2.Based on best practices, how can you apply what you know in you career choice as a Health Promotion Manager?
Along with the strengths coaching interpretation session that I attended this week, I found I am strong in adaptability, strategizing, self-assurance, and empathy (as well as positivity). Using this information in relation to best practices, I can apply what I have as strengths towards being flexible and confident in using a practice that is already tried-and-true. As a Health Promotion Manager, it is important to be able to trust what information has already been found related to any programs I may be leading in the future. I can be sure to use my strategic mind to see what best practices I should be using instead of promising or emerging practices. 

3.What do you want to learn more about, and why?
I am very curious to learn about what other Health Promotion and Wellness students bring to the table as strengths, especially as we are beginning to work in groups starting week 3. My boss told me that it is extremely rare for someone to rank "adaptability" as their #1 strength! I want to learn more about how that can help me be an even better leader as a Health Promotion professional.

1. What made you curious this week?
This week we began reading our books. It made me curious to learn about the influencer a little bit more. I want to keep reading to find out more on what makes a good influencer beyond just being a role model and leading by example. 

2. What about your thinking, learning, or work this week brought you the most satisfaction? Why?
This week, I felt satisfied by my lack of procrastination! I was on the ball this week with turning in assignments and I actually felt responsible about getting my homework done on time. Not only did this hold true for HPW 420, but also for my other four classes as well. 

3. How did you help the class learn this week? If you feel you didn't add to class or feel the need to contribute more consider what can you do next week to help other learners more?
I'm never afraid to speak up in class and this week, I think I did a good job of allowing other students to engage in class. After the readings this week, I felt like I had not comprehended as much of the information as I would have liked to. This next week I will work on better understanding what I am reading and why we are reading it. I think both books have a lot of good information for HPW students and leaders in general to know!

1. How can you interpret the information presented so far in the Influencer book to reflect on this statement?  What principles help you agree or disagree with the statement?
One simple idea, to be happy for example, is appealing to most people. Sure, being happy sounds like a wonderful idea but it is easier said than done. When coupled with influence, ideas are more likely to transition from thinking into doing. Setting goals can be an influential way to make the shift in behavior. Fuzzy goals such as "be happier" are less likely to be accomplished than Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-worthy goals, also known as SMART goals. 
A SMARTer goal than to "be happy" might be "by the end of this semester, I will be happier than I currently am by smiling more often and laughing at more things. I will interact more often with optimistic people and I will engage less often with those who drain positivity from me." Notice how I used personal motivation and ability, social motivation and ability, and structural motivation and ability to set a SMART goal that will help reach that idea of being happy. (Again this was just an example. I am a pretty happy person.) The power of influence can shape the idea into motivation to achieve goals. These goals can help to change hearts, minds, and behaviors.

2.  What is your vision of wellness using the principals promoted in Workplace Wellness that Works book?  Use Putnam's to imagine what is possible to create an innovative wellness program. 
My vision is to become "the bucket-lister." My career will help increase emotional and mental health as well as environmental and social wellness through immersion into the beauty of our natural world and by engaging in meaningful social interactions. I wish to increase the drive to seek adventure in those who are diagnosed with terminal illnesses or anyone seeking to embark on a new journey. I long to work in a self-fulfilling career while impacting the lives and experiences of those I interact with. 

Second: What information to date has been covered in the Putnam book that can help guide your in group's investigation into your topic? 
The thing that stands out to me the most in Putnam's book that will help my environmental group is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Do people have the Self-Actualization or are they still at the bottom where they are working to get their basic needs. Another thing that stands out to me is the usage of SMART goals. In order to achieve anything, it is important to set goals that follow the guidelines of being specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. 

Motivation is a key component to accomplishing any goal. I saw a recent post about how a goal without a plan is just a wish. How will we create an impact on people instead of simply wishing it will happen? Creating a meaningful plan with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation gives the goal life. Having an inner drive to complete a task or to maintain a goal is the most important detail. Extrinsic motivation is clearly important when having a strong support system however creating meaning is all about the "why" someone wants to make a change. It's the inner drive.

My group's topic for genius hour focuses on people in the community and how we motivate people to get outdoors more often. Study after study states that getting outside and interacting with people with similar interests is good for the body, mind, and soul. Getting people extrinsically motivated to join Eco-nnect will result from having participants in our planned activities. People will see other people using the app and (crossing my fingers) eventually, like any successful app, it will catch like wildfire. Pokemon Go was an app that started small but as more people began hearing about how much fun people were having, more people began joining. The same thing is true with Snapchat. It started small but now about 5 years later after it was created, it is more likely that someone has an account than not. Extrinsic motivation relates slightly with the Social Contagion Theory: when more people are seeing the benefits from something, it will spread. What will be more difficult for Eco-nnect to stimulate is the intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation needs to come from within. If people don't care about what they do with their spare time, it will be harder to create the meaning. Lucky for us, spring time is the perfect time to launch something like Eco-nnect because the weather is getting nicer and people are more likely to want to do things outside when it's getting warmer as the days go on. 

FYI- for Week Nine (next week) there will be no reflection question.  It is a spring break present to you all!  
THANK YOU SALLIE FOR THE BREAK :)

Putnam Chapter 3:9 covers experiential learning and concepts involved in that model.  How can you help those you want to change behaviors use the experiential learning theory and develop the growth mind set? 
The experiential learning theory involved taking risks with experimentation and trying things over and over until success is achieved. In order to reach success or to maintain success, it is necessary to fail. Failure is good and encouraged actually. My group presented on this topic and we asked "what if we lived in a world where failure did not exist" and there were many responses but my favorite was from Kyle D. He said that if we did not fail, no one would be challenged. In order to help someone change behaviors, I will need to allow them to make mistakes so they can learn and grow from those mistakes. I will have to help guide them to the healthy behaviors but to build their self-efficacy, they have to be intrinsically motivated to make behavior changes and sustain those behavior changes.

2.  Find Vital Behaviors - reflect and select the one or two vital behaviors that are really driving the problem you are addressing.  What are the MOST IMPORTANT one(s) to address?
The main vital behavior we are focusing on is having clear, measurable goals. Our goals are not fuzzy at all which makes it really easy to work together because we all know what our end product is going to look like. 

Personal ability: I am a very visual person so I am using that ability to benefit the group by making the website and social media platforms.
Personal motivation: I actually do not have much personal motivation to work on this project but Carey and Cole are both quite motivated so their skills are keeping me motivated to pull my weight.
Social ability: Since we are basing our project on the Stevens Point area, it is easy for us to come up with activities based in this area because it is likely that one of the three of us in the group have visited these places we will be promoting.
Social motivation: Classmates and their positive, reinforcing energy have given us motivation to carry on with this project and to maybe actually implement this app.
Structural ability: Cole is really good with computers so the structural ability comes from him. Without his knowledge and skills, I'm not sure we would actually be thinking of going ahead with the app.
Structural motivation: Our idea to use technology to get people outdoors seems backwards but the knowledge we have about wellness gives us the tools to know that what we are trying to do is worth it.