love it at the same time because it is the only place you can see all kind of people from different countries, religion and personality and it gives you the opportunity to indirectly interact with everybody. It is funny how everybody has their own world and because life is so stressful and busy, nowadays, we do not even smile to each other or say hello and bye. Other thing I do not stop thinking about is my country because I miss a lot my family and friends, I am homesick and knowing that I will see them soon is what gives me strength to keep going and do not give up.

I could sum up my thoughts in one sentence; “Try to be happy every day of your life”. What I recommend people to do is that when they go to bed at night, analyzes everything they like and dislike of their lives, and if there is something they do not like or is not making them happy, try to change it because life is too short and there is no second opportunities. That is what I try to keep as my “everyday goal”.

Thinking Visually

http://instagram.com/p/zOow_BPPJw/
In this picture, I want to represent one of the most important things in life, “Happiness”. It does not matter the things you have in life, is what you have inside of you and the people that surround you that matters.

http://instagram.com/p/zOqAPyPPLp/
I think that is ironic that some people are very sick and trying not to die while others were born just a second ago with thousands of opportunities to make a difference in this world and try to do the things right. That is what I wanted to represent in this picture because I use to think a lot about it.

http://instagram.com/p/zOtcXivPPy/
At this moment most of my thoughts are about studying, doing homework and organizing everything for the next day. As many of you, I think a lot about school because I want to do the things right.

http://instagram.com/p/zOu5YEvPBh/
I always recommend people that when they go to bed at night, analyze everything they like and dislike of their lives, and if there is something they do not like or is not making them happy, try to change it because life is too short and there is no second opportunities. This is something I want to keep thinking in the future.

http://instagram.com/p/zOwdKUPPDH/
God is above everything in my life, I learned to love him when I was just a little girl and I want to focus my thinking in the future in the blessing of having this feeling inside of me.

http://instagram.com/p/zOyQwhvPE9/
In this picture I want to represent my biggest goal right know, improve my English more and more every day. It is going to be hard but I will get it because I am doing my best to get it.

Thinking Reflectively

It is amazing to see that I have become a new person. I have changed for better because I am older now, I am also more mature and I have a better capacity to choose my decisions and be able to have my own personality.  I owe all those things to all the experience I have because exactly 5 years ago my life changed forever, but that is a long story. At this moment I prefer to introduce myself. My name is Lorena Batista and this is my life in 2020. I have always wished to be successful, be able to do what I want and be next to the people that I love the most. As most people, I have worked very hard to become a good professional. Right now, I am a very good psychologist and I just started my Masters in Psychotherapy. I think that choosing this major 5 years ago was a great decision because at this moment, I am able to help the people and I have the privilege of doing what I enjoy in life. I will not feel bored at work the rest of my life. I always thank the people that have worried about me and for sharing this inner happiness with me because even though I have been through a lot the last years of my life, I have obtained this blessing with the people that surround me every day.

To obtain all this in my life I had to change the way I used to see the things. I understood that in order to achieve my goals I would have to work harder and walk away from the things and people that do not bring anything good to my life. We have to work hard for the things we want in life because that is the only way to change the things that do not make us happy. Nowadays, being a successful person might be the dream for most of the people in this world. Regardless of the nationality, religion or social status, everybody wants to do something different and succeed. Our society is becoming very competitive and the youth is receiving more pressure every day. As a young person, it is my responsibility to have clear goals and run all the way to them because without effort I will not get anything g good in life. I have kept this as my everyday philosophy “You better work hard to get the things you want to achieve in your life”. Believe it or not, having that in mind has helped me to succeed in life and never give up. Nobody said that it would be easy but it will be worth it.  I consider myself a warrior because I always fight to get what I want, and by that, I mean that I always do everything I can to get what I want. Good things are not always easy to get. What kept me strong those hard days, when I used to be at college with my family far away from me, was to see my goals come true and be the person I have always visualized in my dreams.

Sometimes I remember the things I have done and the decisions I have made and try not to regret for the things I did not do. You have to do what your heart tells you to do because life is too short to do not do something because you are afraid of taking risks. I am very proud of myself but sometimes I think that if I would have taken more risks when I was younger, now I would be stronger now. That is something I cannot forget because it has guided me to become a better person. I wish I could go back in time, tell this to my past self, and change the way I used to see life. Unfortunately, that is not possible so I prefer to practice that new knowledge from now on because it is never too late.

I am satisfied with the things I have achieved and the fact that I learned to be happy. I used to feel very alone but now I am able to say “I am happy”. I want to keep going and be more successful and I am going to work hard to get it. If I had all this wisdom a few years ago, my life maybe would have been easier but lessons are hard to learn and from now on I want to be different,  and make better decisions so I will not regret anything in my future. Everyone has its own way of learning the things in life; also, every person has its own specific time in life to understand the key of happiness or success.

• Introduction

I feel like this project was intended for me to pay attention to my thoughts and why i’m having them. While in the process of completing this project, I was able to realize certain traits and thoughts that I really need to focus on. Most of the thoughts pertained to my future and career and I feel that; that’s what i need to focus on as of now! Actually being able to write down my thoughts has helped me look on what i’m doing as of now and what needs to change. The brain works in mysterious ways and it’s great poking it a couple of times just to get a bit more information.

• Thinking In Writing

So planning my day of thoughts was the best thing for me because if it wasn’t planned it wouldn’t get done. After reviewing my day of thoughts i’ve noticed that i had normal teenager thoughts. Such as, my future and what i’d be doing in a couple of years, school and why it’s so time consuming and food. However, the only thought that continuously played through my head in the whole day was my future in acting and how soon i will be doing it professionally. I know it’s pretty cliche to have a thought such as this one but this is a thought i have everyday, numerous times a day and at every time of the day. My future is very important to me so it’s only fitting for me to make sure things begin now and as early as possible because i’ve witnessed many people have a passion for something but it became too late to get it and had no other choice but to settle and try to survive. I definitely don’t want that. I had basic normal thoughts about the steps i need to take in order to reach my “success” and be content with my life. Pretty horrible for me to plan my day of thoughts on a school day but for some reason, my school days are the days where the most thoughts come to me and makes the weekends happen for me. Throughout the day i was thinking about if i’ll get to class in time, why is class so long?, why is school is so time consuming? and whether or not homework would get done because of how tired i am. With the idea of writing my thoughts, it made me realize that i need to be more on top of things and keeping everything chronological and “tight”.

• Thinking Visually

http://instagram.com/p/zOzo5hmiKb/

This photo represents my thinking because as a child, I always had a passion for acting and only seen myself doing that in future. So this photo was taken Broadway is the embodiment of Acting.

http://instagram.com/p/zOzrrcGiKg/
This photo represents my thinking because we know that Times Square is in Manhattan and when people see the big lights they think of New York…..”The Land Of Opportunity”. I believe that New York is the land of opportunity and anything can happen in the blink of an eye!

http://instagram.com/p/zOz18UGiKv/
I took this photo especially because this is my neighborhood and where i was raised all eighteen years of my life. This photo was taken because i constantly think when i get around this area….”How am i going to get out of here and begin my future?” This is something I try my best to focus on for the future.

http://instagram.com/p/zOzwSTmiKq/
I thought i should take this photo because as of something I need to focus on in my future, I turn to billboards and ads as inspiration on…..”what steps, do i need to take in order to achieve my goal in the entertainment world!”

http://instagram.com/p/zOziJmmiKQ/
I decided to take another picture downtown but not necessarily for the billboards, but trying to take an overview of the people in Times Square. (Failed Job) However, i took this photo because everyday when i think about my future, i always think about what can make me different from the rest of people here, i go to school with, ride transportation with and even my loved ones. Although, I didn’t do a successful job on the picture, it was my vision to take the photo for that purpose.

http://instagram.com/p/zO9iLrGiEX/
So for this photo, i decided to take a picture of my tumblr because on tumblr we sorta appreciate other people such as, celebs, fashion icons, actors and basically those in entertainment. It may seem weird but i have sorta an obsession with hoping that one day my name could be a hashtag or a trending topic. Within my future I’m not obsessing over “fame” necessarily because with acting or anything within entertainment, once you become a common guy…”fame” comes with it. It’s just another motivator for me to reach my goal!

• Thinking Reflectively

Whatever you do, do not stop! Everything leading to now is going to pay off in the next couple of years. Currently, you made your long life dream of becoming an actor a reality. It took many bumps and bruises, but you finally have your spotlight on your very own comedic sitcom. Remember that time when you wanted to quit because you met many scammers surrounding the entertainment world? Well, instead of hanging up the towel, you decided that this career was all you had and working a nine to five just wasn’t in your future. Now, because of your career and who you are; you’re able to not only gain the annual income you’ve always dreamt of, but also premiered on covers of magazines, walked red carpets and even became a guest on SNL and even Ellen. For lack of a better word, you made it! The only thing now is……..can the past me take the same direction?

Now, I know you’re pretty excited to hear about your future, but we need to focus on a couple of things first. One thing you’ve always had trouble with was arriving on time or early to anything. Whether, it’s school, an event, meetings or even an audition. You need to focus on arriving promptly, because being late does not bode well, especially with your career. Being late can cause serious damage in acting. Not only  time is money, literally, but no one wants to work with a person who thinks that his/her time if more special than others. Even if you don’t think your time is more important, that is how it will be perceived to colleagues. In other words, production would not take you serious and that annual income you love so much will drop tremendously. In all actuality, if you don’t change, you would never reach an income to make a living off of. Eventhough, your father has been telling you this since god knows when. It is your responsibility to begin now and get this act of being late removed. It was very hard to break at first but your career is far more important!

Unfortunately for you, with acting comes a lot of studying and practice. This for sure has always been another problem for you throughout all your years of education. Without having good study habits, it will be extremely hard for you in acting when it comes to memorizing your lines and making sure everything runs on schedule correctly. Yes, there are many takes if you slip up, but how many takes will you use before the director asks for another person to take your role, your job, and your money? This is why studying is key and with studying, if you slip there’s a chance you can remember the what should be said and improv! Improvisation skills is acting one on one, but you can’t count on that all the time because most writers hate when actors do that, unless it fits and the director approves. I suggest certain skills to develop a good study habit. A couple of steps recommended that you should take is definitely to avoid thinking negatively because your anxiety can go from one to three-thousand very quickly, always think positive and trust your first instinct, always study where there is a table because for some reason whether noise or no noise when there’s a table, your focus is amazing rather than on your lap and basically anywhere that has no table. Another step for you is to never have your cell phone, Mac, or Ipad near. You know yourself that you get easily distracted when that LED light flashes! As, a actor it’s such a benefit to have your alone time and your manager or assistant could hold your belongings and take your calls if necessary. When it comes to studying, the only thing that is crucial for you is to finish, with understanding the criteria and ready for anything. Last but not least, the step that is most crucial for you is to always communicate!! It is evident that you always communicate because you seem to always second guess yourself and if you don’t understand something you keep it to yourself instead of asking any questions. As an actor it’s pretty crucial as well to just give your manager and especially the director a heads up about how a certain line should be said or how you should be positioned in a certain scene. Rather go ahead and ask questions the just hear the word “cut!” numerous times because you can’t get it right! Studying is key and you may not see it now but eventually you’ll take heed in pursuing the art of studying.

I believe we have covered all the necessary focal points that leads to your prominent future. All except one. The final action that needs to be taken is your strong stance of always being honest. Being honest is an amazing trait for a person but too much honesty and brutal honesty and not taking a person’s feelings into consideration is a very bad thing. There’s ways of not lying and still being able to tell the truth, without hurting someone, but it all falls under how you word things and how a lot of those words are being delivered. This is also pivotal in acting because if you feel as though you don’t like how a line is worded  or don’t necessarily like the project itself, you can easily say “I don’t see myself as a good fit for this role” or “The script is amazing but I have one question about a certain line”. With just a couple of word changes you’re still able to be honest and spare the other person’s feelings without just saying “I don’t like it” or “This is terrible!” Being honest is a life lesson and overtime it will get really confusing because you may feel as though you’re lying even a little bit but overtime you’ll start to realize that it has benefits and less problems for you in the end. This is something that you can start working on now, however don’t feel rushed into learning it, but more so thinking about “How can I word this, so it doesn’t come off rude?” Key component in life that should always be taken into consideration. Less issues and more honesty that isn’t so blatant and disrespectful like.

It is very important that you take precaution on the road to your living in the future. Everything that is being done now will pay off on the way and can change your life drastically. By using a lot of these tips and probably more focus points that wasn’t mentioned could just be useful in life. You’re very adamant about your future and won’t let anyone knock you down or stop you from achieving in the entertainment industry. Everyone wants to be an entertainer but only a few excel and perfect their performance as they go on. And don’t worry about the negativity because it’s the exact thing that’ll give you that big push to pursue great things and live lavishly, whether it being wealthy or just having positive supporters, such as, family and friends in your life. Like I indicated in the beginning, whatever you do, do not stop! Everything leading to now is going to pay off in the next couple of years. Only you have the control of your future and not a single person can come between it!

Introduction

In this project, I had wrote down my thought process every thirty minutes to one hour. I had came to realization how my thinking reflected on the person who I am and wanted to become. The way I was once thinking wasn’t really considered “bad” but I consider it negative. The negative thinking was holding me back form the positive due to being lazy, thinking about non-sense that wasn’t important, and just hoping I could’ve changed my lifestyle for the better. I have decided to straighten out my priorities and gain focus to achieve how i wanted become more positive, not only as a person but academically swell.

Thinking In Writing

While collecting my day of thoughts, every half hour to an hour, I have noticed that there are things that i think about without noticing. These thoughts that I have read over seemed quite interesting and odd at first and I wondered why I thought of those things, in my natural it’s normal I suppose. I started my day on a early Thursday morning in a rush to attend my morning during that entire time I was nervous due to my professors rigid class rules. The least thought process was during my math class I guess its cause I have to only think about math questions and figure a way to solve them, in a way thats a thought. After a few minutes of that class I was exhausted wanting to sleep and fell asleep enjoying a lustful dream. My thoughts during the day was mainly about my past baseball career and growing up. Also the odd thing I noticed i think about penguins quite often. My thoughts about growing up is different from other people, I do understand that not everyone has the best childhood and the best life growing up, but I’m pretty sure the way I pretty much raised myself wasn’t very positive and productive as it should’ve. Also the most depressing thing that has happen to me is having my dream crushed of having any type of baseball career due to the fact I suffered from multiple hip injuries. Writing my thoughts down made me realize that I should stop thinking of my past so much and start focusing on more of my future.

Thinking Visually

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571787742/
This picture is an old picture of me playing baseball last year in Texas with my traveling team. This picture always came to my mind because its not just a sport to me its my life everything I do with my daily life i tried to connect it to baseball that way it can just be more enjoyable. I’m very passionate about this sport and sometimes it frustrates me because now I’m limited with body movement due to injuries.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16572922905/
This is the area where I grew up and I spent most of my life till the age of fifteen. I took it upon myself to guide and find answers growing up, I had very little family that helped me find the right path of growing up which led to very poor decisions.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/15950545054/
Subway is taken daily flooded with New Yorkers and tourist from around the world. Most of my thinking was in the subway because i travel a lot; for school, home, city, work etc. I’ve realized that I am stuck in the past wondering if I would’ve done things differently things would have turned out the way i wanted them to, this allowed me to accept what I have done in the past because it makes me the person whom I am today and not everyone gets to fulfill their dreams.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571991122/
I am obviously a City Tech student currently, I think very little of my future because it wasn’t the dream I planned as a child. I have accepted the fact that what i want to truly do won’t be accomplish but i can focus on something that’s with in that field.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16572924265/
Planet Fitness probably the cheapest gym anyone would come by, I am attending a gym but not this gym. I feel overweight and sometimes I’m self conscious. Reasoning behind this is when I was younger I was also overweight but then I became ill and found out I had mononucleosis this caused me to lose a lot of weight. Although i lost weight the wrong way I liked my new look and tried to stay in shape but then later gave up which led to my current situation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571447161/
This is a baseball field covered with probably 1-2 feet of snow, although no baseball field is shown when I saw this for some odd reason i thought of penguins. Penguins are one of my favorite birds which is quite strange in my opinion. Sadly I wasn’t able to pass by an open zoo or stumble across stray penguins to get raw photos of them.

Thinking Reflectively

Dear Younger Self (Justin Echevarria),

It is the year 2020, who ever thought we would make it this far? Well I am proud to say you have achieved what you planned, finally became an electrical engineer. Although I am an engineer does not necessarily mean that you will become one as well. Due to “time travel” if you slack off in school your future will change, so I highly recommend you don’t just lounge around because to gain success you need determination. Yes I am considered “successful” on a scale of status,because I graduated from New York City College of Technology. Now I am an engineer, but you will not be able to overcome obstacles if you are being lazy. If you study from the beginning of the semester, it will honestly be less stressful and of course a lot more helpful, and eventually less work in the long run. Also stop dwelling on the past of what you should’ve changed because those mistakes made you who you are and if you really want change make the change now, proceed, become someone, succeed with bliss. There are a lot of questions you probably have for me, so one of the questions I think you may ask, “did I move out or do I still live with a parent?” Yes! I did move out just recently beautiful condo, still living in New York so not everyone is nice, but its a great living. I will not go into to much detail cause I do not want you to know exactly how your life will pan out. I also believe the world of mysteries and curiosity is a lot more exciting. This is only caused when you know information to an extent and the rest of the information that is untold allows the brain to create vivid imaginations what I like to call future goals.

From my personal experience I can not stress enough how important it is to manage your time. You should have a break down on what to do on a daily basis from eating, showering, traveling to school, studying/homework etc. If you manage your time better then you will notice you won’t struggle with school as much as before. Also complete your assignments on time! When I began to manage my time properly often I felt as if I was ahead of everything, meaning all my assignments were completed I studied for about an hour (all my subjects). Since I felt no need to push myself harder towards the school I slowed down on studying and started doing things that weren’t school related or helpful for my future career. Since I felt as if I was a the apex of my school performance I would study less and hang out with my girlfriend or a couple of friends/colleagues. This led to difficulties, so I want you to realize just because you may have an outstanding school performance never get to comfortable, once you get comfortable thats when you will start to slack off and it’ll be your downfall. So what do i expect you to do if you have free time? Study more! If you need a break make sure its about five to ten minutes, nothing longer because you will start procrastinating. I remember an old professor I had once said, “If you apply a little more effort everyday, the results will be amazing.” Keep this in mind this can allow a stronger drive for you to exceed in college outstandingly.

I remember when I was your age I wanted to graduate, but I didn’t have much of a drive. Determination is what i mean by having a drive, one must be determined and ready to achieve their goal.What I mean is in order for you to succeed you are going to want it bad, and I don’t mean just wanting it you have to do what ever it takes to get where you wanna be. A perfect example obviously we both experienced is baseball, as a child I wanted to become a professional baseball player. Do you remember what it took just for some people to recognize your talent? Exactly, you spent all day and night literally thirteen hours a day practice pushing yourself to get where you wanted. Although you did not achieve your goal it doesn’t mean it was because you were not good enough, you had an injury that you were not able to recover properly and proceed with the sport. That is the drive you are going to need if you really want to become an electrical engineer. Once you have the drive of course obstacles will occur, but you have to just overcome them, make sure no matter what happens by the end of the day you know what you have to know and more. Then you will succeed and in the long run it will all be worth it because there will be no more pressure on you for the classes you took. Always remember never let any obstacle interfere with your progression, if somethings holding you back figure out what you can do to get rid of it that way you can pursue.

I would just like to tell you ahead of time although i feel as if I can not change how you think and want to do because I am aware of how hard headed you can be, I highly recommend to not, I repeat, NOT become indecisive. This is college, you have an outstanding experience and get to know many people whom may or may not be in the remainder of your life, but you will think about changing your long term career goals just because you are tired of completing the same task. You will just feel bored of the entire concept of becoming an electrical engineer and will switch your major to realize that you only enjoyed engineering. With this said, if you still feel as if wanna change the your major, please do not, you will be better off if you just take an unnecessary classes. This will most likely fill you with the joy you once had for school and it will be easier to complete the engineering profession.

This is all I would like to tell you. I can not stress enough on how it is important to remain focus. To remain focus you will want to achieve your goals it cannot become a want it needs to become a need just like how your body needs to breathe. What plays a part as well is the drive that you have right now, embrace it and try to keep that spark lasting till the end. Once you have completed all these task you have set for college there will be more to come beyond college for the real world once your truly on your own.

Good luck.

I would just like to thank you for giving me information to prepare myself and how what I should start doing on my own. From reading this letter recently I have already become more focused in school. Although I love procrastinating I am still putting in the effort to complete school assignments/papers before time. From reflecting my day of thoughts and reading this letter I have realized I am an odd thinker and how I go about my day is quite strange,this does not necessarily mean I am weird I hope, but I just need to remain focus on what the “big” picture that waits for me. I have came to my sense that what makes me a better person and allows me to pursue my long career goals are my flaws and what I have been through for the good times to the worse. I just hope everything goes as planned. I know achieving my goals will not be easy to come, but there is a lot of hope I have and I have the passion to conquer. I feel I have become more ambitious and will accomplish what I have planned for myself.

Introduction

In this project, I reflected on my thoughts and planned how to think with a sharper focus going into the future. I spent a day on write down my thoughts. After writing down the thoughts, I asked myself what I want to focus on in the future. In order for me to have clear thoughts, I started to think what I will be doing in five years. Then I explained the steps on how to achieve what I have in five years.

Thinking in Writing

My thoughts of the day were mostly all about job and my family. I’ve been thinking what I should do with my life, job or focus in school. School was never my thing that’s why I want to look for a job. I always think how can I find something I enjoy doing and in the meantime make money and support my family. Well, there’s one thing I really want to do but my family never supported me. I want to become a Professional Sports Player, but this sport is different from the normal sports. It is more like an online sport, such as playing games tournament. It might sound silly, but each tournament is two million dollar in USD. In overall, most of the thoughts are about how to become successful in life.

Thinking Visually

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16823680522/
I skip breakfast most of the time due to morning classes. When I don’t eat my brain function really slow and I get really sleepy. It leads to thinking about food because of starvation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16824790955/
I probably think about money the most because everything is about the money. For examples; buying supplies, food, and etc. Nowadays, everything became so expensive. So I have to think of a way to earn money.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16824791435/
Biking is my favorite exercise, I go biking every day depending on the weather. Whenever I get frustrated with school, it leads me to think about my bike. Biking is what I do whenever I’m frustrated because it empties my mind.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16823717011/
I hate school work, but I have to do it. Sometimes it makes me frustrated because some of the work it’s about learning it yourself and some of the work is hard to understand. It makes me worry every day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16638677799/ as
Career is one of the things I think about the most beside money. I always wanted to become a League of Legend Esport Player. To become a professional player I have to think about how I can achieve that goal.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131164794@N03/16823717011/ a
I think I should focus my thinking on school. School is all about education and that’s what I need the most right now because I believe will help me become successful.

Thinking Reflectively

My name is Shen. I am currently a League of Legend player for the Esport. Esport is known as Electronic Sports, is a term for organized multiplayer video game competitions. This job is not as simple as it seen. For players, bringing entertainment and excitement to the audience is a must but our main goal is to win the World Final. The reason I said this job is not as simple as it seen is because players can get eliminated in any minutes and their hard working efforts will go waste. We have to practice constantly every day to improve our skills in order for us to keep our current position. I’ve been living with my teammates ever since I joined the team which was two years ago. At this moment, I am going to tell myself from the past what I should do in order to achieve what I have now. There will be many obstacles in your path but as long as you have ambitions and dedication you will achieve your goal. You should focus on the things that can guide you to success, such as education, practices constantly, and most importantly is to have a positive mind all the time.

Nowadays, most people know about the League of Legend tournament. You can hear people talk about it everywhere you go because it became like a sport. Playing League of Legend is like playing an NBA game or Football game while millions of people watch you perform. Going into this path won’t be easy, it is like picking one in a million. In order to be the one, you have to work much harder than other people to get the opportunity. The first thing you need to focus is Education. In other words, college is what you need because it will help you become a professional League of Legend player. Some colleges have this program called North American Collegiate Championship (NACC). NACC is a program where it gives college students an opportunity to qualify for North American Collegiate Championships. Not all colleges have the Program NACC, mostly the good colleges. To get into a good college, you will need to study hard and have a good GPA so you can get into one. After you get into a good college, you will get the opportunity to become a professional League of Legend player and it will guide you to success.

After becoming a professional League of Legend player and having a team, that’s where things get serious because their career is on the line. It turned into a battlefield from a playground. If the players get eliminated, it means their career is in danger. Therefore, this turned into a battlefield. Also, if players get eliminated from the tournament, all their efforts and time will be wasted because Championship Final is once a year. To prevent from getting eliminated, you need to practice at least eight hours per day. It will improve your individual skills, develop good communication with teammates. Another thing is learning from your mistakes. For example; un-cooperating with teammates, miscommunicating and making bad decisions. However, admit wrong and learn from the mistakes will help you develop wisdom, sense to make good decisions and gain experience. By gaining experiences, it will help you expand your skill level and develop a unique play style.

Last is to have a positive mind. Having a positive mind can be good for your mind and body. People who are positive thinkers tend to have a healthier body, less stressed, and more likely to become successful than the negative ones. I know walking down this path is full of struggles but in the end it will be worth it. Victor Kiam once said “Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” I believe this quote means that you shouldn’t give up no matter how hard life gets and be strong. When things get too hard, just take a break and think on the bright side because negativity will not help you achieve your goal. If you turn your thoughts from the negative ones into positive, you will start to notice solutions and will understand that every problem is an opportunity to grow. I believe this will be the key to success if you can stay positive.

As you can see, those are the few things I focused on before I was a Professional game. It helped me accomplished what I wanted. However, I deeply hope that you can do the same as me. Without you, I would’ve ended up doing something else in my life. I believe if you focus on those few things like I did, you will become successful. One thing I can promise you is that you will not regret it in the future. In fact, you will be thankful that you choose this path because not everyone get to have a career that they desired. Last thing I want you to remember is that nothing is easy. You have to keep pushing yourself to exceed your own limits and work for the thing you want to achieve.