Mr.

Green: How clumsiness grows to be better

In my family, I’ve always been nicknamed Mr.Green. This nickname is based on a
character from the 1985 movie Clue. Mr.Green is very clumsy; he constantly breaks stuff, falls
over a ton, and gets hit the most out of all the characters. Yet there’s a specific ending that’s my
favorite; in this ending to the movie, it’s revealed that he was a secret agent this whole time and
arrests everyone else. I love this ending because it shows that even clumsy can sometimes be
charismatic.
Mr.Green isn’t something that I have been called very recently, and I think the reason for
that is that I have become a more charismatic version of myself. Continual progress is
something that has always been a part of my family, and I feel that I’ve grown a lot. I am a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and an apostle named David A.
Bednar talks a lot about this. He often says “line upon line,” meaning that we learn a little bit
each day, and those minor continual improvements lead to outstanding achievements.
I’ve applied this mindset to my work. In my job, I’ve changed how I interact with people to
ensure they feel welcome and comfortable. One way is memorizing the names of regular
customers. Their faces light up when you remember them, and then they tend to open up to
you. I’ve had significant interactions with people because of this, and they have improved.
I’ve also applied this mindset in my schooling. Mostly this mindset has helped me in my
studying. Going to NUAMES North has been difficult, not to mention early college. A lot of things
are expected of the students, and when I first got there, I wasn’t really up to speed. So I had to
make minor but continual improvements to my current habits. I breezed through Jr. High, and
when I got to high school, I thought I could keep doing the same thing. I would go home and
play video games and save all my homework for Thursday and Friday. I soon learned that
wasn’t going to work. My workload got more extensive fast, and I had to drop playing video
games altogether. If I were going to the game, it would be on the weekend at one. This allowed
me, however, to have time on the weekdays to get my work done, and because I was doing it
continuously, I had a more robust memory for what I was learning.
Another thing that changed when I got into high school was how I scheduled my week. I
never really used a calendar; it was more typical of me just to keep a rough idea of what I had to
do in my head. I soon realized that this, too, wasn’t going to work. The first improvement I made
was to switch my canvas to show me what was due and when. I would then check this and my
emails every single day. This made it, so I didn’t forget anything, but it made me feel super
stressed. My mind was constantly thinking about the work I had to do regardless of what I was
doing. For example, during our breaks from school, some of my friends decided to have a scary
movie marathon. The entire time I was thinking about the homework I had to do. This wasn’t
good for my mental health, so I knew I had to find a new way to ensure that my work was done
on time. This is when I finally started to use a calendar to help plan my week. I still don’t use it
for everything, but even now, it has taken a lot of stress off my back. I can trust that my google
calendar will notify me when I need to be doing something. It also has allowed me to know when
I will be busy with work and when I’ll be free to hang out with my friends. I still have a lot to
learn, but I am willing and able to grow. I know that as I keep pushing forward, I’ll become even
better, which gives me joy.