Introduction

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Thinking In Writing

I was in the school library on Thursday just reminiscing about my goals from high school. I remember every day I thought about the WNBA, I wrote journals on how to improve my skills and gain more confidence so that by the time I graduate I’ll be in a Division 1 school on a basketball team and people that know me will see me on tv and say “she did it”. I was on a couple of sports teams. Softball, and bowling. But I just realized something, I think the best kind of person to be is an independent person. I’m at my best and I actually get somewhere by myself. For example, basketball. I use to have a horrible jump-shot freshman year. I couldn’t tell if it was going in or if I was going to miss. I did have a normal jump shot form though. So, in order to fix my jump shot, to make it more accurate, I decided that at my gym period in school, I’d sit on the bleachers and watch the boys play their pick up games and I would point out myself who I enjoy watching because of his skill and the way his shooting form is. I did point out one player. I didn’t know his name and still don’t know his name up to this day, but I watched him play often, and when I went home, I would go out in my back yard and try to imitate his jump shot form the best way I can. And to my surprise, the shots were more accurate and I felt comfortable with it. But I thought to myself, I need to know how and when to release the ball while I am up in the air. I put that to the side until my sophomore year. I heard about this player name Jabari Peters and he is phenomenal. He was a shooting guard too, so I was intrigued. I saw one of his games on YouTube, and I fell in love with the way he shoots, I definitely told myself “I’m going to shoot like him, I’m going to learn his shooting mechanics and by next month, I will be one the purest female shooters in Grady High School”. and sure enough, by the next month, I accomplished my goal. I learned from his jump shots that it’s best when you release the ball at the peak of your shot or a bit before, jumping high is beneficial for your shot, and having a high arc is best too, it also makes your jump shot look SEXY. I practiced in my back yard every day, keeping those key things in my mind, “high arc, release at peak”, I use to quickly exhale a little when I know I was at the peak of my shot. After a month, I finally got accustomed to my new jump shot form and I fell in love with it. I accomplished my goal by myself, with the help of a few videos of Jabari Peters, the guy that I enjoyed watching, but never communicated with. I think that independent people who has their goals are able to accomplish them better by being focused, logically thinking, committing, and executing their plans on their own. Getting help from others is nice, but to me, I’d rather watch and learn. On Friday I was sitting on my bed one night supposedly doing home work and didn’t realize I was sitting there for almost an hour just thinking. What was I thinking about? Honestly a million of thoughts ran through my head at once that I couldn’t keep up. It always happen to me, I always zone out, and then when some one ask what am I thinking about. I think to myself “What exactly WAS I thinking about?” when someone takes me out of my zone, my mind suddenly goes empty. No thoughts at all, then I forget what I was thinking about because my mind is always filled with millions of random things.

Thinking Visually 

https://instagram.com/p/zPHmtly4ay/?taken-by=missbea00

I thought “I can’t wait to get my Humvee license so I can drive those” I imagined myself riding around the city in this, standing out, looking cool. This photo made me more motivated on getting my military driver’s license. Shortly after, I took a road test, or what the Army calls it “Driver’s training”, and I passed!

https://instagram.com/p/zPH4CQS4bD/?taken-by=missbea00

This vehicle is called a LTAS. It stands for Long-Term rumor Strategy. I took a photo of this for the same reason I took a photo of the Humvee, to motivate me to drive this and get a license for this truck so that I can ride around in it.

https://instagram.com/p/zPHxYvS4a_/?taken-by=missbea00

“Life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you’re just not prepared for it” I thought, as I stood at Forrest Gump’s bench at my job. Yes, this is actually the bench he sat on. This photo represents my thoughts on being mentally and/or physically prepared of what comes my way in life. Whether it is obstacles or just being alert in the military. “always be on your toes”.

Thinking Reflectively

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Five years from now, I imagine myself as an ambitious, successful Air Force officer. I have re-enlisted into the Air force reserves as a computer engineer since my contract with the Army was done. Before I re-enlisted, I finally gotten my driver’s license for two military vehicles. I can drive the Humvee and LTAS. It is always exciting to drive those vehicles around whenever I deploy to other states. Last year, in 2019, I graduated NYC College of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer engineering and landed a job at Viacom as an Information Technology specialist. Ever since I started working in the building as a security guard in 2014, I have always dreamed of working for them in that field. In 2020, I have made that dream a reality. My family is wealthy and financially stable. I have learned that in life, we attract whatever we think and feel, whether it is good or bad. In this essay, I argue with my past self how organizing your small term goals can help build a path to accomplishing your long term goals.

My first long-term goal was to become an Air Force officer. In order for me to qualify for the Air Force, I had to accomplish my small-term goals. Therefore, I took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and met the score requirement for the branch. The ASVAB consists of ten tests, although four tests are scored and combined to compute the final score. When I was in the Army, I heard from many veterans that out of all the military branches, the Air Force is very hard to qualify for, mainly because they require a high ASVAB score. When I heard that, I remembered the photo I took of Forrest Gump’s quote on his bench and my thoughts on it. I thought “life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you are just not prepared for it”. The photo made me think that I always have to be mentally and physically prepared of any obstacles I face in life. Therefore, my obstacle in that situation was passing the test. I had to be mentally prepared for the test by studying very often and taking a lot of practice tests, so I did. I faced my challenge and won.

My second long-term goal was to have my military driver’s license before I re-enlist. Ever since I joined the Army, I had always wanted to drive the military vehicles. The vehicles are mostly used for combat and transporting items. The bulletproof vehicles, or up armored vehicles, are used for combat and soft-topped vehicles are for transportation. The Humvees and the Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) vehicles are multipurpose. Some are up armored and others has soft tops. I use to always imagine myself riding in those vehicles and one day, while I was on duty, right before my eyes, I was in the driving seat of a Humvee, riding around a military base. I did not have a license then, but I lied my way into getting inside and taking the vehicle for a spin on the road. Afterwards, I had gotten in trouble for telling my Sergeant that I have a New York State driver’s license. I realized then, that getting a New York State driver’s license, taking driving classes for the Humvee and the LTAS, and passing my road test for the vehicles would be my short-term goals. I took a photo of the Humvee and the LTAS that same day and thought “I can’t wait to get my licenses so I can drive these without supervision” The photos made me motivated on getting my state driver’s license. Afterwards, I took my road test for my state driver’s license, passed, and finally received my license. I told my Sergeant the next time I went on duty that I received my state license. I took the driving classes for both the Humvee and the LTAS, qualified for the road test. I then aced my road test with flying colors and received my driver’s license for both the LTAS and Humvee. That was the most exciting moment of my Army career.

My final long term goal was having a job as a computer engineer. When I was in high school, I took a class called A+ Computer. A Plus Computer is general knowledge of PCs, including installation and configuration, hardware and software upgrading, safety procedures, diagnostics, maintenance and repair. In order to be certified, one must be trained in operating PCs and pass the A plus test which consists of two exams. One of those exams covers the fundamentals of computer technology, installation and configuration of PCs, laptops, hardware, and networking. The other exam covers skills required to install and configure PC and mobile operating systems. I recall taking the A plus test and horribly failed because I had never took the class serious. I had always thought the class was boring because most of the time, my teacher gave lectures instead of having us learn hands on. When we would perform our tasks hands-on, of what we learned, I was always focused and motivated on completing my tasks. One day, after I graduated from high school, I was throwing out my notebooks I used for my high school classes. As I picked up my notebook from A Plus and read some pages of the notes I wrote down, I thought “this information would be useful for me, I should keep the notebook so it can help me pursue my future career”. Although I did not take the information I learned into consideration in high school for my career, I realized that I learn better by hands-on and I figured that if I study computer engineering in college, my engineering classes would consist of hands on performance of building PCs. I pursued my career, received my Bachelor’s Degree, and landed a job at Viacom as a Information Technology Specialist.

In order for me to accomplish all of my long term goals, I would have focus on accomplishing my short-term goals for every long term goal I have.Having short term goals helps me from becoming lost and not having a path to accomplishing my long term goals. I feel that my short term goals are like having step by step procedures that I would have to go through to be prepared for that final step, which is the long term goal. It would take a lot of effort and time but if I stay on track with my goals and stay strong-willed, I will be successful in life.

Introduction

In this project, I reflect a lot on my life and what I want to achieve for the future. I found out different ways I change my past self into a better person. Thinking and recording my thoughts allowed and motivated me to think deeper into where I see myself in five years and to see if that is the position that I truly want to be in.

Thinking In Writing 

My goals for the next five years is to join the military after I get my bachelor degree. The military has many different offers such as schooling and traveling. The idea of traveling and seeing new things is very exciting. I want to pursue a career as a military doctor. Helping and taking care of other’s has always been a passion of mine. I onstantly think of difderent quotes to motivate myself and it helps me a lot in my daily life, because life comes with a lot of challenges and it is a preparation for the future. I feel the military is a big challenge and will eventually form me into a better person because you do not have to only be physically strong you also have to be mentally strong.
After serving in the military, I want to further my education to become an Obstetrician. Going into the military is that extra push I need because, I will come out with more hands on experience as a doctor. However, I want to go to medical school to gain more insight into being an Obstetrician, because it is way different than a military doctor. My family is my main prority. I just want to make them proud of the person I am becoming because if my future is bright I will always do my best to keep them happy.

Thinking Visually 

https://instagram.com/p/zMRVbbA38m/ – I have this stethoscope as a constant reminder of my goals as a child. It has always been the same which is to become a doctor and I don’t think it will ever change.

https://instagram.com/p/zMRpqig389/– I have always had a passion for poetry. I just recently wrote a book and currently working on my second one.

https://instagram.com/p/zMR_ltg39i/ – My family is from St. Lucia. I love traveling there every summer it is just a good way for me to relief stress and just relax.

https://instagram.com/p/zN6rBKA3-1/ -I know I want to eventually join the military. However, I am not sure if I should leave school and join or just wait two more years when I am finish with school then join. I just want to experience something new while I am still young. That’s the main reason why this has been on my mind a lot.

https://instagram.com/p/zOZxwdA339/ – Working in a restaurant it is very hard not to think about food. I love to try different kinds of food.

https://instagram.com/p/zObntpA36u/ – I think about music a lot because it keep me very calm and mellow throughout the whole day. It helps me relief a lot of stress. I could not imagine my life without music.

Thinking Reflectively

I always imagined how my life would be five years from now. I see myself getting my bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Science. Although, it is very tough I am willing to work very hard and accomplish what I came to college for. Shortly, after graduating with my bachelor’s I hope to start my one year journey with the military. When I join the military I want to pursue a career as a military doctor. I feel the military will make me into a more diligent student which will help me to better my future. So, when I am done serving my time in the military I will continue to further my education, knowledge and experiences to become an Obstetrician. My family is a big factor in my decisions because I want to make them proud of my accomplishments. I want to show them that I wanted to be a doctor for a long time and I am willing to make changes to be steps closer to my goal.

My plans for the next five years are to join the military after I get my bachelor’s. The military has many different offers such as schooling and traveling. The idea of traveling and seeing new things is very exciting. A military doctor is what I am striving for. Helping and taking care of others has always been a passion of mine. “They thought I fell when I did not even touch the ground”. I made this quote and I constantly repeat it to myself because it helps me a lot in my daily life. Life comes with many challenges and I am just trying to fight through my obstacles. I feel the military is a big challenge and will eventually form me into a better person because you not only have to be physically strong you also have to be mentally strong.

After serving in the military, I want to major in Biology so I can further my education into becoming an Obstetrician. Going into the military is that extra push I need because I will come out with more hands on experience as a doctor. I want to go to medical school for four years to gain more insight into being an Obstetrician, because it is different than a military doctor. Then, eventually do my residency for four years and get my doctor’s license. I always tell myself that hard work and dedication gets you far in life because you are always pushing yourself to do better and if you really put your mind to do something you have a passion about you will be able to achieve it.

In the future, I want to think about my family more. They support me in everything I do and I just want to thank them for all that support by showing them that when I set my mind to something I aim to achieve. I am close with most of my family members and I care about their opinion at times because I know they want nothing but the best for me. I just want to make them proud of the person I am becoming because if my future is bright, I will always do my best to keep them happy.

One of my major setback is I tend to procrastinate and fall behind because I sometimes bring my personal life into my work life. If things are not going the way I want it to I will start to procrastinate and not complete what I started. I am slowly trying to phase out that bad habit and change my attitude for medical school. At that point, my studies will be more challenging and I have to stay focus to be on top of my academics if I want to achieve my goal.

Another setback is I have poor sleeping habits. My schedule can get hectic because of school and work. So, I always stay up extra late just to have to my assignments due on time which causes me to have lack of concentration in class because I am so tired and not well rested. However, I noticed while traveling to work or school, I do not do much on the bus or train I just listen to music when I could be doing my work. Also, I need to try to go to sleep earlier at night and wake up early the morning to complete my assignments before work or school. It is not easy trying to balance between work and school but I know it will all pay off for the future ahead.

My final setback is I get distracted very easily. Technology is advancing and I get caught up in it.  My phone is my number one distraction and it is very hard to stay away from it. I want to distance myself away from my phone in the future. It will help me concentrate a lot better because I will not stop what I am doing just to answer it. It also prevents me from doing my work right away because I am constantly on the phone for hours and I always say to myself I have time later so I will complete it when I put the phone down. Sometimes, I end up never getting to my assignment and end up turning them in late.

In conclusion, I do not take good advice very lightly. I want to have a better sleeping habit, learn to stay away from my main distraction and take my work more seriously. Changing myself now will have a better impact on my future. The little steps I will be taking now will help me to completely get over my bad habits and accomplish where I want to be in life. I may not see the outcome now but I know I will look back on my past self and say I do not want to be that person anymore. I finally achieved the main goal I planned to do since I was a child. If you dedicate yourself to a plan or a goal and you want it bad enough, you just have to put in the hard work and it will happen.

Introduction:

Project 1 is/was about expressing our thoughts in a coherent way. What I did for project 1 is I recorded one whole day of my thoughts. These thoughts were summarized into a coherent paragraph, pictures were taken to illustrate my thoughts. This formed the basis for elaboration which is the thinking in writing section, breaking my thoughts down into manageable chunks and elaborating on the scenarios of these thoughts and why I feel these are important; Further allowing me to refine my thoughts into a better future for myself.

Thinking in Writing:

For the last 24 hours I’ve been recording my thoughts. This recording of thoughts is easier said than done. The Thoughts are marked with a time as seen below; This is the transcript of my thoughts. Until today, I never realized the complexity of my thoughts and actions. I thoughts about my thoughts for a few days, and I come to the realization that my thoughts are in need of channeling Into something productive. Then I realize my mind is normally doing something, thoughts are like shadows or echoes. My thought directly relate to the actions I take. Who would have thought that thoughts would be so important not just to my life but to the people around me.I come to realize that my thoughts tend to revolve around school, entertainment, myself, and the people around me. I then come to realize the mediocrity of it all. I visualize myself, my standing in human existence, I think, I’m insignificant, now, how do I change that? I also realize a 5 day a week school schedule is for me, the most effective way to study. My obsessive playing of video games could lead to some off color thoughts, I should ration my time just a bit better. As for tv, I give thought to how little of it I actually watch. As for school, it’s basically the same old grind that I have gotten used to all my life, wake up, eat breakfast, get ready, got to school, few hours of work, lunch, next few hours, go home, do homework, dinner, watch tv/ video games, unwind, rinse and repeat. Life tends to be a never ending cycle of day and night. My thoughts include the past to predict and possibly change the future. Now I remember, I really need to find a way  to channel my thoughts into something constructive. That is this project. How can I change these thoughts? How can I improve the effects of these thoughts on my life? Who would be a good person to ask about my thoughts? Why do these patterns of thought appear? That is what I have been asking myself all my life, now what if I share the same thoughts as someone else? Now I question whether things in life are necessary, education, things of the like, more on this in a few years.

Thinking Visually:

http://instagram.com/p/zQRJcKO6i6/

This is the visual representation of my thoughts. My thoughts are clouded;These clouds are pollution, fallacies,dreams,emotions, and sometimes other thoughts. Maybe I should take more time to think about my thoughts

http://instagram.com/p/zQRVKEO6jT/

Imagine I am standing on the ground looking at the tip of that building. The tree as I came to realize is the barrier or hurdle between me and success. That building is where I should be thinking, right now, I would be lucky to be beyond the tree in terms of my path to success

http://instagram.com/p/zQRgF1u6jq/

I am looking towards Manhattan. I see my future in technology. That is where I think I should be.

http://instagram.com/p/zQUCA1u6oh/

I tend to think about people a lot; I am a person thinking about my fellows. Other people are like sources for information whether it be true or gossip. This is where many of my thoughts lie, the people around me.

http://instagram.com/p/zQUfGyO6pg/

This is a picture of a clear sky with three power line. These lines are clear thoughts and to me represent prowess. This is why I should think about “clearing my head” more often, it enhances my thoughts.

http://instagram.com/p/0QhaE_u6r2/

This picture is representative of my life, twists and turns; many possibilities. There are many things in life I could have done differently. I can say now that I am happy about where I am in life, I feel as if I belong.

Thinking Reflectively:

      The first thing I want to think about is my future, my successes. I am Connor Kempf, Computer Engineering Technology student at New York City College of Technology between 2014 and 2019. I know was a person I have some imagination/ thoughts(Insert Pic). I know I am interested in computers and technology in general, I have been for quite a while. As for hobbies, these relate to my interests, illicit sometimes but still my hobbies; Gaming, Hacking and things of the like. I like to test boundaries whether it be online or in person. My future (after 2019) is likely a job in the engineering field, my first real job. Switching to my future self, five years from when I wrote this, a few questions come to mind. What could I have done differently? I asked myself three questions during the writing of this essay, why am I me?, Who am I really?, What is next for me? I am Me, Myself and I, take it or leave it this is who I am. I’ve always attempted to pursue my dreams, to do what is possible. A message to my 2015 self; be who you are, keep it up, succeed, future, be yourself, and how bad will this all hurt? In 2015, I am me, in 2020 you are me five years in my future. Looking Forward, I wonder what that year holds for me. As a person both you and me are part of history, by part I mean small snippet. Take what is given or allowed and run with it.

      I can only imagine what kind of person I will be in five years.I can see that in five short years, I will be a employee of a big electronics consulting firm. I have not decided where I will work but I know the industry I will be in. An obvious necessity is a job, it does not have to be a great job at first. I have only been out of college for a year in 2020. I knew when I started college in August of 2014 that I was committed for at least four years, but I soon discovered that if I wanted to work at my own pace, I would need an extra year, pushing my graduation to this year 2020 instead of 2019. With a job comes money, with money comes a place to live, with a place to live comes the future. I give thought to 2020, I am going to be my own person by then. If I was talking to my previous self, I would tell myself to stay on the correct path, you know what it is, only accept perfection, and be yourself. I know now looking into the future that I must succeed, if I do not there is the possibility of me being destitute which I will not accept. I am Connor Kempf, a Computer Engineering Student at New York City College Of Technology. I am currently in my first year of college. As of today, I do not have a job,I am looking for one. The complication is that college must come first. A few years from now, I move on with my life. I become a productive member of society with future employment in , I envision myself being in the technology field.

      One question I asked myself during the writing of this essay is why am I me? That is an interesting question as I have advanced myself a bit intellectually, psychologically, maybe some other ways that I still have not figured out yet. I enjoy working on technology; testing the boundaries and experimenting with it. This is probably why I have chosen a technology career. When choosing my career, I thought about the education that would be required if I want to get hired by a company in the field. I knew I would be committed to going to college for a bachelors degree. I knew in middle school but I wanted to go into technology. Then came high school, I went to Information Technology High School, which specializes in career training in the technology field. In the four years that I was in high school, learning about technology and other stuff, I realized how much I enjoyed my choice of career. This is probably why I continued my education past high school, what people don’t realize is I actually enjoy learning, it improves me as a person. I could draw reference to the pictures of clouded and clear thought. My life is full of thoughts. I feel as if school has helped me harness my thoughts and imagination; channeling it into something I can use in my life. My thoughts can be clouded or clear, it depend on the thoughts and on what is prompting that thoughts. I never realized before beginning work on this project how complex my thoughts actually were. I believe before I came to college I was a bit too passive. I never really gave a second thought to my thoughts. What if I had invented something? I doubt I would be here if that was the case. Honestly, I am me, and I am content with where I am, who I associate with on a daily basis. Learning about things in general is something I enjoy, I have never really taken the initiative to learn about myself, let alone my thoughts.

Recently, I recorded a day of thoughts. There were three main thoughts, one thought was me here now, and how it pertains to me. As a college student, I’m obliged to take courses, increase my knowledge, and established my “profile”. My profile is simply what people might see, not just my resúmé, but what I know, who I know, my drive to succeed. Another way of describing a profile is what the world thinks of you. I am still learning about technology, even though I have learned through high school and even in middle school. My learning is not complete; I aspire to know as much as I possibly can about technology and in general every day life. My reasoning for this, it is complicated. I want to see how good I can do in society. I don’t have any estimation but I know that I must at least advance beyond where I am today. This thought could be described by two photos, the one of me looking up towards the building and the one looking towards Manhattan. These photos to me represent my future and higher education is the building block upon which I will succeed. This success to me is being the CEO of some multi-billion dollar technology firm. I aspire one day to achieve this goal. As for 2020, I know I need to find work, hopefully in the technology field

The final thought that came to me on my day if thoughts was my thoughts themselves. This may sound odd but I have taken time to think about my thoughts. Switching to my 2020 self, I can describe my thoughts as snippets, little bits of information coursing through my mind. My thoughts can be contaminated by my emotions which is why I have taken time to think about my thoughts and how to better understand both why I think of these things and how to improve the usage of whatever mental capacity I have. My emotions and/or life events can challenge my thoughts. It is abnormal for me to describe my thoughts, I find it a little bit uncomfortable. I did not realize before writing this paper that my thoughts could be so complex. Why is it that I have not thought about  my thoughts with this much detail during prior times. Something I neglected was my thoughts about the past. These thoughts are questions. I am questioning my past decisions to see what I could have done differently and how to improve said thoughts. Something I could have done differently were my grades in high school, employment, and finishing the technology certifications I started back in high school. I know as a human that I have made mistakes but I wish to improve what I have done so far and be the best person i can  be. I ask myself each day what could I have changed or done differently to improve my day to day life? This could be represented by the photo of me on the road looking around a bend. This bend is a turning point in my life. It is illustrative of the twisting path of my life. I don’t know where the path will end or where but I know that I am on my path. I hope this path takes me to success, at least I will be happy with myself knowing my life has went somewhere. A message to my 2015 self: Succeed, Imagine, Explore, Innovate, and for crying out loud, be yourself, no matter what anyone may tell you.

      What have I learned about my thoughts and how may this affect my decision making? I have learned exactly how astronomically complex my thoughts are. The thoughts themselves could be significant such as my future or rather insignificant, what should I have for lunch? These thoughts I feel are reflective of me both over time and day to day. I believe my life has a lot left to be done within it. I cannot predict my future or anyone’s future for that matter, but I can infer that my life has time left and I have things that I want to or have to do. I wonder what the future holds for me, hopefully technology. My life is just beginning, I must live it.

Introduction:

The first project “Writing the brain” has showed me many things, that i have not thought about regularly. It has brought me great insight on what I should do to reach my goals, and I realized things that needs to be changed. It was a self evaluation period for me and I never imagined it would become a big impact on my current life.

Thinking In Writing:

It was February fifth when I took down notes of what I was currently doing at that time, and my thoughts that I was thinking during or around that time in increments of 30 – 1 hour periods. I found interesting patterns in my thoughts that I don’t really notice, due to how frequently busy I am during a week period. Putting it in a log has helped me analyze it and find that I tend to think a lot about things that are particularly not about the current activity, or situation. I usually think about things that are related in the future, and I analyze it in a way that helps me prevent problems, if said situation comes along. I also found out things that I pay very little attention to the current situation and think of the outcome more. For example, at around 1:02PM, I was meeting a friend of mine for lunch and right before that I just got out of the train station and I thought, “The amount of people holding the train doors could saved me so much time” I ended up being late for that day in our little meeting, and instead of thinking the severity of my lateness which I usually do, I thought about the time I could saved if commuters did not hold the doors every station that we stopped on. 6:32PM my friend and I from earlier split off and I met another group of my friends that were planning to go bowling. I decided to tag along. At this point we were already done bowling and were off to a place in south street seaport to eat. We found a seafood place and decided to eat there. While we were all enjoying our orders, I thought to myself “Usually I don’t go to seafood places cause most of my friends do not like it, I wondered why is it people can enjoy certain food and not others, how people developed their taste buds.” I brought this conversation up to my friends I was with and they did not really know an answer for it, maybe I’ll never know. Instead of thinking of how great the food is and the restaurant name so I can go back to the place in the future, I thought about other people’s taste buds and how it was developed. I’m not exactly sure if my thought process is out of curiosity or just pure randomness, which thinking random is not always the best thing to do. My thoughts now I see it is more random than it needs to be and there are more important things I should be thinking about during that time than thinking of how people developed their taste bud or how if commuters did not hold doors, it can actually save me time. Some of the things I really should be thinking about was finishing my website, which has been unfinished for quite some time now or scheduling my time much better to fit the needs of my friends and family while balancing work, and school.

Thinking Visually:

1. Cold Day

http://imgur.com/MczLAuy

Photo Captured , Tuesday 2/7/15

This reminded me of one of the days in the week which was really cold. I felt that instead of wearing a sweater I should have worn a bigger jacket with and extra layer. I felt underdressed that day, and complained about being cold to my friends which was completely my fault

2. Seafood

http://imgur.com/PMAmP4J

Photo Capture 2/17/15

I personally don’t like tuna, but this picture reminded me of the time I ate with my friends and we chose a seafood restaurant. I was thinking why a lot of people hate seafood. If well made it can be really good, but then I thought it could be that they haven’t tried, well made seafood dishes.

3. Alcohol

http://imgur.com/HCivNJs

Photo Capture 2/17/15

The day I had dinner with my friends I was tempted on drinking that day, because I haven’t drank in a long time and it was almost one of my friend’s birthday, so why not celebrate. Although the next day I have work , I don’t think it’ll be a good idea

4. Gym

http://imgur.com/0iyjfh2

Photo Taken 2/17/15 During the day I went out with my friends, one of the things that went thru my mind is the fact that I haven’t been in the gym for quite sometime. I check my membership and I’m actually still paying for it. I plan to go back in the future but juggling work, school, and a bit of social life, finding time for it is a bit hard.

5. Website

http://imgur.com/9bIT0zT

Photo Taken 2/16/15

I was able to finish the website I was doing for a friend of mine. Although during the train ride to the city, I remembered that I had to finish it before the deadline which I had 2 days left to do. I was astonished how I was careless with the deadline and I don’t usually do that.

6. Trains

http://imgur.com/fvhIXgU

Photo Taken 2/17/15

I hated the fact that whenever I go to the city and the train gets packed, I have to take in account how much time extra I have to leave due to the people holding train doors. If the train is packed, wait for the next train because you’re wasting time for the other 100 or so people in that train. The subway system has its flaws but its still the best mode of transportation around the city.

Thinking Reflectively:

Reminiscing the time I became a better person, I cannot believe it has been five years, the day I first stepped into City Tech is the day I told myself that I would finish something for once in my 22 years of living. Living with my partner completes my 5 year plan and recently landing a new job at a new tech driven company which I can utilize the skills, I learned from attending City Tech and completing my BA in Computer Engineering, just tops it all off. I have plans of continuing my graduate studies but that will be put on hold until I settle into my new position. My dreams are very broad, but my expectations are kept low. If I was able to meet my old self I would tell him the things I would do, to make things more effortless towards the goal I set forth, starting at City Tech. If I stayed in the position I was four years ago before I attended City Tech I would have be a train wreck. The things I think about the most is finishing my degree in computer engineering, and my current work. I think about my degree and my work the most because of the fact that it is my daily routine during the weekdays. The thing I think about the least is my family, even though I am still living with them, I barely see them due to how busy I am during the weekday and some weekends. The thought of completing work for my classes and having to meet deadlines for my work, keeps the majority of my brain preoccupied and prevents me to think about other things.

Regret is something I try not to have whenever I make my decisions. Having regrets bring you back in life and I learned that the hard way. Persuading my past self will be a steep challenge, I would have to change my horrendous sleep schedule, to think more of my short term goals instead of long term goals, and finding the balance between my work, school, social, and family life. It will be a challenge changing my past self, but if I tell him the benefits of these changes, he would realize and would be more willing to adapt these changes. My adamant nature is very hard to persuade in some cases, but with perseverance and dedication, I believe I can change my past self to better my achievements in my future work.

For my past self to achieve a better path to the accomplishments that I had achieved today, I would have to first change my sleep schedule. Even though I get up well during mornings, I tend to look for more sleep at around one to three o’ clock in the evening. This can be because I spend too much time thinking about my work. From my day of thoughts, I complained to myself that I was falling asleep at two in the evening. I can still do physical activities but my brain feels it is in a comatose state and it is difficult to stay awake. Thinking about my work, I always worry that there might be a chance that I do not meet a deadline for my paperwork. It is not because my boss would penalize me from doing such an action, but due to the fact that I try to strive to push my limits. I believe pushing my limits is good, if not the best way to improve, not only in your workplace, but generally your lifestyle. I have always been a “night owl”, I can never commit to a time for sleep so my brain can rest.

Many people say you sleep because you are physically incapable of doing tasks. I believe that is not always the case. In my understanding my physical body can function very well throughout the day, but only the physical part. “Mind over matter” a quote that tells one that it is only in your head. I stand by that quote when I started to adapt it to my lifestyle, and I feel that now I think way too much. I believe due to my overly analytically mind I try to find more sleep in those hours, according to a book authored by John Medina called, “Brain Rules”, Medina mentioned the meaning of “Nap Zone”. “Nap Zone” is a term used for a range of time, specifically in between two through five in the evening, where people generally feel sluggish and wanting to sleep more. The best thing for my past self is to set a strict sleep schedule. Although that is unlikely to happen, I learned that having a great sleep at night can improve your cognitive skills, in comparison with less sleep. By a chance, I could have been further in my career if I had more sleep, and should be thinking about less stressful things, other than work all the time.

Short term goals versus long term goals, a big predicament that my past self-had to endure during his time working towards his future career. I can never tell the difference between a short term and a long term goal. I always believed that short term goals are goals that are very small and can be done instantly, such as “I will go to class early tomorrow” or “I will do my homework before the due date.” I believe that it is more than that. I learned that short term goals should consist of goals you are aiming towards to reach your long term goal. I always had trouble figuring this out during my time at City Tech and trying to balance school, work, social, and family life. “Imbalanced” is a better word to describe my problem as I work towards my long term goal. The main problem is I never set short term goals because I had the mindset of aiming high, and aiming high all the time doesn’t work very well long term. I have to tell myself take short steps, doing it efficiently, and with ease to prevent discouragement reaching the goal.

My day of thoughts has showed me that I always had mixed thoughts about my goals. It was not very centralized into one idea, and is more discombobulated. My past self needs to be more thoughtful on what he should do and, to not worry about the long term effects it can happen if I do not do one particular element of my long term goal properly. To fix my confused state, I would have to first set short term goals that leads up to the long term goals I am trying to achieve. I would have to stick to a plan and tell myself to not sway away from it, because I will repeat what I did. My past self needs to set priorities that will enable him to work at each short term goal efficiently, and can increase his moral to do more.

Balancing my work, school, social, and family life can be a big feat to accomplish by my past self. My past self was not able to find the balance between family and school, he was thinking more about work and keeping my social integrity among my partner and friends. My work makes me happy cause of two reasons. One of the most obvious reason is that I enjoyed it, having to land a job in a field I was studying in, was a huge opportunity, I could not back down from. I graduated high school with the mindset that I knew it all. This mindset kept me from entering college straight after high school, I instead worked and made a considerable amount of income that in a few years’ time, I was able to pay for my tuition to City Tech. The second reason is that my work has made me greedy from independence, I had always relied on my parents to give me everything and it was very painful for me that I had to ask every time if I was going out of my with my friends or just buying an item from the convenience store. It’s a horrible trait that I had to live with, a terrible lifestyle that made me lose my connection with my parents and family. At one point I hated it but I learned to live with it, it is a consequence I had to live with and I have no regrets. Working has set my past self-three years of college to have a stable position at the job I am in today.

My social life has always been lucrative in many ways, but the main reason I think about it very often is because I love social interaction between my long time and newly acquainted friends. For the longest I relied on my friends for happiness and at one point I realized that it never worked out, it seemed temporary happiness and that I never thought about it until now. I tried finding a replacement for my family, having friends is not enough for me, when I realized it, it was too late. My day of thoughts has showed me that I should be thinking more about my family, trying to spend more time with them and making an effort to do so. I should not rely on friends for my happiness and find my own happiness. My partner has helped me through this process and I cannot thank her enough for helping my past self through a time where I needed someone to guide me into a clear direction.

With the thoughts that I have gathered, my past self is a complete mess, and I want to change that. Changing the way he thinks will be hard but is doable. Changing my sleep schedule is the first and foremost way I can change the way he thinks. Sleep can make the brain more responsive to suggestions and can lead to better persuasion. With sleep he would be able to determine his good and bad actions. I can become more self-aware of my actions and will realize that what I was doing before is bad for my overall health.

Changing the mindset of setting and pursuing long term goals before making short term goals is also as important as sleep. My past self, always had trouble achieving his goals because of the stress it has put him, and made it hard for himself to continue due to the low motivation. Not getting anything done made my past self-wonder why he is doing it, that led to the surrender of the goal and another element of my future would be gone. Finding the balance of work, school, social, and family life always brought my past self to the brink of quitting an affluent future. My past self always had trouble on prioritizing and balancing the time I have throughout my life.

My day of thoughts are filed with never-ending thoughts of my friends and my partner. Looking back to my log, I never thought about my family at all and even wondered what they are doing at that time. I thought about getting to work faster, and meeting my friends on time. I worry about the activities my friends and I would do during the day we are out together. All these thoughts were worthless and my past self needs to be more productive with his thoughts, and reduce the time with his friends, work, and instead think about more of his family.

Our first project, “Writing My Brain”, seems very beneficial for me in so many ways. I actually know more of how what I am going to reach my goal, how I’m going to do it and why do I really want to achieve this goal. The purpose of this project is basically to help us plan out our what steps we need to take in order to reach our goal. This project is very useful for me because it makes me really think more about my future and what I need to do or continue on to do now in order to get there.

Thinking In Writing:

While recording my thoughts on February 9th, my thoughts to me seemed all over the place. When I woke up at 5:13 early in the morning I decided to record from there, although I couldn’t barely open my eyes. There we’re so many thoughts running through my head. As I took a look at my television I saw Elmo was on for some reason and I was thinking “damn I haven’t saw him on t.v. in years”. Then I just turned off the t.v. and just lay there and starting thinking about my future and whether or not my plans is going to work to get me where I want to be. Then I thought lastly “oh yeah I am going to see my mom today” I got to rest more and I went back to sleep. As I’m on the train I constantly keep thinking about my future and how life will be when I become an entertainer. But at the same time I just keep having doubts on the side on whether what I’m going after is really worth it or not. I don’t know but I just got to think positive and have no doubts at all. I think thats whats holding me back a little.

Thinking Visually:

1. https://instagram.com/p/zNpjeePrxs/?modal=true

In my thoughts there were a lot of doubts, but now I’m starting to see clearly little by little. The only way to truly get to the road of Success is to keep fighting the obstacles that come in your way.

2) https://instagram.com/p/zNqJi7vryj/?modal=true

Thinking of my Future. Thinking about my Family. Thinking Will I Make It? Only the efforts I put in will show the results of the outcome. But I know I will make it?

3) https://instagram.com/p/zOX9YYPr08/?modal=true

My dream of becoming an entertainer will soon come true. I hope to some day be as successful as Michael Jackson. I can’t wait to reach my goal.

4) https://instagram.com/p/zOYmvbPr2F/?modal=true

I never understood why I woke up 5 in the morning and saw this on tv. I was thinking of how many years I haven’t saw Elmo on tv. But yeah I was confused to see elmo dressed as a cowboy though.

5) https://instagram.com/p/zOZ5DRvr3q/?modal=true

I forgot to add this in my summary of thoughts, but I also always think about Paris. I would love to visit Paris, live in Paris, and get married in Paris. I Love the beauty of Paris and I know that one day my dreams will come true.

6) https://instagram.com/p/zOaznnvr5R/?modal=true

In my thoughts overall I decided to think nothing but positive. Happiness is the key, if you really want to get to where you want to be you need to have a positive mind. I will continue to keep moving forward and I refuse to let little obstacles get in my way.

Thinking Reflectively:

I cannot believe I am in the year 2020 already. I am in my dressing room right now preparing for my performance and man life is going great now. I got the dream house and cars I have always wanted, I have graduated from City Tech with my Associates in Marketing Management and Sales and my Bachelors in Video Production. My mother and younger siblings are all happy and have a stable home. Everything is just great. The argument that I have towards the way I use to think in the past is that I should have thought more about what’s planned out for me, to always keep nothing but positive thoughts in mind. The only way for my past self to actually reach where I am now is to continue with what she is doing now. Continue to go to school, study hard, and not let anyone or anything get in her way and by the year of 2020, all what I have mentioned earlier will become her reality. In the first paragraph, I’m going to discuss how hard life was for me and how there were a lot of doubts constantly filling my mind. I didn’t really have a clear view towards my goal because I have let certain obstacles get in my way. In my second paragraph, I am going to talk about how I had got rid of all the negative thoughts and started to think nothing but positive. In my third paragraph, I will talk about basically me having my full main focus on my goal and work hard to become as successful as any other great entertainer such as Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and many more. The only way to reach to where I want to be is to never give up.

Lack of confidence was my main issue a few years ago. I have always had a bad habit of questioning myself and as I look back on my day of thoughts when I was on the train I constantly kept thinking about my future and how life would be when I become an entertainer. At the same time while thinking this thought, I just keep having doubts on the side on whether what I am trying to achieve really worth it or not. There were so many obstacles that my past self has faced that kept me thinking this way which started to hold me back from actually going for it. There were a lot of issues but the main issue was my family’s financial stability.  This really made me want to push myself even harder to achieve my goal to have the best for my family. I could not just keep sitting around debating on whether I should keep trying or not, I should just stick with the goal I’m aiming for and keep fighting. The photo of the Lamborghini Aventador in Paris, France driving towards the Eiffel Tower, is where I would love to have my dream vacation. I would also love to have that car as well. After seeing this photo on instagram that was posted by another person, I started to notice that I had less and less doubts then I usually did and I started to gain more confidence that maybe some day I will own that car and take a trip to Paris. It’s best to not doubt or question yourself and to just go for what you really want in life because you never know the outcome until you actually try and succeed.

In order to reach my goal I had to do one important thing and that was to eliminate most of my negative thoughts. It was a hard task to do but it’s best when you dont doubt yourself and see what’s actually planned out for you. Especially if you’re on the right track on achieving your goal. The reason I think that I have mostly thought so negative is because many people believed that the goal that I have in mind to achieve is a waste of time. I never understood why most people thought it was a waste of time I mean my mom did not think it was. She has simply told me to go for it and said if this is something you really enjoy doing this for the rest of my life why not. I then started to careless of what they have said and kept going for it because at the end of the day only I will find out the outcome, no them. In the photograph of me with my little panda bear it shows that I have started to become more happy and think more positive of what I’m doing now. The reason I have taken a photo with this particular bear is because panda bears are black and white like the yin and yang symbol, in which I love. The yin and yang symbol in my own definition means that there is always a little bit of positive energy in the bad and there is always a little bit of negative energy in the good. Not everything in life comes easy at hand, there is always a twist up here and there. I then started to open my eyes more and look at all of the accomplishments I have made so far, I started to believe in myself more. Even if its going to be a long journey, I am not going to give up on it because hard work does pay off.

There are a lot of successful entertainers in the industry so far. As I started to think visually, there are many great entertainers that came to mind but mainly one person appeared the most and that was Michael Jackson. My goal is to be as successful as he was or at least close to it. The way he sang, his dance moves, his hard work in general was just amazing. But its going to take a lot of effort and dedication in order for me to be successful. My full main focus is nothing else but to finish school and to have my goal achieved. I would want nothing less because I have always dreamed of having a career as an entertainer and have better for my family. I just need to stop questioning myself on whether I should go for it or not and just keep moving forward.

In life there are a lot of challenges that each individual face almost everyday. It is not going to be an easy ride for anyone to reach their goals and of course its going to be a long way to get there. Many people just think all it takes is little effort, then boom I am successful. No, it does not work like that. You have to go after what you really want and be dedicated to give your all to be successful and be tough enough to face the things that come in your way. Especially in the entertainment where there is a lot of gossip and competition. The only way to maintain your stance to reach your goal is to keep fighting no matter what and that is what I did. My past self just need to remember to kept fighting through the pain and the struggle and stop doubting her self. All she need is to follow her heart and have true dedication for what she loves to achieve and that basically becoming an entertainer. Overall, I would not be where I am today, in the year of 2020. I feel free and happy and it is all from not giving up on my goal.

After receiving peer review feedback in class on Wednesday, revise your first road map paragraph as a separate file (remember to “Save As” and append “revised” to its file name), and copy-and-paste your revised paragraph into a comment to this blog post before our next class.

Over the weekend, your task is to continue writing your Project 1, Part 3 essay. A draft of your completed essay is due for peer review next Wednesday (giving you one additional class meeting than what is on the assignment sheet). Refer to the assignment sheet for further guidance and email me with your questions.

Before our meeting on Wednesday, post a copy of your Road Map Paragraph 1 (the second paragraph of your essay) as a comment to this blog post and print THREE copies to bring to class.

As you are writing this paragraph and the other paragraphs corresponding to your essay’s road map, you should include at least one quote from Project 1, Part 1 or a quote/description of a photo from Project 1, Part 2. Each of these road map paragraphs should quote something from Part 1, Part 2, or both.

Based on the peer review feedback that you received, I would like you to open your essay introduction word processing file and choose to File > Save As and add the word “revised” after the name that you originally gave the essay introduction. Then, use your peer review feedback to revise your introduction into a stronger form. Save your new, revised introduction, and copy-and-paste it into a comment to this blog post before Monday’s class.

Begin thinking ahead to your supporting paragraphs. We will work on these during class on Monday, but there’s no reason why you can’t begin writing these over the weekend. Bring any brainstorming and writing to class on Monday.

Before Wednesday’s class, write a draft of your introduction to the Project 1, Part 3 essay. Type up your handwritten draft, print three copies, and copy-and-paste it into a comment on this blog post.

Before class on Wednesday, post your Project 1, Part 2: Thinking Visually discussion here. Briefly, you should post a comment below that includes six links to photos that you have taken for this project and shared online. Each link should be followed by 2-3 sentences discussing how that photo represents your thinking or what you would like to focus your thinking on in the future. Refer to the Project 1 assignment sheet linked above for all instructions. We will discuss your photos in class on Wednesday, so please bring your photos on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc. if possible.