Hi Readers!!!!

This weeks Spark and Mettle tasks were about setting goals for three of the aims on our life maps which we did a while back. ENJOY!!!

Aim 1: Become a Formula 1 driver (win Club100 2012)

Goal 1: Secure 6000GBP of funding in order to race club100 this year
Goal 2: Spend 8 hours studying the track before each round.
Goal 3: Ensure I match the minimum weight limit before the first race
Goal 4: Go for a run every morning before uni to increase my fitness before the first race
Goal 5: Speak to 5 experienced karters for useful information about the series

Difficulty: I don’t think I will find many of these goals difficult as have an action plan for each goal and have already started most of them. This is because I set out these goals at the start of the year and they are all going well at the moment. Although, while the goals seam ok, the aim will not be easy so I have got  to keep focused.

Aim 2: Become a Formula 1 Engineer (Get a first in my course)

Goal 1: Complete every assignment 1 week before its deadline
Goal 2: Write out a 2 week revision timetable before every test (and follow it)
Goal 3: Spend 2 hours doing additional reading every week
Goal 4: Speak to 5 second years about how to prepare for next years modules
Goal 5: Rent a room in Hatfield so that I have more time to study

Difficulty: This is probably the most difficult aim of the three. Goal 1 I am pretty close to so it shouldn’t be a problem and Goal 5 I have been trying to do and with some success so far (haven’t found the right one yet). Goal 2 I have done before my A level tests (actually a lot longer than 2 weeks) and I was fine with it. At uni so far I have only had one test which I didn’t think required much revision, but from now one I will write timetables.
Goal s 3 and 4 I intend to do once I have more time, (i.e. I live in hatfield and my first competition has been organized)

Aim 3: Become a Multimillionaire (ensure my business caters for 600 entrants by the end of this year)

Goal 1: Ensure I advertise in at least 2 new unis every week
Goal 2: Ensure I advertise in at least 4 new tracks every week
Goal 3: Ensure that I gain at least 1 new distributer every week
Goal 4: Ensure I answer all emails with 48hours
Goal 5: Ensure that my company doesn’t make a loss in its first year

Difficulty: I have been working towards Aim 3 more than any other in the past few weeks. Goals 1,2 and 3 I will start from next week (when my flyers get printed) and I already have a list of numbers and some tracks and distributers lined up so it should be ok.
Goal 4 I have been more or less doing, apart form the emails which I need to give more though to, so I would say that with some more effort I can turn myself into a slick email answering machine. J
 Goal 5 err, well I suppose it’s a mixture of planning, monitoring, hard work and praying!

Thanks, C ya!

Hello Readers,

So first topic in the new spark and mettle term is well being and positive thinking.

In task 1 we watched a refreshing video all about how the ‘just smile and get on with it’ approach to life may not be the best way of doing things.

I thought there were some good points in it but it perhaps went to far in my opinion. It said that it was cruel and a delusional outlook.

I personally sit sort of in between the two arguments. There is no point crying over spilt milk but at the same time if you get robbed you shouldnt be expected to smile about it. Come to think about it, the video concluded by talking about not being optomistic or pessimistic but to try ‘realism’ instead. That actually describes imy position on the subject quite well.

In task 2, we looked at our own well being and did an online test to compare the results to our own personal perception of ourselves.

The profile that the test gave me was a little too pesimistic i think. It put me quite abit below the national average. I dont agree with that but im not suprised it came up with that result.

Most of the questions that it asked were to do with whether you feel tired or sleep for long enough.

Now i have to wake up quite early this term and travel quite far to uni so obviously i dont sleep very long and i am usually pretty knackered when i get home but i still get lots of things done, have time to chill with friends at uni, play football, watch some films and generally be happy.

So i think the test could possibly do with tweaking or maybe the test is just targeted to someone living a more generic lifestyle. i.e. 9 to 5 job, not too far from work etcetra.

Our third task for this week was to come up with our own ‘wise words’. Lol theres always one difficult task.

Well if I had to go back in time and give myself some piece of advise it would probably be the nike slogan; Just Do It. For no other reason than that i think i have a hait of spending too much time planning (by which i mena procrastinating) but i am improving that one.

Thanks

Creative Thinking

My rating: 8

I love problems solving and always try to look at problems in new way to find innovative solutions.

Collaboration

My Rating: 6

I think there is room for improvement here since when working in a team i usually prefer small teams of highly motivated people because in bigger teams i sometimes feel like things move too slowly and I cant have a large enough impact on a project, this means i dont have very much invested in its success and in turn means i sometimes loose interest in it.

Leadership:

My Rating: 7

I think im a good leader, especally when im interested in a project because i tend to show my enthusiasm for it and thus enthuse others around me. I am also very careful to people manage aswell as project manage and ensure that we utilize the skills and assets of every person in a team. My drive to succeed, i find can sometimes lead to a team im leading become annoyed since i ask too much of them or constantly evolve the plan of action.

Self Starting:

My Rating: 3

This is an area which I  really want to improve and have been trying to improve in various ways for a good few weeks now. This is why im very interested in our next webchat about lifeplanning. Self starting is basically like logistics and if the logistics are not very good then you cant use any of the other skills you have.

Knowledge:

My Rating: 9

I am very interested in racing and formula 1 and motorsport and cars and engineering in general, and i am very knowledgable about these areas, especially formula 1 and always seek knowledge about it. My father even teases me on occaision saying things like, So what colour socks is Lewis Hamilton wearing today?

Communication:

My Rating: 9

Communication is an area i excel in. I am very good at explaining very complex ideas and concepts to people in which they understand and am careful explain in the right amount of detail depending on the persons knowledge and interest. For example i used to teach further maths a level concepts to my younger brothers in order to show them that they could do anything they want to and never to feel that a task is unachievable. I am also good and public speaking.

Self Aware:

My Rating: 7

I think i know myself pretty well. Though i have recognized it as an area which i want to improve on for a while now and i always try to understand myself. I try to judge myself accurately and i think im pretty good at doing so, although since i believe that your state of mind is very important to your performance i tell myself that i am the best before i do anything that i really want to perform my best at. I am careful though not to give myself excuses for bad performance since it is never good to over evaluate your abilities.
A problem is that since i try to be very matter of fact about my abilities to myself whenever i am asked about my abilities by someone i try to be honest and sometimes this can come out as overconfident so i now when people ask me about my abilities i usually say something like ‘we’ll find out’.

Respectful:

My Rating: 7

I am proud of my ability to connect with people from different backgrounds and when i feel that someones point is valid i do incorporate it into my thinking and ponder it and if i fell its better than how i thought before i change my thinking, instantly because the moment i see a possible improvement i jump at the chance.

I find differences of opinion facinating and see them as real learning opportunites, i often ask people why they think the way they do, and i put forward my case for thinking the way i do and invite the other person to pick holes in my argument to convince me of theres. Unfortunately i find that people dont always want to convince me of there argument and since i put forward a strong case for thinking the way i do they just call me difficult and move on.

Perhaps it would be better if i dont put such a strong case for my arguments in future and instead just gently probed the other persons points of view to understand there thought process… …hmmm… …perhaps.

I found it difficult to find a person who i thought understood me and is with me often so i got lazy and asked my dad (and told him not to just say 10 all the time as parents do)

Creative Thinking:

good at creative thinking (8)

Collaboration:

when with a team he works 100 precent and wants the team to win and works hard to win ,also a team player(10)

Leadership:

yes, tends to earn his position as a team leader among peers (10)

Self Starting:

If he is passionate about what he is doing he plans and starts straight away, otherwise he struggles, he could work on it.(5)

Knowledge:

when interested in a subject he does everything he can to gain knowledge of it(10)

Communication:

confident speaker, could improve on listening, good at teaching (7)

Self Aware:

generally good, doesnt overestimate himself but isnt too modest,  (9)

Respectful:

generally ok, shows respect (9)

Hi again,

Our second task for this week was to find one time when we had to be assertive and see if we used any of the techniques that we discussed in our last webchat.

The scenario;

Earlier today at Uni I had a module test and a presentation to prepare for, with the presentation as part of a group. When I got into Uni it turned out that i had to do some extra work for the presentation. I was annoyed since I had to prepare for the test.

I had in be assertive in telling the group that the test was more important and that i would do what was needed to be done after the test was over.

The group agreed and after the test I did as i said and the presentation was a success, (hopefully so was the test but ill only find out about that later)!

Why do I think I succeeded to convince my group;

Well I was simple, clear and concise in putting across my situation and made it clear that I was not going to risk compromising my grade.

I also offered up a solution which would allow the presentation to go on as sheduled while still not compromising my test, so both tasked would be completed and to a high standard.

Thanks

So we were given some tasks on resilience for this week.

To Start with we watched this video on Youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN060pTvw-Y

I must admit that i didnt find it very interesting or useful, it all seamed abit ‘airy fairy’ to me and basically didn’t seem to be based on anything more than a loosely grasped concept of positive self talk.

Reading that paragraph back it does seem a bit harsh but its how i felt about the video.

Secondly we had to create a table such as this;

TARGET EMOTION: RESILIENCE

Now, based on my feelings

Next time, based on my reflections

Thinking

Behaviour

Effect of behavior on target emotion

The table is to be based on a particular event or a general habit that you have.

I made one to do with an event where I jumped to a conclusion unneccesarily and just recently (months later) realized that I had the wrong end of the stick, much like in the example.

I found this task much more useful than i thought it would be and will definately think through problems this way in future as it will help me to sort out issues more quickly and logically than i have done before.

Thanks

Hello,

So I have just done the ‘The Mettle Detector’ resilience test on playsuperme.com

My score was medium to high.

You scored MEDIUM to HIGH

Well done! You’ve got real grit and can keep focussed even when the going gets tough. You understand that sometimes you have to make sacrifices and screw things up before you get a big pay off, and that’s what most really successful people know too. A high real-life grit score means you’re more likely to get the things you want and be the person you want to be.

I think that its a pretty accurate test score. I am not usually troubled by things that happen and always try to find a rational solution to problems, which is what i would say resilience is all about.

If i had to come up with two questions in a similar style to the resilience test i took:

1) You do not get a job that you interviewed for what do you do?

A - Sulk about it and start feeling down for a few days

B - Your upset but decide they were wrong and keep looking for a new job

C - Your a little upset but decide that they were wrong and think about which questions you didnt answer correctly

D - You are disappointed but you went over the interview in your mind as soon as you got back home and now you have improved your interview technique for next time.

2) You haven’t save your work properly on your laptop and lost it just hours before the deadline, Do you?

A - Get really angry and smash your laptop then take it out on the lecturer when he asks you for it

B - Get angry about it and keep making futile efforts to recover the work on your laptop, then decide its best not to go to the lecture.

C - Your annoyed, after trying to recover the work you go the lecturer and tell them that what heppened, you ask for an extension.

D - Your peeved, You first try to recover the work, failing that you go to the lecturer and tell thm what happend and ask for an extension, you then go home and work on the essay tirelessly anddecide to always save your work in two places from now on.

Thanks for reading!

Personal Flow

Racing (RARELY)

Following Formula1 (DAILY)

Playing racing simulators (ALMOST DAILY)

Talking about racing with likeminded people (SPERADICALLY)

These four activities are all to do with racing. Racing is my passion and its therefore perhaps not suprising that im usually at my most engaged when im involved in it, watching it, reading about it, etc. What really engages me about racing is the competition of it and also the fact that if your not completely focused and engaged in it you crash!

Playing piano (RARELY)

I really like playing piano because of the wonderful and complex pieces that you can play and when you learn a complex piece you don’t really think about fingers so its as if you just put you hands on the keyboard and they are playing the music on their own.

Reading about great engineering achievements (WEEKLY)

I like problem solving and great engineering achievements are basically ingenious ways that people have come up with of solving problems.

Reading self improvement/business theory books (RARELY)

Well its always a good idea to try to improve yourself.

Building working models. I.e. Meccano or wooden models (RARELY)

This is a great way to practically use the engineering principles that I learn about. It also give me a greater understand of general engineering and allows me to improve my practical skills. (drilling, sawing, sanding, measuring, screwing, etc).

Professional Flow

My lectures at Uni (DAILY)

I am very lucky to be able to study something that I love, motorsport. I hope that I will be able to get a job that engages me as much as uni.

General science lectures not related to my course (space, human biology, etc) (WEEKLY)

I try to expand my mind whenever possible.

Hi followers!

My personality test results

Now I’ve got to say after reading the description It does seem impressively accurate which is cool in a spooky sort of way!

3 strengths of the ENTP personality:

Ability to size up situations very quickly and accurately

Usually good at things that interest them

Good problem solvers

3 weaknesses of the ENTP personality:

Less interested in developing plans of action

They feel awkward expressing there underlying feelings and principles

Can sometimes be isolated from their feelings and from other people because they are too busy thinking logically.

3 Career sectors recommended for ENTP

Phycologist

Scientist

Engineer

Pretty cool and accurate results :)

Hi,

Ok so Spark and Mettle have given me some questions to answer in order to reveal a little bit more about myself, here goes!

Q1) When were you happiest?

Well thats easy, my first race. We had arrived with our kart and some tools but no idea what to do on the day, what paperwork needed to be done or anything. But after some hard work we got the kart running and before I knew it I was lining up on the dummy grid ready to go out on my first race. I was tingling with excitement, more than 30 karts plowed into the first corner, I had no idea where the braking points were or anything, but i threw myself into the action and all i remember was coming out of that first corner about 8 places ahead. I felt like i could do anything!

Q2) What is your greatest fear?

Hmmmm, I think my greatest fear is probably that I wont be successful. I feel I’ve got a lot of potential and I want to do as much as I can and use as much of this potential as possible.

Q3) What is your earliest memory?

I think the earliest memory or at least the earliest one which I remember well was when I was in a creche at about 4 years old. They had a large playground outside and in had a path which went down a hill and then turned left at the bottom. I would spend my entire time at the creche pushing one of their little plastic cars to the top of the hill and driving it down to the bottom, I tipped over a few times too but I remember how much fun it was.

Q4) What is your favourite book?

I must admit to having read a very poor number of books but of the ones Ive read I like the Alex Rider series the best, It really captured my imagination when I read it in I think year 10. I (like every other 15 year old boy who read it) felt like I was Alex Rider.

Q5) What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?

I can honestly say that I’ve never been asked this before!
I think I would choose a cowboy costume because there are so many cool cowboy movies with actors such as Clint Eastwood and John Wayne which always had so much charisma and decorum and they always won! These are characteristics which everyone can improve on. 

Im 18 and live in London, I went to Lambeth Academy and now im studying Motorsport Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire.

I love racing and want to be a Formula 1 driver. I am racing go karts at the moment and am going to start Formula Renault in 2013. I am studying engineering because the knowledge will help me greatly as a driver and also gives me the opportunity to join an F1 team as an engineer so I can have a fulfilling career to fall back on.

I will be updating this blog as I go through the brand new Spark and Mettle programme so watch this space!