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Persistence.Its a concept we’ve all dealt with many times before throughout our lives.Whether it be when you’re a small child learning to ride a bike or swim,and your mom says “just keep trying you’ll get it.” Or when you’re a bit older, trying to graduate college and the work seems to be becoming a bit too much for you, but you know that all of the hard work you put in will eventually pay off.Persistence is the key to achieving your goals, small or large, it doesn’t matter.But what about those people who just seem to lack the desire to persist when the going gets tough? Is being a persistent person just something you are born with? Or is persistence a skill that can be practiced,attacked methodically,and eventually mastered? With persistence being such a desired trait in the workplace by potential employers or just in life in general, its no wonder individuals are looking for ways to perfect the skill and become more persistent beings.

There are a number of different websites you can go on to look for methods and ways to become persistent, but the one I found to layout the best argument and way persistence can be mastered was posted on lifehack.org by Lou Macabasco. His plan of mastering and becoming a more persistent individual lies on six key components,and they are to identify your wants and desires, determine your motivation, outline your definitive action step, keeping a positive mental attitude,building your mastermind group and lastly developing discipline and habit.Now, it may seem to some that Lou is trying to organize and plan out steps to a characteristic trait that can’t be aught, but when you think about it, he really is not.Essentially, he is just stating the steps that a persistent individual goes through subconsciously , and instead stating them in writing.These six steps come naturally to persistent individuals, but when a non persistent individual is given directions on how to be persistent, and with enough practice, can they not become just as persistent? Lou firmly believes that any individual can set up these steps in their own personal situation, but many don’t attain their goals because of various reasons,none of which being that they are unable to master persistence, other factors come into play.”Developing persistence is a master skill to success.  It is easier to relax and do nothing, or just live in our comfort zone, rather than face the uncertainty and discomfort of sailing threw our goals.  Plus, the idea of failure and hardship is unbearable.But if you want to create change in your life and achieve success, now is the time to develop and master persistence.”(Lou Macabasco, LifeHack.org)

“Persistence is essential. In fact, persistence is one of the most important characteristics successful people share in common. There is no other way to succeed but by developing persistence in our life, and here I’d like to share seven ways to develop it.”(DONALD LATUMAHINA,LifeOptimizer.org) Yet another individual who believes not only in that having persistence is a quality trait that will separate you from the pack, but that it can also be an acquired skill that can be mastered with a methodical approach.His seven steps share some similarities with Lou Macabasco’s above steps, showing that a organized approach to developing persistence is starting to become accepted and preached internationally to developing minds.Developing persistence at a young age will make it easier for the individual to one day master the craft with set steps and guidelines to follow.

So is methodical,procedural,and time tasking step by step process the only way one can begin to develop persistence? Or can certain situations speed up the process, there fore giving even more proof that persistence is far from  a rare trait only few have the ability to possess , and more of a universal trait that just needs to be developed and exploited to reach your individual goals? Is persistence just a tool that is buried deep deep inside your tool box that only surfaces when you have a personal desire for it? Jeremy’s situation seems to support this as he states “A few months into the shop, I began to realize how I needed to get my rear in gear or I was going to fail. This is where my persistence began to come through.” (Jeremy,Forced Persistence) Did he lack the trait of persistence, or was it just waiting to be used? I think the latter is true.Persistence is a trait that not only everyone possesses internally,but also is a skill that everyone can develop and master when the need for it arrives.Some have long-term goals that give them time to methodically develop there persistence, while others , like Jeremy , need that persistence to peek through so they can grab it and run with it.Both scenarios require a mastering of skills and a set steps for attaining persistence, but each proves the overall theory: Persistence is not just an acquired trait,something only a select few are born with and can use.But instead, it is a tool that is in everyone’s tool belt.Everyone can develop and harness their own personal persistence.All it takes is a plan,and a need for that ever valuable tool called persistence.

Works Cited

Lathumahina, Donald. “7  Sure-Fire Ways To Develop Persistence” Lifeoptimizer.org. 19 Nov. 2007.  Web. 7  Mar. 2014

Macabasco , Lou. “6 Effective Way to Become Persistent” LifeHack.org.  4 Aug. Web. 7 Mar. 2014

Souza, Jeremy. “Forced Persistence” jsouza99.edublogs.org

Edublogs 2014.  25 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2014

Quotation  :

If you ask Florida , a city is the main place where creativity flourishes; “With their diverse populations, dense social networks, and public spaces where people can meet spontaneously and serendipitously, they spark and catalyze new ideas.With their infrastructure for finance, organization and trade, they allow those ideas to be swiftly actualized.””(Florida, New York times) ”

 

 

Paraphrase :

Creativity is becoming somewhat of a lost art.Its not encouraged in schools as much as it used to be.But some think that learning about art or creativity isn’t relevant because creative individuals will be creative no matter what.”The big myth is that creativity is the province of great individual geniuses.”(Florida) “In fact creativity is a social process. Our biggest creative breakthroughs come when people learn from, compete with, and collaborate with other people.”

 

 

 

 

Summary :

 

Florida’s main point behind his article  “Cities Are the Fonts of Creativity” is that the main reason creativity isn’t flourishing nation wide is because of a lack of places where people come together and share ideas or creativity.Whether is be because there low paying job shuns creativity for production or a school dropping an Art course because of funding, creativity isn’t being allowed to develop between people.

 

 

 

Dillon Pinto

English 101

                                    Grease Monkey 101: Making Money

 

“I’m starting to think it’s not even worth all of this work man” I say to my cousin Victor as I become more and more frustrated with my car.

“Grease Monkey 101?” he asks with a smile.

“Making Money” I reply.

It’s the middle of August, my garage is sticky and humid and being covered in dirt and grease isn’t exactly making me feel any better, and neither is the fact that my car hasn’t been running for over a week now.

You see, I had a 98 Honda Civic with over 200,000 miles on it. I went to Diman and was in the Automotive Tech shop, so I was constantly doing little repairs to my car on my own. From replacing Alternators to exhaust work, I’ve done almost everything to my car besides major engine work; and then my head gasket went. So I figured replacing my entire engine makes more sense than taking apart the top end of an engine with 200k on it.

“This is what I do, I work on cars” I say to myself. ”I can do this on my own and save hundreds of dollars on labor.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly realize how involved this job was going to be. Now, I won’t go into great detail about the process of taking out an engine and putting another in its place, but I’ll try to make you understand how big of a process this is and how much patience and persistence goes into accomplishing my ultimate goal of having a fully functioning car, and saving tons of money on mechanical work.

Every little bolt on this car tried my patience and continuously had me cursing at my car as if it were an actual person. I’m on this old wooden creeper underneath my car, with rust and debris constantly falling onto my face as I try to loosen up bolts on my original exhaust system. Only mechanics can understand the frustration of being hot and sweaty under a car and having bolt after bolt deny your wrench and socket. And as if it’s not hot enough, every mechanic knows the only way to get a stuck bolt off without damaging it is to heat it up with a blow torch. Next time someone wants to go into a sauna, instead of spending all that money at a spa or hotel, heat up some bolts under your car in the middle of summer. Trust me, it does the job just as well.

A few days of working for 10 minutes on every bolt that connects to my engine finally makes me realize I need some help. My cousin Victor was a Tech at Viti Mercedes for years and now runs his own garage. Who better to ask? So he agrees to help me out on the upcoming Saturday. Meanwhile during the week, I’m slowly but surely, piece by piece and bolt by bolt getting this engine ready to be lifted out of my baby.  

He arrives just on time, as I’m beginning to lose faith that I’m going to be able to finish the job and do it right before I lose my mind. I remember on the night before, it’s about 7:30 PM, and I’ve been working on my motor mounts, which basically support the engine. They are full of rust, stripped and rounded like crazy, my socket is just flying off this thing with no luck. I’ve heated it up about four or five times, and I’m just about to lose it. Now, a lot of times when you are focused on one thing you forget little details about the job. Like the fact that my bolts on the motor mount were right-hand threaded. So, everyone’s heard of the old saying of “Lefty loosey Righty tighty” when it comes to unscrewing something right? Well right hand threaded bolts are the exact opposite. In my rush to finish up on the disassembling I forgot this little detail and set myself back about an hour. I’m sure you can imagine how frustrating this was for me, knowing that I could have been showered and relaxing in bed already if it wasn’t for my screw up. But instead, I’m in this humid garage, throwing my tools around in frustration.

Luckily for me, my cousin Victor made the rest of this process relatively headache-free. After a few small problems at first; like trying to jack up a few hundred pound engine with just a car jack, and trying to get the engine mounted in the engine crane right, we were on our way. We were able to lift the old engine out, and reassemble my car with my new engine in place pretty quick and easy with the help of Victor. Now, I’m making it seem like dropping a new engine inside of a car is a piece of cake, but compared to the rest of this job, it somewhat was. The biggest issue is trying to line up everything right so that you get the engine inside without banging against any other parts that are still under the hood. Every inch to the left or right counts, and it’s really just a test of patience to get it right before you begin to lower the engine. From that point on, I’ve dealt with all the headaches of this job already, and reassembling new parts is like cutting through butter with a hot knife, smooth and easy. Once everything was pretty squared away, and I was looking at my essentially brand new car, I felt a feeling of accomplishment. All those hours spent banging my knuckles against metal as I tried to loosen a bolt in a tricky spot and all those shirts that went in the garbage from being covered in grease all seemed worth it. I was able to not only to get my car back into proper shape, but gain experience and save myself quite a bit of money .I did some research on engine replacement jobs and realize I saved myself about 600-700 dollars by doing this job on my own. The funny part about this, though, is about two months later I sold my car and purchased a 2004 VW Jetta.

”What did I come over for and help you with it if you just turned around and sold it?!” my cousin said to me a few weeks later.

“I would’ve gotten near nothing for that car with a head gasket issue, and instead I got 2,500$ and put that as a down payment on my new car bro” I replied.

“Wow, you made out pretty well then huh buddy?” he said.

“Grease monkey 101?” I said with a smirk.

“Making money” he replied.

“I’m starting to think it’s not even worth all of this work man” I say to my cousin Victor as I become more and more frustrated with my car.”Grease Monkey 101?” he asks with a smile.”Making Money” I reply.It’s the middle of August , my garage is sticky and humid and being covered in dirt and grease isn’t exactly making me feel any better,and neither is the fact that my car hasn’t been running for over a week now.

You see , I had a 98 Honda Civic with over 200,000 miles on it.I went to Diman and was in the Automotive Tech shop,so I was constantly doing little repairs to my car on my own.From replacing Alternators to exhaust work,I’ve done almost everything to my car besides major engine work; and then my head gasket went.So i figured replacing my entire engine makes more sense then taking apart the top end of an engine with 200k on it.”This is what I do,I work on cars” I say to myself.”I can do this on my own and save hundreds of dollars on labor.” Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly realize how involved this job was going to be.Now , I won’t go into great detail about the process of taking out an engine and putting another in its place,but I’ll try to make you understand how big of a process this is and how much patience and persistence goes into accomplishing my ultimate goal of having a fully functioning car,and saving tons of money on mechanical work.

Every little bolt on this car tried my patience and continuously had me cursing at my car as if it were an actual person.I’m on this old wooden creeper underneath my car,with rust and debris constantly falling onto my face as I try to loosen up bolts on my original exhaust system.Only mechanics can understand the frustration of being hot and sweaty under a car and having bolt after bolt deny your wrench and socket.And as if its not hot enough,every mechanic knows the only way to get a stuck bolt off without damaging it is to heat it up with a blow torch.Next time someone wants to go into a sauna,instead of spending all that money at a spa or hotel,heat up some bolts under your car in the middle of summer.Trust me,it does the job just as well.

A few days of working for 10 minutes on every bolt that connects to my engine finally makes me realize I need some help.My cousin Victor was a Tech at Viti Mercedes for years and now runs his own garage.Who better to ask? So he agrees to help me out on the upcoming Saturday.Meanwhile during the week,I’m slowly but surely,piece by piece and bolt by bolt getting this engine ready to be lifted out of my baby.

He arrives just on time,as I’m beginning to lose faith that I’m going to be able to finish the job and do it right before I lose my mind.I remember on the night before,its about 7:30 PM, and I’ve been working on my motor mounts,which basically support the engine.They are full of rust,stripped and rounded like crazy,my socket is just flying off this thing with no luck.I’ve heated it up about four or five times,and I’m just about to lose it.Now,alot of times when you are focused on one thing you forget little details about the job.Like the fact that my bolts on the motor mount were right-hand threaded.So , Everyone’s heard of the old saying of “Lefty loosey Righty tighty” when it comes to unscrewing something right? Well right hand threaded bolts are the exact opposite.In my rush to finish up on the disassembling I forgot this little detail and set myself back about an hour.I’m sure you can imagine how frustrating this was for me,knowing that I could have been showered and relaxing in bed already if it wasn’t for my screw up.But instead,I’m in this humid garage,covered in sweat,hands and face black from dirt and grease,throwing my tools around in frustration.

‘ “I’m starting to think it’s not even worth all of this work man” I say to my cousin Victor as I become more and more frustrated with my car.”Grease Monkey 101?” he asks with a smile.”Making Money” I reply.’ Luckily for me,my cousin Victor made the rest of this process relatively headache-free.We were able to lift the old engine out,and reassemble my car with my new engine in place pretty quick and easy.Now, i did some research on engine replacement jobs and realize i saved myself about 600-700 dollars by doing this job on my own.

The funny part about this, though , is about two months later I sold my car and purchased an 2004 VW Jetta.”What did I come over for and help you with it if you just turned around and sold it?!” my cousin said to me a few weeks later.”I would’ve gotten near nothing for that car with a head gasket issue,and instead I got 2500$ and put that as a down payment on my new car bro” I replied.”Wow..you made out pretty well then huh buddy?” he said.”Grease monkey 101?” I said with a smirk.”Making money” he replied.

 

 

Curiosity

• when i was younger i used to love to take apart things around the house to try and see if I could put them back together
• me and my family all like to travel and see other parts of the world
• i like to learn about my family history and I’ve done family trees online and in school

Creativity

• designing sneakers for myself online
• painted and remodeled my room
• drawing

Persistence

• never used to be able to skateboard , but learning to took alot of persistence and practice
• being persistent to my employer after my interview so I had a better chance of being hired
• i put a new engine into my car this past summer and it was quite a big project and took alot of patience to finish

As a writer I am someone who likes to write about prompts that have to do with past experiences as they are easier to just empty your mind onto a paper and they bring back a lot of memories.I don’t write much except for when I am assigned to write in school , but i think everyone my age writes pages upon pages a day if you included texts,twitter and Facebook.Usually when I have to write something I like to just brainstorm for a while and get every idea out of my head.Then I like to cross out the things I don’t believe I could write a lot about and design my paragraphs with two or three of the ideas I do think I could write about.I’d like to get better at other prompts of writing as I find it more difficult to get started on other types of prompts.I definitely enjoy reading way more than writing , because writing you have to try and manifest a story out of memory and with reading you get to just sit back and let the story play out in front of you.One of my favorite authors is Ellie Wiesel , who wrote books about the Holocaust and his hard past.Those kind of books definitely fit in with how i like to write , because they are true stories from someone’s past and you can feel their emotions through the paper and try to connect with them.Maybe after this course , how much I like to write will maybe catch up with how much more I enjoy to read at this point in my life.One way to achieve this would be if the writing we do will require us to read up on something first , that way reading and writing will come together as just one.As far as paper vs screen , I prefer writing on a computer , as it is easier to edit and move your ideas around.And for reading i prefer a hard copy over reading on a screen , as I think you get a better grip on what you’re reading when it’s all in front of you instead of having to scroll pages and wait for things to load up on a computer.