Open Minds Save the Day by Maxibel

Open Minds Save the Day by Maxibel - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

“I’m stuck”, “I need motivation”, “I don’t like this topic”, these are things I am sure that we have all muttered to ourselves while reluctantly completing a project we didn’t want to do. Unfortunately, when we complete projects that are not of our interests, one sometimes decides to settle on handing in work that is subpar. However, there is one thing that we can do to immediately change the outcome of our work from being below average to exceeding expectations, and that is changing our state of mind. Being open-minded and being willing to learn new things is the ultimate strategy for success on a school project.

Allowing ourselves to be open to new ideas that differ from our own beliefs is exactly what is going to be expected of us when we finally enter the college and real-world atmosphere. Beginning now while in high school will only prepare us for the vulnerability that will set in once we exit the safe walls that have surrounded us for the past four years because we will realize that we don’t know everything and there are ideas and topics that may change the beliefs that we used to have. That all starts when you are sitting awake at 12 a.m trying to complete a psychology project on the parts of the brain, thinking of how much you hate science.

Well maybe you don’t hate science, maybe you just don’t understand it. Maybe it is hard for you to believe that the reason you don’t like science is because a part of your brain makes it difficult for you to understand it. But opening yourself up to the project and topic will make the difference on whether your grade reflects that you just pulled a bunch of facts together that don’t even make sense to you or whether you truly understand what you were assigned to learn. Being open-minded gives us an advantage because we are now ready to learn, maybe not ready to believe these ideas, but we will accept them and we will understand them.

Being willing to learn new things for a school project is only going to open our pathway to being an open-minded person because being willing to learn and understand why somebody else believes something that is different to our beliefs will only shape the way for one to be able to accept the different views of the world. Therefore, open-mindedness is not only the ultimate strategy for success on a school project, it is the ultimate strategy for a successful life.