What we read
We have now read and checked our understanding of both readings in Unit 6 of Rogers and Wilkin, that is, "The Stresses & Strains of Work" and "Rich and Famous" (pp. 59 & 61, 2013).
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Our response
Having read both of the texts a couple of times, Rogers and Wilkin now invite us to respond to the ideas in a critical thinking exercise.
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Rogers and Wilkin's questions
Think about the ideas from "The Stresses & Strains of Work" and "Rich and Famous" and write a comment to respond to these questions:
- According to Rotter, who is cited in "Rich and Famous," goals create pressure because once you achieve them, they are replaced with new goals. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I agree that goals create stress. ...
I agree that goals create stress because
- Which do you think creates more pressure — trying to get the job you want or working at a job?
More pressure comes from ...
- What stresses and pressures might be associated with being an athlete?
Do you think these jobs would be more or less stressful than an IT career? Why?
Athletes have to deal with ...
Rogers and Wilkin also include some useful language to think about in this exercise.
Reference
- Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 2. London: Macmillan Education
I was most interested in the question about athletes and the stresses that they suffer. I'm not very interested in athletics, but I see headlines in the news about tennis stars, Olympic runners and so on, so it seems that they get a lot of attention from the media because many people are very interested. I think this likely causes stress because it undoubtedly limits their privacy. I remember recently that I've seen Venus Williams in the news a lot because she has become a mother. I'm not sure how she feels about the attention from the paparazzi taking photos of her and baby everywhere, but even she enjoys it, it seems to me it must be a bit stressful. I'm not sure whether it's worse than for actors, but I am sure it must cause stress to be always on show and be reported on.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole, athletes seem to me to cope with fame better than actors. I've often heard of actors with drug, relationship and other problems, but athletes don't seem to have these problems as much, so perhaps the pressures they are under are not so bad. But they are probably more stressful than a job in IT. At least in IT, when you finish work you can go home, and the newspapers don't follow IT workers around to report on that they do in private or their families. It might be different for Bill Gates, but he's not an ordinary IT worker. And he also seems to manage to keep his private life fairly private.
I agree that goals create stress because, every time, we decide to out of comfort zone to be different by having goal being rich and famous. We have to do the new exciting thing which we had not nailed it before, so it is hard certainly. That is why rare successful people deserve it.
ReplyDeleteFor me, more pressure comes from improving myself in the new thing I hadn't done before in order to achieve succeed in life in living or even in future working.
Athletes have to deal with conquer themselves to push their potential. In addition, they also compete to other athletes.
I think they are equal because they are different in their different way. So I cannot compare together.
I love your idea and I also can't decide what job is more stress because I don't know well about each job.
DeleteI like Noon's idea that trying new things is stressful, and I don't think this is a bad sort of stress. If you want to learn new skills or get better at old skills, you have to do what Noon says and "out of [your] comfort zone." This seems a good thing to me. And perhaps in life a little bit of stress and worry can also be highly motivating: if you are not rich, the need to earn an income can be a powerful motivating factor. I like to keep under a little stress by trying out new tools and techniques in my teaching, which perhaps also causes a bit of stress for my students. I hope it isn't too much.
DeleteSometimes I decide to out of my comfort zone because I like try to do some different things and
Deleteit's make me exciting than stressful.
I think more pressure comes from trying to get the job you want because some jobs are hard to get it, and if you get that job you want, you can work at a job without pressure. Someone had said that "Working at job you want is like you do what you like not a work".
ReplyDeleteBeing an athlete get more stresses and pressure because it's not steady with the result, someday you might be sick or may be your body feel very tired from practice that make you can't do it extremely.
I agree that goals can create pressure. Once you have one goal and achieve it, then another goals will come and replace the old one and you have to work with it to get another goals.
I just think of the condition of being great athletes. It depends on several thing such as your perform in that day, your mind or your state of body etc. So it is barely hard to control more than It.
DeleteMore pressure come from the stress of a challenge that everyone has to be the number one to get the target. Sometime a work is not relating to the ability of a workers. Such as, If you are teacher, but you have to work with many reports more than teaching. Maybe you will give up with a job that you do. Because it is not what you need to do at first.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should find a job, or work that match with our skills.
DeleteI don't agree that goals create pressure because having goals is important part in whatever you are going to do.
ReplyDeleteBut, it is how you set your goal that might create pressure. For example, if your goals are unrealistic and too hard to achieve, that might cause a lot pressure. Some people, when they tackle hard problems, might divide work into smaller goals, so they can achieve each goal with less pressure.
I don't agree with this opinion. I think we all need some goals in our life, maybe the goal is just a small one. If we achieve the goal, we will feel happiness and hopeful. I think the pressure come from your feeling and you condition, not from you have a goal that you really want to do.
ReplyDeleteI think self-employed have lots of stresses, because they need decide how to make their life better and if they are not hard working, they will not earn money.
I agree that everyone can have different goals that suit their ability and they can still be happy while achieving their goals.
DeleteI agree with you almost stress come from yourself and condition.
DeleteI think that more pressure come from trying to get job you want because today, getting job you want isn't easy but it is possible.It so hard because it high competition.
ReplyDeleteAthletes always associated with stresses and pressures because some sports, if they miss a sec,they will not a winner.
I agree with your idea that pressure come from trying to get job you want because their are more and competition today.
DeleteI agree that after you achieve the goal, the new goal will come, but it's not for any people. It's depend on some people because some people after their achieve their goal they just stop and some people still moving forward to the second goals. Depend on people that's what I think.
ReplyDelete