In this activity you will practice the language of personal responsibility.  By learning to translate Victim statements into Creator statements, you will master the language of successful people.Copy

In this activity you will practice the language of personal responsibility.  By learning to translate Victim statements into Creator statements, you will master the language of successful people.

Copy and paste the ten Victim statements below into your journal entry. Then, rewrite the Victim statements using words of a Creator.  The two keys to Creator language are taking ownership of a problem and taking positive actions to solve it.  When you respond as if you are responsible for a bad situation, then you are empowered to do something about it (unlike Victims who must wait for someone else to solve their problems).  Check out chapter 2 of On Course for models.

Victim Statements:

1. If they'd do something about the parking on campus, I wouldn't be late so often.
2. I'm failing because no one in my family is good at math.  I think we've got defective math genes.
3. I'm too shy to ask questions in class even when I'm confused.
4. She's a lousy instructor. That's why I failed the first test.
5. I hate group projects because people are lazy and I always end up doing most of the work.
6. I wish I could write better, but I just can't.
7. My friend got me so angry that I can't even study for the exam.
8. I'll try to do my best this semester.
9. The financial aid form is too complicated to fill out.
10. I work nights so I didn't have time to do the assignment.

Write what you have learned or relearned about how you use language:  Is it your habit to speak as a Victim or as a Creator?  Do you find yourself more inclined to blame yourself, blame others, or seek solutions?   Be sure to give examples.  What is your goal for language usage from now on?  How, specifically, will you accomplish this goal?  Your paragraph might begin, "While reading about and practicing Creator language, I learned that I..."