My Influencers
Student’s Name
University
My Influencers
In order to be successful, one has
to adopt an attitude of a critical thinker. Vincent Ryan Ruggiero in a book
titled Becoming a Critical Thinker
narrates how the four empowering attitudes can help one become a critical
thinker. In this paper, I will explore how my mother, auntie and father are my
biggest influencers and how their teachings resonate with the four empowering
attributes.
My biggest influencer is my
mother. She taught me to be self-aware. I remember her giving the analogy of an
airplane to teach me the importance of being self-aware. She would tell me that
human beings are like an airplane. Self-identity is important to human beings
just like an engine is to an airplane. Through her teachings, I have always known
that I am unique; hence, I do not need to copy what others are doing. This has
helped me, especially when dealing with peer pressure. Unlike many of my age
mates, I have not had many struggles with personal identity. At the same time,
being self-aware enables me to stay humble. Maintaining an attitude of humility
helps a person to remain open to other persons' insights, ideas, opinions and
this will allow him/her to grow as a critical thinker (Strang, 2015). Since I
am self-aware, I know that listening to other persons does not make me less
intelligent. Instead, it helps me to not only be in good terms with other
persons but also grow intellectually. Additionally, self-awareness helps me to
treat other people with respect. Treating other persons with respect helps one
to remain calm and civil when engaging with other persons (Strang, 2015). Because
of being self-aware, I do not seek to validate my worthiness by bringing other
people down.
The other person who has had an
enormous effect on my life is my auntie. While my mother taught me to be
self-aware, my auntie was good at making me give everything in all my
undertakings. My auntie is a very accomplished person despite her being
moderately educated. I spend most of my holidays at her home. Each day, I would
see her wake up at 4 a. m prepare breakfast for her husband and two children
and start going through her daily schedules. She runs a home-operated catering
business whereby she supplies organic food and ingredients to people in her
neighborhoods. The willingness to work hard is one of the empowering attributes,
and it involves being persistent and giving everything one has in a quest to
achieve a person’s aspirations (Strang, 2015). In order for a person to achieve
his/her goals, he/she has to understand the steps he/she will need to take to
move from one point to another. In the beginning, my auntie used to operate her
business all by herself. It was a daunting task, and it would leave her feeling
worn out at the end of the day. To my surprise, she always had the energy to
wake up early in the morning the following day. After two years of persistence,
she now has two employees who help her buy stock and deliver products to
various customers. If not for my aunt, I do not think I would be as focused as
I am in my quest to achieve my goals.
My father taught me to be good at
sports. Since when I was a child, I have always joined my father in attending
various sports events. I still recall his nuggets as far as being an
outstanding sportsperson is concerned. He taught me about persistence, patience,
and consistency. My father would ask me to narrate to him about the lessons
that I would take from the sportspersons involved in each event we watched. He
would also bring home documentaries about the background stories and personal
information about renowned athletes. The most profound lesson I received from
my father is on the importance of being open to criticism. Being open to
criticism is one of the four empowering attitudes and involves a person welcoming
the negative and positive feedback from others persons evaluating the merits of
each comment directed to him/her and applying only the valid ones (Strang,
2015). My father taught me that it takes a whole community to raise successful
sportspersons. This means that one has to be willing to receive feedback from
other people for him/her to improve his/her performance. Even today, I am
always welcoming feedback from my colleagues, instructor and coaches on my
performance in various assignments and sports.
In conclusion, I have been blessed
to have amazing people who have shaped my life and perspectives through their
lessons. Since when I was young, I have always been very close to my mother. As
a result of her lessons, I have not had much identity issues. At the same time,
her teachings have enabled me to respect other persons and remain humble since
I know my worth. My auntie is the most hardworking person I know. By acting as
a role model, I now give my all in everything I do. Lastly, my father introduced
and nurtured me into loving sports. Through his teachings, I have come to
appreciate the value of being open to criticism.
Reference
Strang, T. (2015). Adopting the attitude of a critical thinker.
Retrieved from https://blog.cengage.com/adopting-attitude-critical-thinker/
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