Managing+Impulsivity

**Managing Impulsivity** To manage impulsivity, you must look at the situations from //all// viewpoints before deciding on a course of action or drawing a conclusion.

In our kinetics unit for chemistry this year, we had to decide on how to present our concept to the class: as a rap, as a play, or as a poster. From our intuition, we really wanted to do a rap. My group thought a rap would be very fun and it would be cool and a chance to express our creativity. Also, we thought that if we were to take the easy way out, we could just do the poster instead since a poster, we thought, would be very easy to do. However, in this situation my group and I decided to pause a bit and look at all the options clearly. In the end, we thought realistically and realized that perhaps a simple acting out of the concepts would be the most efficient: it would not require any memorization as a rap does and would be more engaging than a simple poster would be. We settled on doing a play to demonstrate how particle size affects the rate of reaction. In the end, the play was the best route because we orchestrated it easily and lucidly. Also, another group was doing a poster, and they went past the allotted time for making one. A third group was performing a rap, and it seemed very frustrating to come up with the different verses and rhymes for expressing the concept, which as a result, may not have been as clear as the group wanted it to be. Our play was a simple visual demonstration of how when a particle breaks into smaller pieces, allows more reactions to take place because of the added surface area exposed. Here, we decided to hold back on our inclinations to do what seemed the most fun and easiest and instead looked at the options realistically. It was the right course of action because even though it may have sounded hard to make a play, it was actually easier and more powerful than any of the other two methods. Managing impulsivity is a trait I have yet to master. Sometimes, I jump quickly to conclusions and as a result, I sound ignorant, arrogant, or just stupid. It's definitely a skill I've been working on all throughout high school though, and I have to say I've gotten slightly better at holding my tongue and at refraining myself from jumping to conclusions. This example illustrated my actively considering the different options of a situation before jumping in to a course of action. It's a very important skill to have because sometimes, even though you don't agree with an idea, you have to hold your thoughts in your head due to the position you're in. For example, it's not wise to tell your boss that his idea is not a smart one. I hope to continue working on this habit throughout my life and master it.