3-4

In Maxwell's laws 3&4, we discuss how leadership is a process and how you must have direction (navigation). Just like anything else in life, leaders aren't made in just one day, it's a process. Maxwell compared it to investing in the stock market: no good stock trader becomes/hopes to become rich over night. They understand that you're in it for the long run and have good faith that in the end, everything will be better. On a personal level, I can tie it to school. Nobody enjoys coming to school for 6 hours a day sitting in classes that you most likely will never use in life *cough Calc, world history, art etc. Cough* but you know by coming to these classes, you'll become a well rounded individual. Same rule applies when studying for these classes. You can't learn the entire semester the night before the final. You must be a good student the entire semester in order to receive a good grade.

In law 4, we learn the law of navigation. This law is so important, it may just save your life. Basically the law of navigation states you need a plan for what it is that your doing, other wise you can expect a rough road ahead of you. "If you fail to plan, plan to fail." -Dr. Joseph maxwell. In my life the law of navigation can relate to my college expierence. I will be in an accelerated program for PT (which is a fancy way of saying I will have a doctoral degree in physical therapy in 6 years instead of 8), in addition to being on the basketball team. If I have no direction with my daily schedule, college will surely be a rough time for me. But if I apply the law of navigation and plan my days ahead and manage my time accordingly, things will be just fine.

Laws 1-2

In Maxwell's 21 Laws of Leaadership, the first two laws discuss the Law of the Lid and the Law of Influence. In the Law of the Lid, we discuss leadership potential and how others either are just naturally limited or limit themselves mentally. The big word here is potential: everybody has potential, even the original founders of McDonald's. But potential means nothing if you don't choose to build yourself and harness your skills. For example, I was limiting my leadership by not reading the book until now. The opportunity was literally sitting in my backpack to learn and I ignored it. Obviously, now I'm making an effort to both rAise my lid and grade by learning the way of the Maxwell, an ancient art of leadership and Kung-fu.

The second chapter discusses the Law of Influence, and is in my opinion the most important law of all. Influence is like a mix of all the good components of leadership put together if you think about. You must have all those components to gain followers to then influence and lead. Also because throught my many years of playing basketball, there has been a countless number of "captains" and "leaders" of the team. Just because you have a title doesn't necessarily mean you are good leader of the slightest but influential. I was always been a believer that the TEAM should elect captains and that the leaders of the group would be rightfully chosen. Well, that's never happened, the coach has always appointed his favorite to be the captain and only listend to the captain. Maybe this is why I've never been on a winning team until my senior year. The captains had never influenced us, but merely felt superior due to there fancy title. Teamwork makes the dream work, and let me tell you- dreams were plenty full but teamwork was nowhere to be found.

Favorite teacher

Throughout my many years of tumbling through the current day education system, I have encountered many teachers. Some good, some bad, and some really bad. My favorite would have to be my Sophomore Honors Chemistry teacher, THE Mr. Alperin. In my opionion, what set Mr. Alperin apart from the rest was his outgoing and somewhat childish personality. He understood that we are in high school and that we have lives outside of school and made an effort to get to know his students which doesn't seem like much but it's the little things that count. I enjoyed how he made his own style of teaching and really made an effort to make the lesson plans interesting and you can see how he has an obvious passion for what he does. I remember how he would start everyday with "The NASA Picture of the Day" and then the weather report since he had always wanted to become a weatherman. I think the funny part about that is how his predictions were almost always a lot more accurate than Tom Skilling, the man getting payed 6 milllion to deliver the weather forecast. Personally, Mr. Alperin and I were able to connect on a different level than the rest of the class, and that level was basketball. Mr. Aplerin has two sons that play basketball and as a Sophomore I was playing Varsity basketball so him and I would always talk about hoops whenever we got the chance. My favorite would be in the spring time when AAU basketball was in full swing and we would share stories of hotel travels or terrible referees (Which happened almost too often for comfort). All said and done, Mr. Alperin would be my favorite teacher primarily because of his outgoing personality and love for fun with his students. 

Weaknesses

 Just like everybody else in this world I have my strengths, but I also have my weaknesses because nobody is perfect and my weaknesses make me who I am as much as my strengths.  As an ENFJ and Sanguine, my three biggest weaknesses are: Love for luxury, unnecessary risks, and I judge others a bit to fast. I have been able to work on fixing these in many ways.

 For instance I've been trying to control my love for luxury by saving my money. I have been more responsible with my income by keeping 50% of in in my wallet and regular baking account meanwhile placing the other 50% in a savings account.

 I'll be honest in that I have yet to correct my habit of taking unnecessary risks. In my opinion it is just one of those traits I will always keep with me due to my distinct personality and love for spontaneous fun. I doo understand that this often time gets me in a lot of trouble but I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't enjoy this part about me. 

Finally, we get the the trait I've been wanting to change the most about myself, my habit of judging others. I think we can all admit to having a few occasions where we've been a bit to quick to label others, and in my opionion that shouldn;t happen until you've gotten to know that person so you can make an accurate judgement on somebody and hopefully a positive one. One way I've been trying to fix this is putting myself in the other persons shoes and trying to figure their story out. I will have had made an effort to get to know them and then hopefully I will have made a positive impact in their life as well as walk away with a new relationship with somebody that I would have normally incorrectly profiled. 

1st Quarter Reflection

Taking LTS, I didn't  know what to expect at first. I wasn't sure if it would be a sociology class with a little Service included or what. But as I stepped into class on the first day, I knew I wasn't the only one because not even Mr. Bush knew what he was going to do with us. To start us out on the first few weeks, we had a lot of games where we got to know our classmates and team bonding things that required teamwork. Being the child that I am, it was the greatest class of my life for those few weeks. I feel like since I got the opportunity to laugh and bond with my classmates it, set a great foundation for this year to come.
Then we switched gears a bit and got serious. We started with the Laws of Growth assignment as well as personality power points. The power points I really liked because not only did I get to know my classmates better, but I got to learn about myself as well. The Laws of Growth assignment was rather interesting in my opinion. Even though all we did was read notes from the book, I felt like I got a lot out of it and learned something new every time.
Finally we got to the point where we could start our service projects. For me personally, I was assigned to be the "Captain" of the yard service asignment. Me and my fellow Captains went to the Village hall to discuss how this will all work with representatives from the Elk Grove Property Management division and the Lions Club. After the first meeting I already saw ways this could benefit me as well as my community. Not only did I just create new networking paths by meeting these people, but I was able to do so in an environment where the groups primary goal is to help others who can't help themselves.
With all things considered, I would say 1st Quarter was LTS was a success. Don't get me wrong, there was some flaws to our class. Some of us had a hard time focusing in class, knowing appropriate times when to have fun and the spontaneousness of how our schedule is made. But from these things come many good outcomes like laughing moments as well as the realization of, "Ok, this is what I did, this is how I need to fix it."

growth

Growth can mean many different things to different people, and based upon that, the way to achieve your growth goals would vary. For me, I define growth as one's way of improving themselves both physically and intellectually for the positive effects his/her lives and those around them. I believe that it is just as important to grow physically as it is intellectually because they both directly affect each other. For instance you can grow mentally but not have to physical strength to act upon it and likewise, you can grow physically but not understand how to use it In the correct manner. 

From there, many people would ask, "How do I grow?" We'll, the answer varies because everybody has different needs. With that being said, my growth strategies will be very different compared to the person to my right; even though we are headed in the same direction. The bottom line is that there is no pathway to success meaning that it will not be easy. In my opinion that is why very few people  grow, either because they're comfortable with where there at or they just don't want to out the work in. But the good news is that since everybody is different, there are infinite ways to grow, the big thing is to find a starting point and create a goal or vision as to where you want to be. Your goal should be distant yet attainable with a time frame to complete it in.  A great example of this would be weightlifting. The athlete would need the mental capacity to plan out his growth schedule and goals and be able to come up with the appropriate workout plan. Then obviously he would need the physical growth to achieve his bodybuilding dreams. Seems simple looking at it on paper but as we all know It takes a great amount of effort. In my opinion everybody should want to grow because nothing but positive things will happen and who knows where the journey will take you. It goes along with the principle that life is an adventure, anything can happen it just all depends on what you make of it. 

Quote

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have"

― Frederick Keonig

This is one of my favorite quotes because I feel like I can relate to this on several levels. One being that growing up both my parents worked full time with 3 kids until my mom got layed off for a few years. Money was tight but bills were still being payed which was good. It affected us in ways like I couldn't go out shopping for new clothes or shoes as often as I wanted to like most of my friends or we had to cook meals from home instead of eating out. Now this wasn't bad living at all for a family of 5 with only one parent employed, but it was eye opening as to how ungrateful I was with the things I was able to do beforehand. Although this story does have a happy ending because thankfully, a few years later my mom found her current day job and things are back to normal. 

In addition, I relate to this quote because I've had a mini near-death experience when I crashed my car into a snowbank and saw my life flash before my eyes. If it wasn't for the snowbank that I crashed into, my car would have tumbled down a hill and into a creek which only God knows what would have been the end result of that. Afterwards, I have made it my goal to live my life with a purpose and to do what makes me happy, because at any moment, I learned that it can all end in just the blink of an eye. The aftermath of the incident changed me in a positive way because I like to think of myself as a very happy person who appreciates all that I have. Everything ranging from personal belongings to the friends who I hold closest to me.