Pretty complicated question isn’t it? Do you think you’re an effective person? Do you think you are productive? These are all questions we all had to ask about ourselves during our latest Personal Growth Plan (PGP) project. Entitled “Believe in Good”, the goal of the project was to get us to identify what we haven’t done, and what we could do to become our most effective selves. Now PGP focuses on building and creating a better you, so most assignments are done individually, not in groups like other PLP subjects. Our driving question was essentially How can you be your most effective self? We brought this all back to our 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, from last year! Remember that? If you are new, or just don’t remember, heres a little reminder. 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is a book written by Sean Covey. It’s basically a guide on how to be your most effective self when you are a teenager, and you learn different strategies through 7 habits that will help guide you. Sean Covey researched real people and how they can or have used these 7 Habits in their daily lives, and the great thing about this was that it was really nice to see that I wasn’t the only one struggling with a problem too.

Now these may seem like a lot of things to always keep in your mind all the time, or maybe you think it’s too excessive to abide by these habits all the time in your daily life, and don’t worry I thought like this too. I thought it was such a headache to always think about these habits, and I really just wanted to have fun and do whatever I want. I’m not saying don’t do that, but I have an ultimate goal of getting into a good university. Other’s goals may be getting into the film industry or becoming a chemist, but everyone has a goal they want to achieve. If I was just having fun all the time, and not doing my homework or contributing to the group project, how was I going to get into any good university? What would I put on my college resume? Living life and having fun is important but you also have to be forward-thinking, productive, and aware of what is happening in your life.

We learnt about them in our projects last year, but this project was all about learning how to incorporate these habits in our daily lives to become the most effective versions of ourselves. We did this through slowly watching a minute long videos on each habit, and showing evidence through small artifacts. To explain, Habits 1,2 and 3 are considered “The Private Victory”, 3 habits that help you PERSONALLY become more effective. Habits 4, 5 and 6 are (you guessed it), “The Public Victory”, 3 habits that HELP YOU WORK AROUND OTHERS to become more effective. Habit 7 is considered “The Renewal”, and it’s a habit that helps you constantly refresh your body, mind, soul and spirit. For each Victory and the Renewal we represented 2 artifacts or something visual, kinaesthetic, audio, or something else that represented our learning of each as we went through the duration of the project. Here are some pictures of what I created for each!

Now for the last big finish of the project. The teachers wanted something not just only that shows we understand, but actual examples from my life of where I’ve used these habits. So through a podcast, an animation, and a kinaesthetic mind-map. I think I really showed that I can be an effective person, but I also created a plan to get myself back on track if I ever decide to just give myself a break and don’t get motivated to come back to living an effective life. Using the competencies Think, Care, Act and Connect, I feel that I have showed how I can be a good person, but more importantly, an effective person. Check out my podcast, animation and mind map video down below. I pitched these ideas to Ms. Willemse, and through my pitch form I communicated to her a clear plan as to what I was going to do, all I needed was to execute!

After you have watched and listened, I want to ask you what you think? Do you think I demonstrated being an effective person?And now what can you do to be more effective? Maybe get that audition tape in, or try something new for your chemistry adventures? There are countless ways to help you get on track, and it all starts here with you.

Click this line to listen to my podcast on Habit 5 and 6!

The video below shows examples from my life using habit 3,4 and 7 through an animation!

This is a real life Mind-Map that shows how I’ve used habit 1 and 2 to stay productive!

This is officially the last post of my grade 9 year, so I just want to take a second to say thanks to my teachers for teaching me this year, and my peers for having to deal with me for another year!

Have a great summer and I’ll see you in grade 10!!

~Malaika