This document outlines the importance of creating a personalized game plan based on previously learned concepts such as courage, self-talk, and cognitive reframing. It emphasizes the need for self-awareness to combat negative narratives and mindset problems while providing techniques to enhance self-talk and emotional regulation. The ultimate goal is to synthesize these tools into a reliable strategy that prepares individuals for future challenges and aligns with their personal 'why.'

1. |08|creating
YOUR GAME PLAN
“Nothing will work
unless you do.”
Maya Angelou
YOUR GAME PLAN | 135
Where Have We Been
In the previous chapter, we focused on the importance of
cultivating courage as a necessary component in creating a
life that is aligned with your greatest gifts, values, and, of
course, engaging in the exploratory process of uncovering
your personal “why.” You were encouraged to discover your
“courage compass” and to use it as often as is helpful
and enjoyable, but particularly when fear comes knocking. You
were also taught about the astonishing power of your
imagination and its ability to activate your unconscious mind’s
internal GPS in helping you to move in the direction of
your desired future. Lastly, you learned how neuroscience
relates to visualization, feeling and experiencing yourself
embody real or imagined moments in a sequence of events that
aids the brain in believing them.
Where We Are Going
Well, you’ve made it to the end. This final chapter of the
re:MIND methodology culminates into a process of

2. synthesizing all that you have learned in the previous chapters
into very personalized “game plan” (Figure 1). We say
personalized because as we lead you through this process of
creating a trustworthy game plan that can weather all the
storms of your life, we will focus on proactively anticipating
and forecasting any challenges that might arise, so that they
do not derail your progress. You see, you will want to be at-the-
ready and prepared when problems surface because, as
you learned in Chapter 7, your life and your legacy are too
important to leave in the hands of self-doubt, or problems
like fear, guilt, or anxiety. But first, we’re going to look back
on your journey. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Gearing Up
» To review all that you’ve learned in order to prepare you for
the final step
» To re-visit the structure of positive self-talk
» To create your personal game plan
» To help you plan against multiple mindset problems
» To prepare you for future mindset problems outside your plan
Figure 1. Your game plan will prepare
you for what is to come.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 136
Remembering Your Journey
Every step of this process has been leading you to this final
outcome. The opportunity here lies in combining the
material in a way that makes the most sense for you given the

3. challenges that you currently face, or that you anticipate
facing in the near future. By having a game plan, you will be
armed with a coping strategy that is comprehensive,
reliable, and fully committed to your success. Before we dive
into the game plan, let’s take a brief journey and review
what you’ve learned as a way of refreshing your mind and
preparing you for this final step.
Self-Talk, Self-Doubt, and Your Personal Narrative
When you first started, you may not have had a clear sense as to
where this journey was taking you. The process
started with three students tripping over both a literal and
proverbial bump in the road. Through this immediate
snapshot you were initiated into how an identical event could
easily be interpreted in three very different ways and
the power of personal narrative was illuminated. Each of us has
a very powerful personal narrative, but if that narrative
remains unexamined, it can all too easily control the navigation
system in our lives, and to great effect. Now, that
effect may be positive, but all too often it is not. All too often it
is guided and informed by negative self-talk and self-
doubt, veering the narrative off track (Figure 2).
Figure 2. We all have a personal
narrative that we must work to keep
on track.
We have spent a lot of time unpacking the importance of
updating your self-talk and examining your self-doubt.
Maximizing the latest research in neuroscience, you are now
equipped with techniques to support your ability to
engage in more empowering self-talk habits, like addressing
yourself in the third person and avoiding the word “not”
in your self-talk as it relates to your goals and affirmations.
With this, we began paving the way for you to create a

4. more empowered narrative.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 137
The Big 7 Non-cognitive Competencies
Hopefully, you know them by now and understand how and why
these seven non-cognitive skills are so essential to
your success (Figure 3). Each of the competencies are important
in supporting your success as a student.
Revisit Your Mindset Inventory
The Mindset Inventory you took at the beginning of this course
created a baseline for identifying where you were
when you started. It’s time to revisit your Mindset Inventory as
a way of capturing how far you’ve come!
Figure 3. Remember these seven
non-cognitive competencies; they are
essential to your success.
When you think about the seven non-cognitive skills, remember
the importance of practicing a growth mindset
because it serves as the container within which all the other
non-cogs must be practiced. Embracing your mistakes,
your vulnerability, and your openness to trying something new
(and getting out of your comfort zone) is what will best
prepare you to cultivate greater strength in the other six non-
cognitive competencies.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 138

5. Problem-Saturated Stories
As you continue to reflect on and revise your narrative,
remember the difference between “mindset problems”
and “situational problems” so that you can identify problem-
saturated parts of your narrative and work through
the problems that sneakily attempt to monopolize your self-talk
and increase your self-doubt (Figure 4). Not only
do mindset problems limit the development of non-cognitive
competencies, but they can also become pervasive
feelings. Situational problems will always exist as part of life,
but by learning how to work through your mindset
problems, you become more competent in the face of situational
problems.
Figure 4. Knowing what is a mindset
problem and what is a situational
problem will help you identify
problems in you narrative.
Problems like procrastination, avoidance, worry, guilt, and fear
can become so pervasive that they hold the potential
to limit the development of non-cognitive competencies. Don’t
allow confirmation bias to defend the faulty beliefs
that problem-saturated stories work to promote.
Managing Feelings and Emotions
You should now understand the difference between emotions
and feelings, as well as the science behind how we
experience emotions and how we assign feeling labels to those
emotions. Remember that you have a great deal
of control over the emotional process. You are now someone
who experiences feelings and emotions, rather than
someone who is their feelings and emotions. Your feelings and

6. emotions do not define you. This distinction is
important because of the potential for uncomfortable or painful
emotions and feelings to become so strong that we
begin to identify ourselves with them and believe the distorted
thoughts that often accompany them.
Being more mindful and present through the practice of
controlled breathing and meditation gives you an additional
emotional coping strategy. The lifespan of anxiety is very short,
for example, unless you are caught in the grips of
the past, or forecasting into the future and cultivating a bodily
connection to the stillness of the present moment
is paramount in creating greater calmness and peace in your
life. Again, simply noticing feelings in the moment,
observing them, and releasing them is a route to increased
presence and calm (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Being able to process your
feelings gives you the control you
need to keep them from defining who
you are.
Cognitive Reframing and Externalizing Problems
Diving into neuroscience, specifically neuroplasticity, we
examined how your brain is capable of building new
neural pathways and networks. Even if you’re steeped in
problematic thinking habits or overwhelming feelings,
neuroplasticity enables you to interrupt habituated ways of
reacting to thoughts and events in your life. This capacity
for plasticity allows us to practice seeing events in our lives
differently—we can view the same event from a different
perspective as part of the concept of cognitive reframing. Use
this as an invitation to re-examine and re-author your
narrative and where you’ve seen yourself and placed yourself in

7. your own life story.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 139
At the core of narrative coaching is the concept and practice of
externalizing your problems. This principle is best
communicated in the following statement:
“You are not the problem, the problem is the problem.”
Keeping that statement firmly in mind when facing your
mindset problems is critical because challenging the effects of
the problem as an extension of who you are often generates
feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, defensiveness,
and blame. Instead, you are encouraged to participate in a
process of inquiry that seeks to name the problem,
understand the scope of its impact, and get creative and curious
about how to outsmart it, calm it, be compassionate
to its original intention, and then create a new response to it.
Finding Exceptions to Problem-Saturated Stories
Outsmarting problems is essential as you work to liberate
yourself from a personal narrative that might be problem
saturated. A critical way to gain freedom from problems is
through identifying exceptions to them. Your eyes are now
open to how problems shape your self-talk, increase your self-
doubt, create and intensify mindset problems, and
alter both the lens and the frames through which you experience
your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and beliefs.
With that knowledge, you can begin the process of intentionally
finding times in your life when the problem did not
dominate your narrative. Doing so enables you to invest in a
better story—one that holds much greater potential to
lead you in the direction you prefer (Figure 6).

8. Figure 6. Identifying exceptions allows
you to invest in a story that moves in a
direction that is best for you.
By engaging in the process of answering narrative questions,
you can cultivate a new and more preferable story.
You are given license to emerge as you uncover how some of
the Big 7 non-cogs have already been active in your
life. Connected with some of your strengths, you are also given
the opportunity to rename the non-cogs as a way of
becoming more familiar with them by finding language that
reflects your unique personality and style.
Practicing Courage and Finding Your Why
We hope to have inspired you to live even more courageously,
and you know that a conversation about courage is not
complete unless it also addresses fear. You have developed new
inroads to explore what it is you want to do with your life
and how to continue to pay attention to what part fear plays as
you become more conscious of how to cultivate courage.
Be sure to continue to take advantage of the activities that
invited you to investigate your “why.” The activities
where specifically chosen to engage you in a way that focuses
more on discovering your joy, your interests, and your
values, and less on heightening any pressure to figure out
precisely what you want your life to look like in five years, a
prospect that may feel daunting at this juncture in your life.
The importance of having a why is that it will be the connection
between your every day actions and your long term
vision. Knowing your why will help to keep you motivated and
on track, especially when fear pays an unwelcome visit.
Continue to use your imagination to manage fear. Practice the
process of visualization so that you can activate your

9. unconscious mind to work as your own personal GPS, moving
you closer to the future you’re working to create.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 140
Finally, if you have not done so already, find your courage
compass. It is through this that your emotions can be
mobilized and you will be inspired to do what is necessary to
honor your personal why, rather than what is easy or
keeps you in our comfort zone.
The Structure of Positive Self-Talk and Your Future
At this point, it would be useful to revisit the concept of self-
talk. More specifically, the cultivation of positive and
more empowering self-talk. Though this topic has been covered
a great deal throughout the previous chapters, we
cannot stress enough the importance of recognizing self-talk
and how much it affects your personal narrative. You
already know how inescapable and universal self-talk is. It’s not
like you’re going to learn how to live with a completely
silent mind. It just doesn’t work that way. Your self-talk serves
as an opportunity for liberation from your problems.
By now you awareness has been raised enough to be conscious
of when your self-talk is either negative or self-
critical or both. Simply interrupting negativity and self-
criticism is key; the next evolution, however, is to practice two
interventions, particularly when a mindset problem surfaces in
your self-talk: talking to yourself in third person and
avoiding “not” in your self-talk.
Talk To Yourself In the Third Person
We touched on this briefly in Chapter 2, but want to remind you
of how powerful this concept can be toward
improving your self-talk and/or disrupting the flow of negative
self-talk.

10. Using third-person pronouns or your own name during self-talk
can improve emotion regulation and self-control by
helping to self-distance and reduce the tendency to rely too
heavily on your own perspective and/or have a higher
opinion of yourself.1
Typically, our negative self talk sounds something like this:
“Ugh, I got this wrong again. What is wrong with me?”
When we try to update that self-talk to be more positive, the
traditional way would be to sound more like this:
“I know I can do this. It’s difficult, but I do difficult things all
the time. I’ve got this!”
Research is suggesting that the more effective way to use self-
talk is to talk to yourself as if you’re talking to someone
else, as it supports continued emotional self-regulation:2
“You can do this, Josh! You do this kind of thing all the time.
You’ve got this!”
When you engage in third person positive self-talk, take a
moment to think about how it makes you feel afterward.
The main objective of this method is to help you gain a new
perspective and to interrupt negative self-talk before it
becomes part of your ongoing personal narrative. The secondary
objective is to help you move forward by putting
you into a more empowered mindset and positive emotional
state.
Avoid the Word “Not”
As you become more practiced in creating positive self-talk, it
will be imperative to be aware of one common

11. tendency many of us have. This is the tendency to define what
we will NOT do as a way to create positive habits. Let’s
say that you are tired of being so stressed all of the time and
you want your future to be one of more calmness and
composure. Many of us, thinking that we are creating powerful
and positive self-talk, may find ourselves saying, “I do
not want to be so stressed in my future job,” or, “I will not
leave things to the last minute,” or even, “I will not allow
fear to sabotage my personal relationships.” Although we may
know the intention we’re after, our brain does not hear
the “not”.
Results from a number of studies are suggesting that when you
try to put a thought or emotion out of your mind
while stressed, it’s actually more likely to come back stronger.3
This is referred to as ironic process theory, or ironic
rebound—the psychological process whereby deliberate
attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more
likely to surface. It’s like when you say something like, ““I will
not think of a white bear,” and then from that moment
forward you can’t get the thought of white bears out of your
mind (Figure 7). (We use the white bear, or polar
bear, example because that is what was traditionally used when
this phenomenon was being studied.) By saying to
YOUR GAME PLAN | 141
yourself that you will “not” do something, it’s possible all you
will be able to think about is doing it! To avoid this
phenomenon, structuring your self-talk to be in the positive—
like, “I will get things done right away,” or, “I want a
future job that is fulfilling”—can go a long way.
Figure 7. Try not thinking about a
white bear and you’ll find you can’t get

12. white bears out of your head.
Ironic Process Theory
the psychological process
whereby deliberate attempts to
suppress certain thoughts make
them more likely to surface
Angela’s Experience with Self-Talk
Angela grew increasingly aware of how frequently her thoughts
were shaped by fear and insecurity. She would
often find herself being critical of not only herself, but of others
as well. As her awareness of this tendency grew,
she started to notice the situations where this would happen
most frequently, and she worked to silence and
replace the negativity more consistently.
She noticed that her self-talk was most critical when she was
walking to class alone or sitting down at the
beginning of math class. She would hear herself say things in
her head:
“I am such an idiot for thinking I have any chance of passing
this class.”
At first, just noticing this was a huge wake-up call. The self-
talk had become such a regular pattern of thought
that she had not realized how controlling of her moods and
belief it had become. When she initially attempted to
interrupt the self-talk, she found herself saying this instead:
“I am not going to worry so much; I’ve got this. I will not
procrastinate and I will not get distracted.
I need to stop being so negative.”

13. She felt like this was such a positive step forward, but it did not
seem to be making much of a difference.
However, as she began to learn more about brain science, she
soon applied what she was learning so that her
eventual self-talk evolved:
“Angela, you’ve got this. You will get more things done on time
and practice staying engaged and
attentive while in class.”
These words eventually became somewhat of a mantra that she
recited in her head while walking on campus
alone or as she sat through her math class. At first she wasn’t
sure she totally believed them, but she chose to
have faith in the process and make sure what she was saying
was actually realistic, and this was key.
If her self-talk seemed too far fetched or too far of a leap from
where she was, she simply wouldn’t believe it. She
had to find that sweet spot—that self-talk that was aspirational,
but at the same time something she could actually
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The Game Plan
It is finally time to condense what you have been learning into a
clear and re-usable framework: your
game plan.
As you moved through the previous chapters, you worked
through each of the steps of the re:MIND
methodology. Now that you have done this, your responses will
serve as the components of your
game plan. This is important and here is why: you will want to

14. have them at-the-ready, rather than
feeling the pressure of remembering them or discovering them
in a moment of intense stress. By
having learned the steps, you have engaged in a deliberate
process of training your mind to look at
things from a new perspective; you were creating new thinking
patterns akin to something like muscle
memory, a form of procedural memory that involves
consolidating a specific motor task into memory
through repetition. It will be important to continue to reflect on
your personal narrative during those
times when you are feeling calm and less stressed so that you
continue forming the habit.
imagine her future self doing. What she found quite quickly,
though, was that repeating her updated self-talk really
did help her feel better. It was as if talking to herself in the
third person gave her distance from the situation. In
other words, it did not feel like there was something “wrong”
with her when self-doubt arose; when she spoke to
herself in the third person, she had more of a compassionate
perspective than what she typically afforded herself.
She was realizing over a pretty short period of time that she was
growing more confident and courageous in
practicing many of the behaviors her self-talk was promoting.
For example, as she practiced, she found herself
doing her school work on time and staying focused while in
class. It wasn’t magic or anything, but it did seem to
make a difference and, all importantly, it gave her a sense of
agency against her negative self-talk, enabling her to
be more proactive. Also, to her surprise, her mental chatter
grew less negative, and when the negativity did show
up, she knew how to address it. She started to find that her
mood lifted, as well, but more on that to come.

15. Muscle Memory
a form of procedural memory that
involves consolidating a specific
motor task into memory through
repetition
The Game Plan: Main Problem Edition
What do you do when you are in the middle of a problem-
saturated story? You are feeling stressed and anxious and all of
the
negative self-talk you have been trying to avoid is coming at
you full strength. The downward spiral is real and you know
you need
to stop it, but it feels like an impossible task because your
problem is working super hard against you. The good news is
that you
have previously identified times when you escaped the grip of
the problems AND you have a game plan for this exact
situation.
Figure 8. Once you’ve plugged all
the answers into your game plan,
you’ll have something to look at when
problems try to take over.
“It takes just as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
YOUR GAME PLAN | 143

16. The first goal is to create a game plan for each of the main
problems that you have previously identified while working
through your personal narrative. This way, even when the
problem (or problems) seems to be taking over your mind,
you know that you have something to look at and fall back upon
to get you through the difficult times and back to
being your empowered self (Figure 8). The best part? You
already did all the work and now you are just plugging in
the answers to create your game plan!
Step 1: Recognize the Problem
Recognizing which problem is presently trying to gain control
over your mindset is where we’ll start. The familiar
negative self-talk and self-doubt have reared their annoying
heads. Now that you are aware of what it sounds like and
are familiar with which problem this specific self-talk and self-
doubt are working for, you can alter the outcome.
In this first step, you choose a problem and define the
circumstances within which it’s most likely to occur and the
self-talk that you have learned to associate with it. You worked
in Chapters 2 and 3 to identify the information you will
need, so now you just need to plug it in!
» Which mindset problem is this game plan for?
» When does this problem seem to most likely occur?
» What negative self-talk do you associate to this problem?
» What positive self-talk can you practice to disrupt the
problem’s attempt to take control?
When thinking about when the problem occurs, be detailed
about the circumstances that can trigger it. This can
include things like time of day, type of activity, previous

17. emotional state, level of hunger, level of energy, who you
interact with, and so on.
Angela’s Game Plan: Step 1
Angela has worked hard and is now ready to put what she’s
learned into action by creating a game plan for what
she considers her main problem.
Mindset Problem: Avoidance
Trigger: Whenever I am in a situation that requires me to ask
for help from someone I don’t know or who is
an authority figure, or when I have to do something that makes
me feel overwhelmed or scared like dealing
with financial aid, I tend to avoid the situation. Also, if I’m
hungry or tired I’m much more likely to avoid doing
something important if I think it will add to my stress. I
especially struggle with avoidance when I’ve already tried,
didn’t like the result, and have to try again.
Negative Self-Talk: I can’t do this right now. Why is this so
hard for me? I don’t know that person and they are
going to think I’m an idiot for asking for help with this. I’m so
annoying. Why did I think I could do this? I don’t
belong here. I should already know how to do this.
Positive Self-Talk: This is important to you, Angela, and you
can get this done. You can do this, Angela, and you
will be happy to have it done. Spiders are scarier than this,
Angela, and you handle them like a pro. You don’t
let it sit there making you feel worse! You’ve got this. Other
people ask for help all the time. Your questions are
justified and asking for help is a sign of strength.

18. YOUR GAME PLAN | 144
Step 2: Manage the Feelings and Emotions
You’ve recognized the problem and that you are in the midst of
a problem-saturated story that invites feelings of
overwhelm, anxiety, or stress. These feelings need to be
acknowledged and worked through so that you can move
forward with a clear head and be present. First, remind yourself
that you are not your feelings and emotions. You
feel them, but they do not define you. When you become aware
of the feeling or emotion, recognize the physical
sensations that accompany it; this will help you observe the
problem without judgement (Figure 9). Knowledge you
gained from Chapter 4 should provide what you need.
» What physical sensations do you typically feel when the
problem is present?
» What feelings have you identified for this problem? What
new and more empowered names do you
have for those feelings?
» Does this feeling need to be communicated? Do you need to
journal, talk to someone, shout, or cry?
» Which breathing exercise or meditation will you practice to
help bring yourself back to the present
moment and help you move through the uncomfortable feelings
further so that you can release them?
Angela’s Game Plan: Step 2
Feeling good about filling out Step 1 of her game plan, for the
problem of avoidance, Angela reviews what she
learned about her feelings and emotions and gets ready to write
down her responses for Step 2.

19. Remember and Repeat: I am someone who experiences feelings
and emotions but I am not my feelings or
emotions.
Physical Sensations: When anticipating a task, I get kind of
shaky and jittery all over, like I had too much caffeine.
Sometimes I start to sweat. My face gets red and hot, like I have
a sunburn. Since I’m all anxious when I start, if
I have to ask for help, I talk in a quieter tone than I normally
would, which often requires me to repeat myself.
Depending on how long I’ve put off the task, I might also feel a
little nauseated or I get a headache.
Feelings: Anxiety, Overwhelm, Fear
New Feeling Name: Anxiety = Ruminating Anticipation,
Overwhelm = Multiple Feelings, Fear = Fluttering
Nervousness
Relaxation Technique: 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise
Do I Need To Express this Emotion? Yes , I want to call my
sister and share what’s going on.
Figure 9. Recognizing physical effects
will help you observe a feeling or
emotion without judgement.
YOUR GAME PLAN | 145
Step 3: Externalize the Problem
Your mind is back in the present moment and you are ready to

20. move forward. You repeat the mantra, “The problem
is the problem, I am not the problem.” Now it’s time to look at
the problem from a new perspective. Review what you
learned and worked on in Chapter 5 to assist you with the
answers you need.
» What has this problem been trying to convince you of?
» Does the problem want the same thing for your future that
you do? What do you want that the
problem is keeping you from?
» Was there a time when the problem was trying to help you,
and now you need to gently remind it that
you are going to be okay without its assistance?
» What externalizing statement will you use to help yourself
get unstuck from the problem?
Angela’s Game Plan: Step 3
Working on her game plan is starting to give Angela confidence
that she can face avoidance with a clear and
present mind. She even practiced her favorite breathing exercise
before moving on to complete Step 3.
Remember and Repeat: The problem is the problem. I am not
the problem.
Problem Wants Me to Think: You are timid. You are scared.
You are not to be trusted with the responsibilities in life.
What You Want: I want to be confident in myself. I am
responsible. I am capable. I am stronger than avoidance.
Let it Go: Yes, please! Thank you, avoidance, for any help that

21. you provided me in the past to protect me. Now
it’s time for me to decide for myself what is important.
Externalizing Statement: Avoidance really wants to keep me
from getting important things done. Things I really
care about. Avoidance is not trying to help me move forward
and be …
Assignment 1: Budget Planning and Control
Due Week 8 and worth 200 points
Before approaching this assignment, be sure that you have
watched the following video:
● Wiley (2011, September 28). Budgetary planning featuring
Babycakes *full video* [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frh3I2rVDzs
Babycakes, a specialty bakery, is the company that will be
considered for all parts of your budget
planning and control report. For this assignment, you will
develop a 3–4-page paper in which you address
the following.
● Briefly discuss the ways a realistic budget will benefit the
owner of Babycakes versus no budget
at all. Be sure to use Babycakes as the company and any
specific product details in your
explanation.
● Prepare a sales budget for the LA Babycakes store for the
fourth quarter of 2016. Present the
number of units, sales price, and total sales for each month;
include October, November,

22. and December, and the total for the quarter. Use one half of the
Valentine’s Day sales as the
basis for a usual day in the new quarter. Use 30 days for each
month. Calculate the total sales for
each month for October, November, and December.
● Create three new products, one for each of the three holiday
seasons in the fourth quarter.
Estimate the sales units, sales price, and total sales for each
month. Describe the assumptions
used to make these estimates. Include an overview of the budget
in the report, presenting the
actual budget as an appendix with all the data and calculations.
Add these amounts to your sales
budget.
● The owner of Babycakes is interested in preparing a flexible
budget rather than the static budget
she currently uses. She does not understand why, when sales
increase, her static budget often
shows an unfavorable variance. Explain how a flexible budget
will overcome this problem. Use
the details of your newly prepared budget for the fourth quarter
of 2016 to address her concern.
● Imagine that Babycakes is facing a financial challenge that is
causing the actual amount of
money that it spends to become significantly more than its
budgeted amount. Include a
discussion of your own unique cause of the overspending.
Explain the corrective actions needed
to address these challenges.
● Integrate relevant information from at least three quality
academic resources in this assignment.
Note: Please do not use your textbook as an academic resource.

23. Also, Wikipedia and other
similar websites do not qualify as quality academic resources.
You have access to Strayer
University’s Online Library at https://research.strayer.edu and
the iCampus University Library
Research page at https://icampus.strayer.edu/library/research.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: Be
typed, double-spaced, using Times New
Roman font (size 12), with 1-inch margins on all sides;
references must follow APA or school-specific
format.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frh3I2rVDzs
https://research.strayer.edu/
https://icampus.strayer.edu/library/research
From the Syllabus:
Weekly Journal Reflections Each chapter of the textbook will
have a related
journal entry prompt to which you will need to respond. You
can find these
assignments in each weekly module labeled “Chapter X Journal”
under the
“Assignments and Activities” section. Journals are an
opportunity for you to
reflect on what you read and learned in the chapter and apply it
to your own
life. In each journal response, you should answer ALL the
questions
presented in the prompt thoroughly and thoughtfully. Journals
should
incorporate what we call the “4 E’s” in college success: 1.
Experience: Your

24. response is written from your own experience and perspective 2.
Evidence:
Your response includes evidence or support from the chapter or
the course 3.
Example: Your response uses examples from your own life 4.
Explanation:
Your thoughts or opinions are clearly and thoughtfully
explained Your journal
responses should include at least ONE of the FOUR E’s, but I
encourage you
to use as many as you can. Journals will be assessed on
thoughtfulness,
thoroughness and writing conventions using the journal rubric
on a 0-10 point
scale. There is no minimum word or page count for these
assignments, but
you are expected to answer each prompt in depth.
Introduction:
At this point, you have begun the journey toward a more
empowered narrative and it’s
time to update your original narrative based on what you have
learned.
Goals:
• Help you connect with who you are using perspective you
have gained throughout
the course.
• Help you see how what you have learned may have re-shaped
your story.
• Locate where your concerns or worries lie.
• Help you recognize why this college endeavor is personally
meaningful to you.

25. Instructions:
Thinking back on all you have learned, it’s time to create an
updated version of the
personal narrative you created at the beginning of the course.
Using the same
questions you answered when you created your original
narrative, create your updated
narrative. Then, compare the two. Has anything changed in the
way you view
yourself?
• What brought you to college?
• What are some of your strengths?
• What are some of your interests?
• Where do you feel the least prepared and/or least confident as
a new college
student?
• When you think about college, what causes you to feel the
most stress?
• If applicable, in what way is this stress currently getting in
your way?
• In what way might this stress get in your way later on?
• What is your “why”? Meaning, why is earning a college
degree personally
significant and meaningful to you?
Abdulrahman Al Baalharith

26. UNST 194
Journal 2
04/10/2020
When I graduate from high school, I saw a lot of my
friends went to work. My uncle told
me that having a degree is going to protect you. You will save a
lot of time working to be in a
good position. I chose to come to the U.S to continue my
studies. There are a lot of challenges
that students face, but my personality never gives up. I always
try my best to achieve my goal
even though my goal is hard to achieve. I am a person who is
good at time management, and
google calendar is one of the good programs that help to
organize people. These things help me
to be good at my interesting major. I am a person who is
interested in mechanics. When I was a
kid, I was so interested in cars, so I tried to ask my father to
show me the machine of the car.
This makes me so interested, so I chose a mechanical
engineering major.
Two things that I face difficulty on which are working
on groups sometimes and projects.
Projects are a word that makes me so stress even though it is not
that hard. If I see an

27. assignment called homework, I feel it is not that hard even
though it so long. Moreover,
working on groups is a good thing, but it sometimes makes me
worried when I work with
people who I meet for the first time. I tried so hard to work to
solve those problems.
Stress is one of the most problems that most students
have in college. It is hard to avoid
stress, but there are some strategies to take the stress out of my
mind. I google those strategies
when I was on freshmen year, and I found out that working
clear the mind from all the stresses
that the person will have. I start going to PSU gym, I feel that I
am in a wonderful mood after
working out. I was so skinny when I first start school, and now I
build good Muscles. My weight
was about 45 kg, and now it is 80 kg. Working out helps me to
clear my mind and stay healthy.
School is important for the people and the community to
be educated. It is true that
school is good for us to find jobs and being in a good position
in one of the important
companies. However, community and growing our brains are
important too, and school helps

28. us to grow our brains. I will continue to study when I have the
ability even though I am 90 years
old. Also, I will encourage my kids too to be educated people.