Britney Menefee

English 111

R. Dollieslager

24 November 2014

 

            Choosing between being a Creator, who takes responsibility for their actions or a Victim who blames others for their failures, being a creator is the best option. Creators are people who consistently make choices that lead to the outcomes they desire, and they create their outcomes. Victims are people who don’t feel they affect the outcomes they get, instead other people or outside forces controls what happens to them. (Downing 42)

            Mirman’s article explains the difference of being a Creator and Victim and how to stop playing Victim. He tells a story of two students who were asked by their professor to have their textbooks by next class. One student showed characteristics of a Creator and the other student showed characteristics of a Victim. The next time the class met the professor had asked the students “do they have their textbooks?” One answered “yes!” Other made an excuse of why they didn’t have their book. Student who had the Creator mindset realized even though they couldn’t get the textbook from the bookstore, they found other options. First, called other college bookstores in the same region, when that failed another option was looking online. The book was found online and was able to be shipped on time. Student with the Victim mindset ended their search after finding out the book was sold out. Instead of blaming their self for not trying hard enough to get the book, blaming it on the bookstore was more reasonable. In certain situations people play Victim if it can cause consequences. I however also played Victim.

            I played Victim when I was running late getting to my job. On Monday I made an appointment with my doctor at 12:30 in Hampton, already knowing I had to be at work by 2:45 in Newport News. In my mind my appointment only takes an hour usually but not on this Monday. I didn’t leave the doctor’s until 2:20 which made me four minutes late, and when I arrived my boss Mrs. Oleic asked, “Britney why are you four minutes late knowing were busy on Mondays?”, and replied with “ the doctor took longer than usual, when they only take an hour”,. Even though I only received a warning for being late, I should of took responsibility and thought of other options. To avoid being late scheduling the appointment on a day off would have been a better option. Also if I knew I was going to be late called 20 minutes ahead letting my boss know why I was running late and gave her an early notice.

            In my brother’s early teen years he had a Victim mindset. For example when our parents asked “why the dishes are not done?” he answered, “I asked Britney to do it”, even though it wasn’t my day to do them. Any chores that was his responsibility around the house, wasn’t completed it was my fault because he asked me to do it. As Dwayne got older he started to mature like anyone growing up into adulthood, starting to have a Creator mindset. Dwayne recently got into a car accident and had to have his car tootled. When he started looking for a new car the only way he was able to get one was to have a cosigner. Our parents wanted Dwayne to figure out a way to get it on his own. Running out of time to get a new car because he only had a rental for two weeks, he blamed our parents for why he couldn’t get a car quick enough. Instead he finally decided to look at more dealerships and other options of cars. He stayed focused on the model of the car, price range, his credit score, and read the paper work that required to own the car without a cosigner. Being persistent allowed him to buy his first car without using a cosigner. Dwayne displayed a creator mindset when, he decided to keep looking for other options and stopped blaming it on our parents for not being able to find one so easily. However he took controlled of the problem and came up with variety of options to receive the outcome he desired.

            Having a creator mindset gives the ambition needed to be successful to fix a problem, or becoming a successful college student. Many options that are helpful to my advantage is spending more time on school assignments, outside of school to improve test scores. Also using the different help centers provided in the library such as the writing center, math center, and being able to sign up for a tutor for any subject. Another ways are completing all assignments on time, and staying updated on all important dates throughout the semester. The Creator mindset, gives the mentality of achieving goals when putting forth effort and taking responsibility obstacles that come along.

 

Work Citied

Downing, Skip. On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. 7th ed. Boston: Cengage, 2014.

 

Mirman, David. “Do you think like a Victim or Creator?” You are the Prime Mover. 2 Jan 2012. 8 Dec 2014.

http://youaretheprimemover.com/2012/do-you-think-like-a-victim-or-a-creator