Attacking my Weaknesses
February 27, 2019 Uncategorized 10 comments ebarnett19
During High School I had many times where I was given intrigued in a topic and wanted to work hard and learn more about it. Academic Decathlon was a very important class for me during high school. I was not specifically interested in the topic of Academic Decathlon but I was very interested in what the class had to offer. This class is very all around as it goes through all subjects and many different forms of learning. The largest beneficiary in this class was public speaking. Public speaking is something that I struggled with a lot coming into high school and even feared at some points.
Academic Decathlon has many different forms of public speaking. During class we had either a presentation or a short speech once a week in front of the class. During the competition we had to do a short speech along with a five minute speech. Both of these speeches were in front of people that we had never met. Instead of being very worked up and scared of the situation I worked to improve this weakness, and saw the competition as an opportunity. Being able to see this as an opportunity and not shying away has allowed me to become much stronger in this aspect of my life. Before this class I would would avoid weaknesses and try to just avoid them or do them but not well because I would try to get them out of the way as quick as possible. Now I realize that my weaknesses will approach me and are unavoidable. In order to make these less miserable I am more prepared and confident and do not try running from these situations.
Other classes have helped me with public speaking throughout high school. Academic Decathlon helped me identify public speaking as a visible weakness. I had not noticed how large of a weakness speaking had been to me previously. During this class I found many weaknesses, especially this one and pushed to improve them. Before I took this class I often times tried to avoid weaknesses hoping that I could go without encountering them. I learned that weaknesses are easier if you attack them head on and improve on them rather than trying to avoid them for the rest of your life. Another thing that I gained from working on this weakness and other weaknesses is confidence. I learned the the more comfortable you are with something the more confident you are in it and you complete a ask much better.
I have continuously worked hard to improve my public speaking throughout high school. Now instead of shying away and being afraid of talking; I am often first to present or one of the first ones to present. I am almost always first to present as most times when I walk into a class I say “I want to present first” as I enjoy getting getting the presentation started and getting rid of the nerves. I now try to find my weaknesses in school and love attempting to improve them any chance I get. Getting into a class where I was pushed to improve my weaknesses helped light a fire for me to push for more knowledge and want to improve as a person on as many skills as possible. This class has helped me develop as a student; an athlete, and the rest of my life.
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10 Comments
I can’t relate more, when it comes to the troubles of public speaking I struggle. I would love to get out of my comfort zone a bit more and learn how to better myself in this category knowing the importance it will hold in my future. Well written, good work.
alapointe19 Yes I feel like being confident and attempting to get out of your shell helps you get over fears. I definitely think that more practice on events will help you become more comfortable with actions all around and not just in specific actions such as public speaking.
Wow. Just wow, Overall a great piece of writing EB I loved it and I can relate.. Here’s how. With my speech impediment it does sometimes make it hard to public speak and/or talk to others in general. I also loved the self confidence.. without self confidence you wouldn’t be able to talk yourself into stepping out of your comfort zone and taking those challenges head on.. nice work. The more I read the more I understood how practicing those techniques in class during the week made you feel more comfortable or more “ready” to take on challenges.
Like everyone else has been saying on these comments I can totally relate to this piece of writing EB. Public speaking used to be one of weaknesses and it kinda still is but a few things helped me conquer it. FBLA helped me immensely with that skill. As I look back on it I really wish I took the academic decathlon course. I really liked how you related the course to other courses in the following paragraph to show the importance of the academic decathlon class. Very well written and developed piece of writing EB.
I appreciate your willingness to want to overcome your weaknesses, instead of shying away. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of people and speak and for you to not only get over your fear of it, but to want to push further by placing yourself in situations where you do public speak is awesome.
I can relate, as I imagine many people can with the fear of public speaking. You found a way by overcoming this hardship by going at it head on. This teaches a valuable lesson that will help me and others in the future especially with college coming up. You knew the class would be tough but you knew you would get valuable information out of it and you got a lot more than expected. Instead of just improving your public speaking you gained even more self knowledge and was able to self diagnose yourself and identify something as a weakness and know what you need to work for.
I can relate to this so much. Just like you I put myself into a class where I would have to conquer that fear. I took a public speaking class at CMCC and we had to do a speech every single class and I hated it. During the end though it did get easier to do these speeches and I feel more confident about speaking in front of people. I like how you are brave enough to be able to want to present first, I tell myself to do that but it never happens. I hope you keep on attacking your weaknesses in the future. Great Job!
Awesome to see how one of your classes helped to improve a necessary skill in your life. It’s so cool that you were able to be able to present from practice and determination. So cool.
Realizing your own personal weakness is hard in itself. Accepting them and pushing yourself to become better in those areas is a whole different animal. I applaud you for pushing yourself and addressing your weaknesses head on. It takes great self-motivation and drive for whatever your pursing to accept ones own weaknesses and make them strengths.
I can relate to this so much. I never want to be the one to present first or if we are reading a book out loud to the whole class I would always try to hide in the corner and not get picked. I have a hard time reading so I feel insecure about reading in front of people that why I never want to. This year while in English class I took a part as a reader and although it wasn’t many lines I was still going out of my comfort zone. I love this post very well written really like how I can relate to it so much.